Wrath Of The Titans (2012)

Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Notable Cast: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Toby Kebbell, Bill Nighy, Rosamund Pike

It has to be said initially that I wasn't a particular fan of the remake for "Clash Of The Titans" to begin with. For a refresher, read my review HERE. The movie was a fun and visual feast, but it's lacking depth and formulaic plot progressions were a massive burden on the entire film. It's sequel, "Wrath Of The Titans", fares no better in these categories. I cannot say whether or not this film is worse than the last entry, but I can say with certainty that it isn't better.

Perseus (Worthington) has taken to the life as a simple fisherman since his defeat of the Kraken ten years ago. His wife has since past, but his dedication to keeping his son away from the gods and their affairs has lead him into this simple life. A problem has arisen though and the lacking prayers to the gods has weakened their powers and threatened to release the monster Kronos from his prison in the Underworld. Zeus (Neeson) finds himself at wits again with his brother Hades (Fiennes) and its up to Perseus to find another mystical weapon by fighting off hordes of mythological creates, so that he can rescue his father and slay Kronos.

"I'm here to slay anyone with any kind of acting ability!"

If you are one of those film goers that desperately craves to be entertained, one who craves that spectacle of film...then "Wrath Of The Titans" is a sure fire winner. As with its predecessor, this film simply boggles with its visual immersion. Top of the line CGI mixed with relentless amounts of mythological creatures/entities make for a wild ride of exploding dirt, fire breathing, exploding buildings, massive magma giants, warring gods, exploding trees, a random Minotaur (?), and exploding staffs. This film tries to rival Mr. Michael Bay in random things exploding and high octane action set pieces and does a damn admirable job at doing such.

No real titans were harmed in the filming of this movie.

Beyond its adrenaline pumping action and visual prowess though, "Wrath" topples under its shifty foundations. It's plot moves so quickly - hey it has to pack a lot of random fighting with random monsters into an hour and a half, you know - that it's a relative blur of poorly crafted characters with faulty motivations. Once again Sam Worth(less)ington panders about with some half assed emotions and a shaggy new anti-hero haircut leaving the audience rooting more for the monsters to put him out of his B-grade hero misery. On the other hand, our stunningly well casted secondary cast all try their best with the significantly underdeveloped depth and screen time. With as much awesomeness as it is having Neeson as Zeus and Fiennes as Hades would seem, they are (once again) horribly underused and underdeveloped which leads us to one of the least climatic throw downs for an ending that should have blown us all away.

Two of my favorite actors TOGETHER...in dresses!

Throughout the film, I felt as though they desperately needed to take the film in a more tongue in cheek direction. When they do, with snide comments and quirky supporting characters like Nighy and Kebbell who simply ear up their scenes with fun and smarm in goofy and ridiculous portrayals, the film just works better. If only they would have run with its ridiculousness in concept with its execution we might have had a much better B-movie watching experience.

As is, I was massively entertained by the film's visuals and action even if some it is quite unfulfilling with particular notation to the finale battle of our heroes teaming up against Kronos and the all too brief and silly Minotaur battle. Other than that, "Wrath" fails to execute with its half assed directing (Liebesman needs to knock off that shaky cam 'war movie' crap...this isn't a sequel to "Battle: Los Angeles"), half assed plot work, and half assed acting. I can't say it was all that worse than "Clash", but it didn't improve on any of its flaws either.

Written By Matt Reifschneider