Finally got this from Netflix. As a Netflix-specific edition... with five or six unskippable previews, no extras and not even a chapter menu! :-o
As for the movie... I loved it! Not having seen the original, I wasn't expecting much; I only had three demands:
1) That it not bore me
2) That it feature some badass fights
3) That it have a sense of fun
And for me,
Clash scored on all counts. Yes, the dialogue and characters were flat and bland, but it's a myth movie called
Clash of the Titans; I appreciated the movie's sincerity in clashing as much as possible.
I grant that it's probably the most frenetic action movie I've ever liked, but the simple fact is that I get so revved up by a story about humans kicking deific ass and taking names that I entirely went for it. And, being a lifelong anti-monarchist, I loved how Perseus turns down Andromeda's offer of kingship.
Dead Ebert
enjoyed it too:
Roger Ebert said:
I like this kind of stuff. I don't say it's good cinema, although I recognize the craftsmanship that went into it. I don't say it's good acting, when the men have so much facial hair they all look like Liam Neeson. I like the energy, the imagination, the silliness. I even like the one guy who doesn't have a beard. That's Perseus. From the first moment we see him as an adult until his last scene in the movie, he has the Standard Regulation Macho-Length Stubble on his chin. And in a city where all the men go to Jerry Garcia's barber, he has a burr cut on the short clipper setting.
So do I recommend the movie? Yes, if you intuit that this review is affectionate and have the same tolerance for goofy Greek gods as I do.
While I never saw the original movie, I did grow up with a vague impression of the tin lunchbox and an admiration for the balling title. If I ever saw the movie, I wanted it to be big, loud, over-the-top and not at all dull.
Clash '10 accomplished that admirably.
B+