The new Wrath of the Titans movie [a sequel to the Clash of the Titans released about 2 years ago] debuted yesterday; and it was quite an epic showcase of Special-FX and dynamic action. It stared Sam Worthington as Perseus, the Demigod son of Zeus [played by Liam Neeson] and the female lead role of Andromeda was played superbly by Rosamund Pike, a British actress. The trio of humans that were featured was rounded-off by Demigod Agenor the son of Poseidon, played by Toby Kebbell.The story starts out rather slow paced, with Perseus living the life of a humble fisherman. But the explosive chaos soon unfolds right after he gets a warning visit from his father, Zeus [who has the ability to take over human bodies at will, even when he's somewhere else]. Perseus [Sam Worthington] is warned of a coming calamity as the people have stopped praying, thus the gods of Olympus have lost a great deal of their powers to keep the demons / monsters bound in Hades, within the prison in the core of hell known as Tartarus. But Perseus now has a young 10-year-old son named Helius, whom he wants to stay alive for and mentor - thus he wants no part in the forthcoming war.
After that clash in which Helius is nearly killed, Perseus heads to a devastated mountain temple to pray. There, the god Poseidon shows up and is staggering with weakness... and he confesses that Ares [a certified bad-ass, played perfectly by Edgar Ramirez] has joined forces with Hades, and they plan to unleash all the monsters in the Tartarus prison, especially the giant lava monster Kronos [who happens to be the father of the gods of Olympus... weird, but this is a sci fi / fantasy story, so stay with me]. And by the way, Zeus has been captured and put in chains, and his drained powers will be used to resurrect Kronos. After delivering the message, Posiedon turns to stone and literally dies.... yes folks, a god literally dies and crumbles like shattered concrete right before the eyes of the hero.
And once I saw this, I again said... WTF??? This is not the first movie in which I've seen the paradoxical demise of a divine immortal being. This sort of thing also happened in the 2012 movie "Immortals", which starred the Man of Steel, Superman, aka Henry Cavil. Once again in the theater, I was caught up in a cycle of deliberative thoughts that are summed up in this two-part rhetorical sentence:
SO WHY ARE THE GODS DYING?? AREN'T THEY FREAKIN' GODS??
[Above on the left: Ares, played by Edgar Ramirez, was one of my favorite performances of the whole movie. He also wielded a mystical transformable club / hammer that was 10-times better - in terms of its functionality and application - than the one utilized by Marvel's Thor]
[You may need to Click on the link that says "Read More", to see the rest of the pics in this lengthy article!]
Next in the movie, Perseus heads out on an adventure with his flying black stallion Pegasus, to meet with the Queen of the Greeks, Andromeda, in order to join the human warriors and seek out a fallen god to help him break into Hades and rescue his captured father, Zeus. Another Demigod is encountered at that point: Agenor, the son of Poseidon.
Now Perseus, Agenor, Andromeda and a small team of warriors set out to find a fallen god named Hephaestus (played by Bill Nighy),who lives on an "invisible island" that no one can find out at sea, except Agenor; aka the famous Navigator.
The story continues.... And later, Ares shows up, to "answer a prayer" by a young lady.... but he does the unthinkable when he arrives on the scene to confront Perseus and his team. The action continues and the other mystical beasts [the Minotaur and the Makhai] later show up; and the CGI scenes are very well done, blending the monsters into the ancient Greek battlefield.
Eventually towards the end of the movie, Zeus and Hades [who strangely reminded me of the WWE's Brothers of Destruction - Undertaker and Kane] have to team up and they battle against Kronos and his minions, in order to assist Perseus who has to fuse three mystical weapons that belong to the gods: the trident of Poseidon, the lightning bolt of Zeus and the spear of Hades. Together, the weapons transform into the "Spear of Triam", which looks like a large glowing thunderbolt, shown in one of the pics below]. Honestly, I've left out a lot of details, so that I don't completely spoil the movie for those who still hope to see it.
Now here are my other opinions on this flick. Character development was not the strong point. Yet you will find yourself drawn into the storyline, if you are a fan of non-stop action. The actors all did excellent jobs and there were elements of humor. Yet I felt that the fatherly bond between Perseus and Helius was one of the strong points of this movie, showing the depth of love / commitment that a father should have for his son, not wanting any harm to come to the young lad.
The end of the movie was rather lackluster in my opinion. And you may actually feel a bit letdown by the way the story ends. Perseus does get a chance to lock lips with Queen Andromeda, since they developed a bond of camaraderie throughout the story. But he does not take advantage of her budding passions, which shocked me. At the end, the door was wide open... he should have manned-up and "scored"... but instead he pulled the infamous "Ryan Gosling Drive Movie Blunder" and walked away from the prize. If you are curious about that referenced issue, the review of the 2011 Drive movie is over HERE. Yet the kiss between Perseus (Sam Worthington, aka Jake-the-Sully) and Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) isn't the last scene that moviegoers will see. You'll see something else as the ending... and you'll probably be mad as hell....
I shall leave you with the score I've given to the Action Movie [because that's exactly what is was]: 8 out of 10. It was good, but it certainly could have been concluded much better.
Three other Epic Fantasy Movie Reviews:
The Immortals, 2011: HERE
Conan the Barbarian, 2011: HERE
Troy vs The Immortals: HERE