Clash of the Titans was a Harry Hamlin movie in 1981 depicting the greek gods dictating as to how our world would be run.
Today in 2010 on April 2, the remake with juicy actors like Sam Worthington (terminator salvation) Liam Neeson (Batman Begins) and Ralph Fienes (Harry potter.) The movie definatly provides better action, as well as story continuity.
I've seen both movies, both original and present, and liked both very much, however, neither are like each other apart from the characters and the denouement at the end. Now this reveiw is long, and I know some of you haven't seen this, and this WILL have spoilers, so unless your only going to see it for its action and boobies, leave now. If not? Sit back and listen to the SoulEater dictate.
Here's the plot of the original one from memroy, Persius is a demi god beccause Posiden got horny and fell in love with a human girl who happened to be betrothed queen of some place.
She had a child, which was NOT the kings, and when the king found out about it, in rage at the gods, he throws both the new born baby and his queen into the sea to spite Posiden, who of course is pissed, and summons the kracken to do him one bigger. The kracken ravages everything.
Perseus on the other hand grows up to be this champion olympics guy, who the gods keep their eye on cause he's half god.
But is Posiden the only god who got horny? No, some female god who i'm pretty sure was the wife of Posiden actualy, had to also have a son named Calibos with a human. Now, This female god or Mrs. Posiden is all mothery and proud of her son as he grows up to be dashing, good looking, pre maddona. He's also supposed to be married to this hot daughter of the King of Argos (who of course somehow meets and falls in love with Hero: Percious). Somehow Calibos' pride gets him into doing some sin that angers the gods(mainly Zeus) so Zeus transforms him into a a life size shoulder devil.
Mom hence forth is NOT so proud. In fact she's so pissy she commands it so that the daughter of the king will not marry ANY man unless they know the answer to some unsolvable Riddle that only Calibos knows, further more CALIBOS cant marry her either becuase he always knows the answer so it would be cheating, so while his mom is mad at him for his stupid mistake she's also mad at men for doing this to her, in short she's a pissy little so in so.
Zeus to get on Mrs. Posiden's nerves gives Perceus a spear and magic helmit
which make him invisable so thath e can follow the princess who goes to Calibos to learn the new unsolvable riddle of the day. (Also she does so by coming out of her body and going into a cage that is hourly picked up by a giant condor and takes her to Calibos' lair were demented Umpa lumpa's serve him.
Percius hears the riddle's answer and is found out when he leaves tracks, him and Calibos have a fight, and he hacks off his hands with his sword, leaving Calibos to go run to momma.
Meanwhile he returns to the city of Argos and answers the riddle, so its a match and he's allowed to marry the hot princess. UNFORTUNATLY, her moms' a blather mouth and doesnt get the attage "DONT ANGER THE GODS" as if the last few years of changing people into gouls and summoning krackens wasn't enough. She says that her daughter is cuter then Mrs. Posiden, who upon hearing this returns in her PMS'ing state and says that unless the princess is sacrificed to the kracken, that she'll have the kracken smite everybody, like years before.
Perseus is having none of this, and vows to find a way to undo this curse. Zeus, still mad about how Mrs. Posiden is dealing with things, and routing for his OWN kid, (Idk, i think he's his god father or something, no pun intended) makes an owl robot and has it show them the way to the 3 witches who can tell the future because they would know if someone could win or not.
He captures for Pegasus, a flying horse, earlier on and tames him, and they fly out to the witches howe where they inquire of them how to defeat the Kracken. They of course say "cant be done, go away or we'll eat you, but then he threatens to throw away their crystal ball eye which they need to see...(????)
So they say that there IS a clause in the fine print about killing it, that in fact you COULD stop it if the Medusa were to look at it, because Medusa is a beast that was once a woman that (wouldn't you know it?) slept with posiden and to be cursed for her treachery was turned into a snake haired half-snake half psycho ex-girl friend that can turn any living creature she looks at to stone.
If he were to get the Kracken to look at Medusa, it could be ceiled as well. They journy there, and have what could be arguably the most cool part of the movie scene in which they play cat and mouse with Medusa, medusa being the cat, in her temple. She picks them off with a bow and arrow she has handy, and any that she doesnt shoot with arrows, she looks at and BAM they're han Solo-fied.
