The gods must be crazy

Directed by: Jonathon Libesman

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes

It would be an easier task to navigate Hephaestus’s labyrinth than to determine why the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans needs a sequel. The Clash of the Titans remake was a titanic waste of time that should have never clawed its way out of the Underworld—Wrath of the Titans is even worse.

Like so many other blockbuster films released, Wrath of the Titans is in 3-D only as a way to make more money. The 3-D exists only when the filmmakers decide to throw CGI objects at the camera, or during the pre-movie announcement to put on that pair of goofy glasses. Whichever Hollywood executive decided to make every other film that comes out in 3-D needs to be thrown into the River Styx.

Wrath of the Titans starts 10 years after the defeat of the Kraken in the first movie. Perseus’ wife Io, who was resurrected by Zeus (Liam Neeson) at the end of the first movie, is dead—attesting to how important she was in the first film. Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and Ares (Edgar Ramirez) have aligned and plan to drain Zeus’ power to release Kronos from his prison in Tartarus.

After his son is threatened by a chimera released because of Kronos’ growing power, Perseus (Sam Worthington) goes on a typical fetch quest to retrieve a spear that can defeat Kronos and as a result rescue Zeus from Tartarus.

While it may sound like a rather standard fantasy quest, screenwriters Dan Mazeau and David Leslie Johnson wrote the plot as though they were writing a video game—the plot only exists to escort us to the next boss fight.

Characters switch allegiances arbitrarily and do incredibly stupid things. If the Spear of Triam could kill Kronos, why did Hades, Zeus and Poseidon choose to only imprison him? If Kronos is going to kill all the gods, why would Hades and Ares want to release him? More importantly, why did acting greats Neeson, Bill Nighy and Fiennes even decide to be in this movie?

Sam Worthington proves once again that he is not even qualified to play a piece of cardboard. Rosamund Pike now plays Queen Andromeda, although nobody would notice the character was recast unless it wasn’t mentioned here. Neeson and Fiennes would be giving great performances—if they were given anything in the way of good writing.

Ultimately, the most interesting performance in this film was from the principal antagonist, Kronos, who doesn’t talk or have any rational motive, and is a powerful symbol of what the money obsessed Hollywood system does to the art of cinema.

There are interesting ideas brought up through the gods losing their powers as man chooses to stop worshipping them. In any other movie, that idea would be explored and make for a compelling film. Director Josh Liebesman predictably does nothing with that theme.

Ultimately, the best thing that one can hope from Wrath of the Titans is that it doesn’t make enough money to blaspheme against the gods of film with another sequel.