Movie Tour: Clash of the Titans

It's been a while since I've been to the theater to see a movie (Book of Eli in January was the last one). So, after a productive week, I decided to take Thursday afternoon off and head over to Crawfordsville to see one of the first major movies of 2010 - Clash of the Titans.

Plot Summary

Clash of the Titans tells the story of Perseus, a man who is found and raised by a fisherman. One day his family is killed by Hades, the god of the underworld, and Perseus seeks revenge. Perseus is taken to Argos, where he queen makes the claim that her daughter is more beautiful than Aphrodite herself, which causes Hades to inform the city that unless Andromeda is sacrificed, the city of Argos will be destroyed in 10 days. The story then follows Perseus and a group of soldiers from Argos as they embark on a quest to find a way to defeat the gods & the Kraken that will destroy Argos for their affront to the gods.

Review

The special effects in this movie far surpassed the effects of the original 1981 classic, which, of course, is no surprise. The monsters that were created were amazing in scale and detail. I never expect great acting in movies like this, but it was certainly tolerable, not overly dramatic, which is often the case. The storyline is rather simple - man's family is killed, man seeks revenge, man has to find a way to defeat a giant, sea monster to save a beautiful woman. Typical.

Recommendation

I really enjoyed this movie. I almost always like movies with a lot of action in them, but this one was pretty good. Apart from the violence, which isn't even all that bad, there isn't a lot about it that's objectionable. It's a good story, and it provokes some good thoughts/conversations (one of which I'll post in a few days). I'd definitely see it again, and I'd say it's worth seeing at the theater. It's not life-changing, so if this isn't your kind of movie, wait for it to come to the dollar theater, but it's definitely worth seeing.

Best Part

The special effects are amazing. The weakest of the f/x was probably Medusa, but everything from the giant scorpions to the Kraken is done really well.