Wrath of the Titans (2012) - ★★

Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Writers: Dan Mazeu, David Johnson
Stars: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Rosamund Pike, Edgar Ramirez, Toby Kebbell, Bill Nighy

I had high hopes for Wrath of the Titans. It promised to be a visually amazing, action-packed superior film to its prequel Clash of the Titans, however it fell flat due to Sam Worthington's laughable performance as Perseus, bastard son of Zeus (Liam Neeson). I had major problems with his acting in the first film, but he was far worse in this installment.

The story was very Hollywood. Ares, God of War and son of Zeus is jealous of Perseus because his father paid more attention to him. He sides with Hades, Ralph Fiennes, in a plot to drain Zeus' powers and awaken the titan Kronos, the father of Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. Perseus must save the world once again on his black Pegasus in order to give his son a future and save humanity. He also has a small romance with Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), a character that is supposed to be strong and smart yet is small and feeble. She was insignificant to the whole movie.

It made me sick that Dan Mazeau made the God of War seem so childish, stupid and weak. According to this film, Gods are not beyond being complete idiots. None of the gods showed real power. They are the same size as humans and use peoples prayers as their source of power. There was no background on the story between Zeus and Kronos. In my opinion, they should have scrapped making a sequel to Clash of the Titans, and instead have made a prequel. This would have involved a mighty war between Titans and Gods, where we could have seen some truly stunning scenes and be rid of Sam Worthington's lamentable acting.

The reason I have not rated this movie lower is because the visual effects and fights throughout the movie were actually entertaining. We see brilliant cyclops', two headed monsters, a minotaur, and the greatest part of the movie; Kronos emerging from a volcano. While these were remarkable, I couldn't shake my annoyance at how bad the story and acting was from all accounts. Wrath of the Titans is a movie that had a huge amount of potential, yet will fail to be remembered by anyone.

14th May, 2013: Hi everyone. I completely forgot that I reviewed this movie. Upon revising what I'd written, it just goes to show that I wasn't kidding about how forgettable it was!

Clash of the Titans (2010) - ★★★

Director: Louis Leterrier
Writers: Travis Beacham (screenplay) Phil Hay (screenplay)
Stars: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen

Clash of the Titans is a story about the mortal son of the god Zeus (Liam Neeson), Perseus (Sam Worthington), who embarks on a perilous journey to stop the underworld and its minions from spreading their evil to Earth as well as the heavens. Zeus' brother, Hades (Ralph Fiennes), has hatched a scheme to usurp the throne from Zeus because of a feud they had extremely long ago when he was tricked and then condemned to be the God of the Underworld. Sounds like a pretty interesting storyline right? 


I think the greatest thing about this movie are the monsters that were involved, such as The Kraken, Medusa, Giant Scorpions, Djinn (magic creatures of the desert), and the Sisters of Fate. I thought all of these creatures were created beautifully and really were the highlight of the film. Particularly the CGI on the Kraken, it was just remarkable. 


Sam Worthington is one of those actors that can't carry make me feel any emotion. Even in Avatar, he just seemed to be a blank canvas. As Perseus, his distinct Australian accent and so-so acting were perhaps one of the lowest points of the movie. The thing that held this movie back was the way it was adapted to appeal to the younger audience. I hated how there were silly jokes and a love story I just couldn't connect to, and I'm usually a sucker for a good romance. I also have to mention the fact that it is hardly historically accurate too. Liam Neeson didn't play a very convincing Zeus. He just didn't exude power or wisdome, whereas Ralph Fiennes was flawless once again as Hades. Fiennes is just one of those actors that can make a crappy movie look good. As a whole I found Clash of the Titans entertaining, but also disappointing. It sets you up to think there will be brilliant battles and non-stop action. Unfortunately we got some of that and a lot of love story.