Wrath Of The Titans

Year: 2012
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Cast: Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Edgar Ramirez, Toby Kebbell, Bill Nighy, Danny Huston


Plot: Ten years after he killed the Kraken, Perseus now leads a quiet life as a fisherman with his son, Helius. However he is forced to go back into battle when his half brother Ares teams up with Hades and captures his father Zeus, in a bid to release the Titans from the underworld.


Review: I was one of the few people who loved the Clash Of The Titans remake. Many people thought it wasn't as good as the original, but I felt it was absolutely fun and great entertainment from start to finish. So I was looking forward to this sequel, but after seeing it, I was a bit underwhelmed.

Director Jonathan Liebesman, who gave us last year's Battle: Los Angeles (another one of my favorites), introduces more monsters in this sequel, in a bid to up the ante for Perseus. For Wrath we have Chimeras (two headed beasts), Cyclopes (giants with one eye), a Minotaur (bull headed beast), Makhais (monsters with two bodies) and the great Kronos, father of the gods. All of them look pretty impressive on screen. Liebesman also piles on the action and destruction, much like he did with Battle: L.A., and at the same time balances it well with some family drama, especially between Zeus and Hades.

However, as good as this is, I felt Clash was a much better film, in terms of look, cinematography and characters. And as good the battle scenes are in Wrath, Clash's battle scenes are far more memorable. Wrath's action sequences are a class below the scorpion fight scenes and the Medusa fight in Clash, and part of the reason this is so is because of the shaky camerawork Liebesman chooses to adopt. He makes up for it in the final battle with Kronos, as Zeus and Hades get in on the action, but it's not enough to make this film rise above its predecessor.

Sam Worthington is back as Perseus again, but the focus is less on him now, and more on his cast members Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, who play the warring brothers Zeus and Hades. To that end, the experienced duo give us some much needed drama. Edgar Ramirez however isn't so great as Ares, as he looks just like another Greek soldier. Rosamund Pike is back to her one expression acting, replacing Alexa Davalos as Andromeda, while Toby Kebbell and Bill Nighy provide some humour as Agenor, son of Poseidon and Haphaestus, the fallen god who built the gods' weapons, respectively. Once again, to my disappointment, Danny Huston gets the short shrift as Poseidon, this time getting more than one line compared to Clash, but still much too brief. What is up with that?

The fact is, Wrath Of The Titans is a fine attempt at creating a fantasy film based on Greek mythology, and it was fun while it lasted. But in comparison to Louis Letterier's Clash Of The Titans, it just falls short of awesome. (3.5/5)