WRATH OF THE DIRECTOR, I MEAN TITANS
Warner Bros. has always been a strong movie company because of their choices over the years in selecting unique stories and deciding which strong characters and adventures to continue with respective sequels. A lot of people enjoy the movies released by them but, honestly, they definitely did not know what the right choice should be when choosing a director for this film.
To begin with, the first film, released in 2010, was able to create fantastical action with cool visuals but wasn’t able to hold itself strong with its characters. Frankly, when it comes to a film surrounded in unbelievable fantasy, we the audience have to connect with the characters or we cannot react well to everything happening around us in the darkened theater.
For those people who don’t know, the previous film Clash of the Titans was attacked for its thin characters, thinner script, weak storyline and unimpressive use of the 3D technology. Warner Bros. then decided to go with Battle: Los Angeles helmer Jonathan Liebesman to make the sequel. Many felt that Battle: Los Angeles fell to the same faults as Clash so it is strange that they chose to go with such a strategy the second time around.
The executives should have looked for a filmmaker who could tackle the job in a new way. Something like The Hunger Games would be a prime example of a film far from reality, but not so far away due to the reflections of the characters.
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, Wrath of the Titans has somehow managed to be the exact same as Clash except with better 3D effects. Even the action was satisfactory, like the first. It had worthy visuals and an adventure as strong as the first, but there was no development with the characters and frankly, they were boring. This was unfortunate, by now they should have learned what to do better, and obviously they have not.
The film once again follows Perseus who is quite content with his fisherman lifestyle and beautiful son whose name is easy to forget (don’t worry, all you have to do is add an -ius to the end of a word you make up and it’ll sound like the real deal).
Perseus is also a town hero still, basking in the glory as Kraken slayer. After a couple days, Zeus has to come to boil up some more drama or else there would be no film. Zeus and the rest of the gods are losing their powers after loss of prayer, so naturally Zeus calls upon Perseus to help protect the humans when the absence of prayer leads to Hell’s prison weakening, leading to horrific creatures escaping and coming to kill anything in their path. Perseus at first says no, but after awhile and the thought of putting his son in danger from these hell bent creatures he agrees to go.
After he begins his trek we see a long perilous journey filled with chimera, cyclops, minotaurs, and other crazy creatures/evil gods. All this action is great to watch but after a while your brain will get numb. Once again there is no emotion, no connection between characters and the audience. I felt almost a little bit guilty when not really caring what happens to Perseus’ son during one of many intense set pieces, because we had seen no relationship between the father and the son.
It is the director’s job to include scenes and themes that will drive the audience to some sort of realization or emotion. Liebesman does no such thing but bring heavy, stilted shots of dirt, dust, lava, fire, and special effects thrown at the audience in 3D.The audiences are just hoping and waiting for a scene that shows a little bit of the love and care between Perseus and Perseus, Jr. but no such scene comes. Really, the boy was only brought into the film as a way to employ the story of Perseus having to do this for his son. That is it, no other point to him.
Other than that, the rest of the characters were very one-sided, with nothing much to them but a couple different screams, cries and gasps of relief.
You will enjoy the film as a white-knuckle, flames and swords in your face, dash of energy. The film’s action sequences are great to watch and are regrettably fun, Liebesman does know what he’s doing there. Also, the 3D is surprisingly top-notch, making the creatures even scarier when they’ are breathing down your neck as well as the characters. Liebesman definitely is in his comfort zone in the chaos of fighting, all he has to do, is work on is his characters, their motivations and giving them good chances to be people, to speak their minds and give us that 360 degree angle, not just a man wielding a sword. Which is what this film wasn’t able to perform on.
