Wrath of the Titans (2012)

Movie Info

Even a Cyclops can cry…

Ten years have passed since Perseus (Sam Worthington) defeated the Kraken to save Argos, and now widowed, he lives in a small fishing town with his son Heleus (John Bell).  When the walls of Tartarus begins to collapse, monsters begin to escape to Earth and Zeus (Ralph Fiennes) leads a group to Tartarus to aide Hades (Ralph Fiennes).  Unfortunately, Hades is part of the problem and his quest for revenge against Zeus has led him and Ares (Édgar Ramírez) to work to free the Titan Kronos.  Sending Poseidon (Danny Huston) to Perseus, Perseus learns that he must free his father to save the world and finds himself in a desperate race against time with Poseidon’s son Agenor (Toby Kebbell) and Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) to form the Spear of Trium…the only hope of stopping Kronos.

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, Wrath of the Titans is a Greek mythology action-adventure film.  A sequel to 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans, the film was met with poor reviews and a smaller box office than the first film.  Liam Neeson was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor (along with his performance in Battleship).

The 2010 Clash of the Titans stung a little.  It wasn’t great, and though a popcorn movie, it wasn’t entirely enjoyable.  Despite this, Wrath of the Titans makes Clash of the Titans look good.

Remember when we were Oscar contenders?

The film starts out with one of those irritating things that negates the previous thing.  Much of the first film was related to Perseus and Io’s relationship (she even was given back from the Land of the Dead to him by Zeus) and due to scheduling conflicts, Gemma Arterton could not return.  The film also feels like rehash.  The characters go on an adventure to a maze like location to retrieve a weapon to fight a big monster…the plot of the first movie.  The battles and creatures are less compelling, and the cast feels wasted.

Sam Worthington continues to underwhelm and this time is supposed to be ten years older (he has longer hair).  Rosamund Pike isn’t bad as Andromeda (she replaced Alexa Davalos).  Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson continue to be better actors than the script (though many of Neeson’s recent movie choices question that) and both Bill Nighy and Danny Huston are under used.  Toby Kebbell gets to be the comic relief, and Edgar Ramírez is actually not a bad Ares (just in a bad movie).

That looks like one wrathful Titan

While the first Clash of the Titans suffered from a 3D conversion gone wrong, this movie suffers from really poor editing.  The fights and the battles just don’t always make sense.  The design on the Cyclops is nice, but Kronos feels pretty generic and the movie has a ton of missed opportunities with the Minotaur in a fight where you can’t even see what is going on…there are a few nice shots, but the bad shots far outweigh the good.

Wrath of the Titans was meant to be the middle film of a trilogy.  The movie’s poor reception led to a cancellation of Revenge of the Titans which intended to bring the gods back.  Wrath of the Titans is the type of movie that just makes you mad you watched the first one as you are watching the second film.  Io is dead so Andromeda is back to replace her, and for all the talk about “his REAL father Spryo” in Clash of the Titans, Perseus has seemingly forgotten him for Zeus.  It is a movie that is wildly all over the place and largely a waste of time…just avoid it.

Related Links:

Clash of the Titans (1981)

Clash of the Titans (2010)