BEFORE: More Greek stuff tonight, and tomorrow night too, then I can kick off the Thanksgiving films. After this, four more films before I take a break. Linking from "Troy", Brendan Gleeson was also in "In Bruges" with Ralph Fiennes.
THE PLOT: Perseus braves the treacherous underworld to rescue his father, Zeus, captured by his son, Ares, and brother Hades who unleash the ancient Titans upon the world.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Clash of the Titans" (Movie #923)
AFTER: Now, this is more of what I think of when I think about Greek mythology. Unfortunately, it's also patently ridiculous, especially when compared with "Troy". To be fair, no one really knows what happened in the Trojan War, so anyone complaining that Hollywood wasn't "faithful" to the Homeric epic is really wasting their time - Homer wasn't even telling the exact story, unless the Greek Gods did look down from Mount Olympus and influence the events below.
Now, as for this sequel to a remake (yes, I remember the early 1980's original...) I have to wonder if it was at all influenced by the "Percy Jackson" films - here Perseus, the son of Zeus, has to team up with the son of Poseidon (man, these Gods got around...) and defeat Hades and Ares (Perseus' uncle and half-brother, it's complicated...) who's trying to restore Kronos, Zeus's father (and therefore his own grandfather, though there's not really any resemblance).
To do this, Hades siphons off power from Zeus, which means that Gods are like batteries. Also we learn that Gods can die, which seems a little odd, especially since they can go to Hell and still be alive somehow. I thought Zeus killed his father, but I guess he just imprisoned him in Hell, which is not really the same thing. So how come Gods like Poseidon can die, but the Titans can't? And if Kronos leaves Hell and attacks Earth, can he be defeated - and if he's killed, does he just go back to Hell, where he just came from?
Come to think of it, why is Kronos a giant, and his children like Zeus and Hades are regular-sized gods, who just look like old men? What's the rate of mutation among Titans, or did his power get divided among his kids? But the children of Zeus were also gods, unless he slept with a human woman, which made demi-gods.
There's some reference to the Gods losing their power because people are not showing devotion to them. Maybe if the Gods would stop resurrecting old flaming giants to come step on their village, people might be a little more inclined to come worship at the temple once in a while, but what the heck do I know? Maybe people are trying hard not to believe in the Gods so they can have a peaceful rest-of-their-lives and not incur the wrath spoken of in the title. (And why don't the religious nuts condemn this film for showing Gods other than the Christian one?)
In the same way that "Clash of the Titans" threw a lot of mythological elements together (the Kraken isn't even Greek, it's from, like, Norse mythology or something) this one throws a similar bunch of characters and things together. Hephaestus, the Minotaur, Cyclopses, chimerae, they're all tossed into the blender. It's kind of like putting a salad together, you gotta start with a lettuce base, but then you can put in just about anything - I've been partial to beets lately, but once you put beets in a salad they kind of limit your dressing options because they'll turn any dressing purple. And then I can put turkey in the salad, but not tuna. What I'm saying is, you put in too many weird elements and they're going to start conflicting with each other.
Anyway, Perseus finally figures out that they've got to get Poseidon's trident, Zeus thunder-thingy, Hades's umm, staff? and a few of the Horcruxes together to defeat the evil power before he rises up and slowly tramples everybody. I'd say they set themselves up for another sequel, but they're probably running out of mythological beasties to defeat.
Also starring Sam Worthington (last seen in "Clash of the Titans"), Liam Neeson (last seen in "The Dark Knight Rises"), Danny Huston (last seen in "Marie Antoinette"), Edgar Ramirez (last seen in "Zero Dark Thirty"), Rosamund Pike (last seen in "Die Another Day"), Bill Nighy (last seen in "Shaun of the Dead"), John Bell, Alejandro Naranjo.
RATING: 5 out of 10 British accents (dear God, why?)
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