Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Clash of the Titans

The movie "Clash of the Titans" is about a war that has been brewing between man and the Greek gods and goddesses. As a declaration of war, a band of soldiers from Argos topple a statue of Zeus. Consequently, Hades appears and attacks the soldiers. Unfortunately, he also kills the innocent family of an unknown demigod. Because the demigod Perseus doesn’t die in the accident, he is left alone in misery and swears vengeance. Perseus is then taken to Argos by soldiers. While he is there, Hades appears again to inform the people of Argos that their city will be destroyed in 10 days unless they sacrifice Princess Andromeda to the Kraken. With the help of a group of soldiers and 2 monster- hunters, Perseus sets out on a perilous adventure to discover a way to kill the Kraken.


Without the group's knowledge, Hades sends out his own secret weapon to challenge their effort. The only wish of the fallen king Acrisius is to get revenge on Zeus for the corruption and subsequent death of his wife. Hades uses Acrisius' dark thoughts to convince him to set out and kill Perseus. However, Acrisius isn’t the only obstacle standing in the way of their mission. As they embark upon their journey, they encounter challenges such as giant scorpions, crossing into the Underworld, and fighting Medusa, Acrisius, and the Kraken. Thankfully, they also receive assistance from the gods. Perseus is given the sword of Zeus and a Pegasus to help him on his journey. Furthermore, they receive clues from witches, and when they are battling the terrifying scorpions, a group of sorcerers called the Djinn arrive to save them. However, I will not explain how all of these things connect because you should watch this spectacular movie.




Travis Beacham and Phil Hay are the writers of this fantastic movie. It was directed by Louis Leterrier. Though "Clash of the Titans" is mostly mythological, it could also be considered an action-adventure. The entire movie is based upon mythological creatures, such as the Greek gods, Medusa, and the Kraken. However, it is an adventure that is action packed. Perseus sees a lot of action on his journey. He fights against many opponents and triumphs. Although it may seem like the movie is only about Perseus setting out to save the day, it is also about him finding out about himself and who he is as a man, not as a demigod.


In the movie, there are many action scenes with Perseus as the main fighter. He fights against King Acrisius, which leads to the attack of the scorpions because the King's blood creates them. While the men are distracted, the King escapes to come back into the storyline later. Later, another conflict arises between Perseus and Medusa. The witches informed the group that the head of Medusa would be helpful if they want to defeat the Kraken. After he beheads her, he gets in another skirmish with Acrisius outside the cave. He defeats the King and flies off to Argos on a Pegasus to battle the Kraken and Hades. Much of the movie is centered around fights and battles.

However, this movie is not just about the fighting,  it is also about mythology. Two of the main characters within the movie are Zeus and Hades. Furthermore, there are multiple mythological creatures that are crucial to the movie, such as Pegasus, witches, the Kraken, and Medusa. In reality, there are no such things as the Kraken, a woman being transformed into a snake, or a horse with wings, but in ancient times these things were believed to be true. Greek gods who knew all and ruled all were a fact of life.
Although I don’t have the beliefs that the ancient Greeks did, this movie illustrated the ideas effectively. It was interesting, suspenseful, and the effects were spectacular. For example, the Kraken and Medusa looked realistic, not like they were completely digitalized. “Clash of the Titans” wouldn’t be suitable for young children because of the violence. However, I would highly recommend this movie to anybody who likes action or mythology.

1 comment:

  1. not to discourage this in the slightest but clash was filled with so many mythological errors it made it almost unwatchable for me. not to mention that the main character gets almost no emotional development in the plot of the movie. we go here we go here kill this then win. no real trials no lessons learned a failure to make you care for the character.

    ReplyDelete