Wednesday 15 September 2010

Movies Seen: Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time



A 2010 remake of the 1981 film (which I loved as a child). Directed by Louis Leterrier. Like the original film, this one has nothing to do with the Titans, and the plot has undergone a few changes. In short, Perseus, a demi-god, leads a group of soldiers on a quest to find a way to save a princess, encountering monsters and gods along the way.

Watch this film for the special effects, cause there's not much else to go on. The film does have a bit of an epic feel to it but again that's mostly because of the cinematography, music & effects, not the script or narrative. Narrative flaws abound. But the mythological creatures are awesome. Especially the Kraken at the end. And I loved that they sneaked in a scene with that mechanical owl from the original film.

As far as characters go, Gemma Arterton is a pretty face, Liam Neeson does his usual indignant righteousness act, Ralph Fiennes does his usual dark lord act & Sam Worthington does his usual conflicted character act. As one film reviewer wrote, Sam Worthington needs to stop playing conflicted characters. In Avatar, he was a man who wanted to be a Na'vi. In Terminator: Salvation, he was a machine that wanted to be a man, and in Clash of the Titans, he is a demi-god who wants to be a man.

The whole proud to be a man thing is kind of the the main theme running through this film, culmination with our demi-god hero finally realising his place in the world. Worth a watch if you have noting better to do, but not worth a lot of money.


Directed by Mike Newell, who's movies I've seen parts of and liked, this film clearly takes him out of his comfort zone, and it shows. The 2010 movie tries to create an 'epic' feel about it but only ends up feeling as small as the 'Scorpion King' when compared to 'The Mummy Returns'. The plot isn't worth mentioning.

Too many narrative flaws. Like in Clash of the Titans, the films characters seem to almost instantaneously travel to a far flung part of the world in a day or two. The amount of time it takes to traverse long distances just hasn't been factored in. The script is over-simplistic, dramatic and the music tends towards irritating, especially when Hassansins appear.

Gemma Arterton gets more screen time and dialogue here than she does in Clash of the Titans, though this film is a lot worse.

Have you seen these films? What do you think?


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