31 Movie Days: 11

Day 11 - Disappointing Movie

I'm just gonna say most recent disappointing movie, since the list of disappointments is disappointingly bigish. Earlier this year, there was one movie I couldn't wait to see. I hate that expression, but it's appropriate here. I needed to see CLASH OF THE TITANS [2010], and now. It just sounded too beautiful, too awesome, too magnificent, too epic to be true. Whether or not the remake would be faithful to the original 1980s Ray Harryhausen production was immaterial, all that mattered was that I saw this epic movie about mankind refusing the Gods and fighting against them, lead by our hero Persus, played by the increasingly popular Sam Worthington (TERMINATOR SALVATION, AVATAR). The storyline was far too rich, boasting far too many insanely awesome potential subplots that could be explored to make perhaps one of the best movies ever made about with Greek mythology elements.

What I was expecting was a action movie with intelligence, and a gradual, Christopher Nolan-like pace that delved into the humanity of, well, humans, and the power and selfishness of Gods, the political fallout that happens in Mount Olympus due to mankind's refusal to worship, and the ramifications - both war-like and personal - of humanities declaration of no tolerance with their makers. Stories about the Gods end of reign is astronomically exciting for me. While I waited for the movie to be released -after being postponed a whole week because of this stupid 3-D conversion nonsense - more and more posters featuring Persus and Medusa's head, as well as other character pieces with Hades and Zeus were released. Perhaps the most exhilarating one was the poster with Persus on his Pegasus riding into battle against a really beautifully menacing Kraken. Oh. My. God. That was gorgeous.

So when the movie was finally released in April, you better believe your arse I went to the first available screening. Turns out I needn't had bothered. Turns out that CLASH OF THE TITANS [2010] is nothing more than a super dumb action movie that has no personality or creativity to it, existing for the sole purpose to bring in more money for the studio and keep Sam Worthington employed. This feature film which held SO MUCH promise became nothing more than a sad, sad one-dimensional two hour CG fest. I guess this is what fans felt about EPISODE 1 back in 1999.

I recognize that I held preconceived notions based on really nothing, and I was probably pushing what I wanted/expected to see out the movie to a stupidly unrealistic proportion. So, in a way, it was my fault TITANS fell so low in my expectations, but simultaneously, the producers, writers, and director truly lost a chance to create a truly magnificent movie that could have rivaled Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. I know - blasphemy, but it would have been possible.