He cuts off her head using his *magic shield* as a mirror to see her so he wont have to look at her directly. They bag her head and realise it can still turn things to stone, so they take it with them.
After doing so, he journy's back to Argos, where he's accosted by Calibos who's pissed at everyone understandably for being screwed for most of his life, and wants both the princess and Percius and Argos to die.
He tries destroying the head of medusa, and the blood that comes out of it turns into scorpians....for what reason is beyond me but they do.
Then Percius' men have a fight with these therobread size scorpians and Calibos himself, being the boss. Percius is the only survivor of the group, killing calibos. He takes the head thats still working, and journy's back to argos on Pegasus with his R2-D2 robot owl, and some flower of fire, to stop the Bowser before it can eat princess peach. I MEAN BEFORE THE KRAKEN EATS THE PRINCESS.
He turns the Kraken to stone with the Psycho Ex Girlfriend head, gets the princess, and Zeus forbids anymore messing with their lives because I guess he's had his fun watching all this and its time to give them a breather.
THATS THE OLD ONE!
The new one is completly diffrent, in the old one the gods were more like pissy parents at a grade school were saying "MY KID CAN BEAT UP YOUR KID! LOOK AT MY KID BEAT THAT KRAKEN!" Instead of gods of olympus mythology, that look down their noses at everyone on earth, view humans as sources of power because their praise give them energy, and sleep around with them because they're litterally nothing to them.
In the new one, we meet percius before we find out he's a demi god, and see him being taken in as a baby by a fisher man and his wife named Jonathen and martha-
WRONG STORY. Anyway they raise him as their own into the strapping young man Sam Worthington who helps mend nets with them for their fisshing, just an average guy, not an olympic champion or horse tamer, or dragon slayer.
His dad is always going on about how the gods act so pios dictating who lives or dies, striking places with fammon, and storms.
(again we do not know that he's a demi god yet.) Suddenly a statue of Zues that stands on the cliffs of where they fish is torn down by soldeirs in a way of giving the gods the finger of what they feel of their rule.
In retribution, Voldimort or hades rather avenges his brother (Zues)'s desicrated statue and kills everyone there, including Percius' adobted family. Being able to breath underwater, he watches as his parents drown with him in their fast sinking boat.
He swims back to the surfice and is taken by Argos' border patrol to the capitol for the King to decide what to do with him. The king is realising that the gods need his and the praise of his people, and all peoples on earth to fuel them and make them strong and that THEY are the ones holding all the cards now.
Their daughter however (the princess) see's that the people suffer from pleagues and storms for their defiance and says that they're playing with fire, but they ignore her, and her blabber mouth mother says how not only is she more beautiful then the female god of Posiden, but that the HUMANS are now gods, out with the old, in with the new. THAT is the damning line in the movie that dooms everyone, not "My daughter's hotter then you" like so many moms probobly said to their kids at that time.
Hades comes again and rips everyone up, except for percius because he's immune to his death vortex being half god. He then tells the king & queen that they have until the eclipse of the sun in 10 days to sacrifice the princesss or he'll Summon da Kraken!
(Hadi-mort)
Now as a side note, i'd like to point out that I liked how this was dealing more with the gods, then before. In the old one, although Hades' home, minions, and even his pet creature the Kracken, are used, we never see him. The only antagonist really are the strange numerous beasts percius fights on his way to the temple, and Calibos.
This one has it where Zues(Liam Neeson) Is a bad ass mother ****er, litterally on the last one because HE is the father of Percius. Which is EXACTLY how zues and many of the gods' were, they looked down their noses at us humans, knowing they could help us but not because we weren't worth their time. We also see that percius HATES the gods in this newer version, instead of stalwartly following their instructions to the letter.
His step parents were killed in front of him with his step brother too, and he's told (By Hades) its Zues' will, who on top of this turns out to be his dad that left him.
Him journying to find way to break the curse is more out of his vengeful anger and daddy issues, rather then the flowing haired hero of the day in the old one. Which makes sence, its called "CLASH OF THE TITANS, not Clash of The gods' little helper and their beasties.
