Director Louis Letterier’s dumb, childish-level cinefantastique isn’t as bad as some critics make it out to be. Technically light-years better than the original 1981 version, the fundamental problem is that the storyline is boring and presented in a pretentious manner.
The upgrade to 3D after the principal photography was done in 2-D is too dark. Sam Worthington holds his own as a credible Perseus, but Liam Neeson as Zeus quite frankly looks slightly ridiculous. The storyline relates to the king proclaiming that a new era of man is upon us which is not looked on with favor by the Olympians who decide to release a terrifying beast known as a “Kraken” to destroy Argos unless the king agrees to sacrifice his beautiful daughter, Andromeda(Alaxa Davalos). So Perseus embarks on a quest to save the girl, one that includes gigantic scorpions, oracular witches and an inevitable showdown with Medusa, whose gaze turns men to stone.
The sword fights are dazzling but the whole film feels like ninety minutes of waiting for that damned “Kraken” to appear for the final climactic event. Its not that it’s such a terrible movie, but one that should not have been remade in the first place.
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