Clash of the Titans (1981)
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Clash of the Titans Movie Review
Clash of the Titans is a 1981 epic fantasy film directed by Desmond Davis with the stop-motion work from Ray Harryhausen. It is a pretty solid, though flawed film.
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“Release the Krakken!“
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The plot is pretty good and having in mind that I’ve always loved Greek mythology, I’ve had a blast with this film too. The film is very adventurous filled with wonderful fantasy elements and it’s consistently entertaining and fun.
However, the major problem I’ve had with it is its over-reliance on action. It has way too many action sequences and plays more like a modern film and despite it looking and feeling like a 50s flick, in execution it’s an 80s blockbuster which I did not like. The film thus had very little time for strong characterization or drama. That’s why I much prefer ‘Jason and the Argonauts’.
So as I said, the characters are pretty standard and weak for the most part. The protagonist and the overall central romance is too bland and the overall approach to the film is archaic, especially in its slim characterization. But the acting is very strong with the highlights being Maggie Smith and Laurence Olivier, but all of the others are fine as well.
Whereas Clash of the Titans is weak in human characters, it’s excellent in the mythological creatures. The gods are all terrific and very well utilized, those three Stygian witches are fantastic and they pleasantly reminded me of ‘Hercules’, Pegasus is also great and Medusa is naturally the highlight in that awesome prolonged sequence. All of the scenes with the creatures steal the show here and are the major reason to see this film.
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Yes, the effects are dated by now, but in my opinion Ray Harryhausen’s work is phenomenal per usual here as he was such a great artist. His stop-motion work on the animals here is outstanding with the highlight being Medusa. The entire film looks exceptional for its time, the score is also really good and the epic, adventurous tone and approached worked in its favor. I just wished that the direction and the human characterization were better.
Clash of the Titans is inferior to ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ owing to bland human characterization and excessive action, but the story is still very good, the film is epic and adventurous, all of the gods and creatures are fantastic and they steal the show plus Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion work here is typically superb.