He's seen for being a Demi god because obviuosly he didn't die like the other men did, so they interogate him asking if he's part of this plan against the humans. In prison he's met by this hot girl named Io, yes IO, who we meet at the begining of the movie for a short while.
She reveils to him that she is also a demi god, cursed with long life (meaning that she had to live while her loved ones died for decades on end) and she also has no love for the gods cavalier reign. She was the one who guided Percius' baby crib through the water to Jonathen Kentious' boat because she knows he'll grow up to be the one who defiesthe gods in a way not seen by man.
Now here's another plot twist that they pull out of their hats, they fall for each other, not the princess and percious, its Io and Percius. which ALSO makes more sence for thse reasons, they're both demi gods, both of em will live longer then most poeple together. Also, Persius just MET the princess of Argos after his parents united Jack fromt he titanic before his eyes, he has NO time to think about chicks.
However, joining a club of god haters with like daddy issues and realising that the girl sitting next to you is as passionate about it as you, and HOT to boot? that works.
She tells him about the witches and that they know the fate of the world and would know if theres anyway to defeat the kracken. Then they mount an expodtion, made of soldiers, hunters, trackers, and two demi gods, to find the one ring- I mean eye.
On their way through middl eart- GREECE! their journy through greece they bump into several gifts from the gods (Zeus), Like a magic sword, and Pegasis the horse. ALL of which Persius refuses at first because again, he has demi god-daddy issues, and he's pissed at the loss of his parents, who wouldn't be?
They fight off the scorpions that are HUGE, but they aren't condured from the blood of the Medusa's head, they just happen to be native to that prarticular desert. In fact they meet a breed of people their that ride them like live stock and heard them, known as the Djinn tribe.
The Djinn are like starwars' sand people who've been cursed by the gods, namely hades, to roam the desert with rotting flesh. They both hate whats been done to them by the gods, so the two groups unite to continue the journy to the Isingard...sorry to the witches.
They find out from the witches they can use the Medusa against the Kracken, but ALSO that his fate has been decided to die... Perseus is undaunted however, because again, he doesnt give a ***t about what the gods decide.
Zues finds him in human form and tells him that he should take the gifts he's given him because no man can defeat the trials ahead, perseus tells him BITE ME basicly, but learns that Zeus DOES have guilt about siring him, and not knowing that he was born, if he'd known he would have taken him to olympus for sanctuary.
MEANWHILE, CALIBOS enters. He is introduced semi-earlier then the scorpians, and is NOT a demi god. He is in fact, the king who's wife slept with Zues and killed her and attempted to drown Perseus as a child. Upon doing so, Zues lightning'd him and scared his face. In present day, his people have abandoned him, his in a ghost kingdom, alone and scarred.
Hades interjoins him in his master plan which has been to dethrown Zues all along. HE gains power from peoples hurt, confusion and woe, unlike his brother Zues, so making it seem like he's doign his brother a big fav by avenging his monuments, and sentancing maidens to da Kracken, he's actualy draining zues by making the people stop worshiping him and siting devision amongst the people, bringing MORE pleagues, and MORE suffering, making HIM stronger.
Hades blesses Calibos by making him into the shoulder devil thing, and sends him to finish what the tried to do years aago and kill his bastard son perseus. Again this proves how they're justifying the title, CLASH OF THE TITANS, Titans and gods are actualy clashing, AGAINST each other.
He kills off most of Perseus' men before they meet Medusa, only to meet his own demise at perseus' hand.
Medusa's scene was satisfyingly good. It was a scene based on suspence in the original, where is she going to strike from? Only when we've seen her silloette and shadow against the wall a few times, and seen men shot down by arrows randomly from the dark, do we finally see her.
In this new one, the graphics are good enough to make up for the cheesey version of before, and the action was good in how they finally beat her. These are as many spoilers as i will give to say last part.
The movie is different but holds more true to the title, and explains more, and to how the gods and myths back then were really like.
THE SOULEATER GIVES IT A B-, at most...
YOU ALL OWE ME YOUR SOUL.........