Review on Wrath of the Titans (2012)

Although I did not get to see Wrath of the Titans opening weekend, it was so much better than its predecessor that I thought it merit a review by Jacki K. To begin Clash of the Titans (2010) was a great disappointment, I am really into Greek Mythology and try to see any film around that topic. So you can imagine that I am always frustrated whenever they drastically change the myth to fit today’s audience better or something. Like with Clash, or The Immortals, or really anything aside from when the Muppet Babies did an episode on Greek mythology called Babies in Troyland. I remember that shit like it was yesterday. Anyways, it is hard to come by anything in Hollywood that doesn’t frack with something that was already genuinely a good story line. What’s nice about Wrath is that it doesn’t even follow any previously laid out stories in Greek Mythology, but it does a better job at keeping up with the general fables of the past than any other recent rendition about the Greek realm.

It is based around Perseus, our previous hero who has finally grown out his hair like his predecessor in the original Clash from 1981, and having to save the world yet again from a Titan. This time around there are ACTUAL Greek Titans in the movie. Unlike the first, those were not titans, only monsters. The Titans are the first frock of Immortals to be in the Greek scene. Kronos, the father of the original gods (like Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, ext.) is being unleashed thanks to some jealous, old family feud between you guessed it; Zeus and Hades with Ares, the god of war thrown in there for good measure (daddy didn’t love me enough issues to be spread EVERYWHERE!) Which I guess would be the theme of the movie, it is based around alot of male family issues.

But enough about the plot, if you wanted that you could just read a synopsis at IMDb.com. Here is what’s good about the movie: the secondary characters. They make the film. Worthington as Perseus is mediocre at best, but he is your run of the mill action hero and you don’t get too attached to him. The players you should be watching for are the following: Andromeda newly played by the fierce blond Rosamund Pike, Agenor the Navigator played wistfully by Toby Kebbel, and Hephaestus portrayed brilliantly by Bill Nighy.

These guys make the film, I loved seeing a woman bring strength and power to the screen and in no way does she ever “need a man/lover” at any point in the film. That was grand to see, considering that hardly happens in cinematography anymore these days. Agenor was some of the comedic relief in the movie and I loved him. Not only was he pretty to look at, playing the demi-god of Poseidon’s loins, he had some of the funniest lines in the movie along with great visual delivery. Hephaestus, although not what I would have considered to have been the correct Greek representation of the craftsman god, was amazing. I love this actor to begin with, and anytime he was on screen he had me chuckling, especially with Bubo the owl (his creation) as an Easter Egg in the film. The writers did a bloody good job in my opinion when it came to the secondary characters.

Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes reprise their roles once more as Zeus and Hades, Zeus has plenty of screen time which helps the footing of the film, but personally Hades, as a Greek god has always been one of my favorites since Disney’s Hercules, (so naturally I think he) could have used more screen time.

Over all the film was much better then Clash, but possibly because the film wasn’t based off of any specific myth, but created one of its own using real information from the old fables. The trailer is pretty bad ass, so here is a link to that–> Wrath, so that should get you pumped to see it. The monsters are pretty damn sweet, and the special effects are bad ass too, so it has everything the action movies these days should have. And for that I give the film 8 out of 10 flaming cars.