Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Cast: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Rosamund Pike, Ralph Fiennes
Certification:12A
Running Time: 99minutes.
Synopsis: When the Gods’ power and immortality is weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, evil conspires to take over the world. Only Perseus (Worthington) with his demigod power has the strength to overcome the dark forces and must rescue his father Zeus (Neeson) from the evil machinations of his brother Hades (Fiennes) who aims to unleash the vengeful Kronos upon the world of men…
WRATH OF THE TITANS hits screens two years after its tepid predecessor CLASH OF THE TITANS, a critical flop and charmless remake of the much loved 1981 Harryhausen classic. Its release date was controversially held back in order to retrofit eye-hemorrhaging 3D, a move that proved the film had all the artistic integrity of Jedward. With such appalling reviews, THN wonders how in Hades the movie grossed some $495million worldwide, a figure which inevitably gets the Hollywood cash-cows baying for moo-re moo-ney. The greedy swines!
Despite THN’s clear disdain for CLASH… we skipped along to our screening all sweaty palmed with anticipation, confident that at the very least, Perseus’ latest outing couldn’t be any worse than the first. By Zeus’ lightning bolt we were wrong! WRATH OF THE TITANS is a joyless affair that drains ALL the magic and soul out of great Greek mythology. With subject matter so rich in culture and full of imagination it’s astounding how WRATH could’ve turned out this bad. A fact so blatant to the film’s star Sam Worthington, that when he arrived to introduce the movie to an excited audience his brief words…‘I hope you enjoy the film’ barely hid his guilt and embarrassment at what he knew we were about to see.
WRATH’s biggest failures are its lack of a coherent plot and a cast of half-baked characters that we never develop any real attachment to. The script lacks synergy and rhythm with the dialogue and delivery seriously shocking; actors pump out meaningless and clichéd maxims (example ‘Use the power inside you’) so regularly that it feels like the characters aren’t even talking to one another. The narrative itself is seemingly superfluous and really the film is just a series of set pieces whose tenuous link to the overall story is painfully clear thanks to expositional dialogue continuously reminding the audience where the characters are and why. In this way the film feels very much like a level based video game.
With WRATH’s concept being that all manner of demons and monsters are descending upon the earth due to the waning powers of the Gods, THN was expecting a thrill ride monster-mash-up adventure, encouraged by the trailer in which we glimpse, Chimeras, Cyclopses, a Minotaur, and more. Each creature’s appearance is disappointing, regardless of the exceptionally high standard of CG work. The main failure here is direction, Jonathan Liebesman (BATTLE LA) drops the ball in keeping the camera far too close to the action so we never get a full impression of what’s going on. This combined with choppy editing makes almost every sequence disorientating and frustratingly claustrophobic. The Chimera’s scene is all dust and rubble, the Cyclops sequence is muddled and spatially ambiguous and the Minotaur is too brief and un-exciting.
There is absolutely nothing to like about Sam Worthington’s lead performance: it lacks any conviction or enthusiasm, and the same can be said of performances by Neeson, Fiennes, Ramirez and Pike. Bill Nighy and Toby Kebbell do put a bit of energy as the comic relief but only achieve sympathy laughs. Despite Nighy’s efforts, his hermit character’s craziness is pantomime and his Yorkshire accent is nonsensically out of place. Further unintended laughs come when Neeson and Fiennes’ Gods-at-war gruffly stomp into battle in full length dresses – their macho gaits negated by their garb. Another head scratcher is how quickly Perseus and his companions solve an unfathomably complex labyrinth after turning a few corners.
WRATH OF THE TITANS is diabolical, and honestly readers we would have walked out had we not an obligation to give you the scoop. There is no storytelling here, no breath taking action, no standout performances this film is money driven movie-making and that’s it! WRATH’s limp excuse for a plot is muddled and hard to follow and serves only as a deus ex machina to sustain a string of underwhelming and baffling action sequences. It is fitting that the film’s tagline is ‘Feel the Wrath’ because everything about this movie makes us angry!
WRATH OF THE TITANS is in cinemas now
