Wrath of the Titans

In Wrath of the Titans, the gods are dying. Humankind is no longer praying, and with the gods’ faltering power comes a loosened grip on a world-breaking threat—Kronos. Father to Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, Kronos has been imprisoned for an age in the underworld prison of Tartarus; but through a misguided plot by Hades and Ares, Kronos is now gaining strength for a destructive return. The world’s only hope is Zeus’ half-man, half-god son Perseus, who only wants to live a simple live as a fisherman with his son, devoid of any divine heroics.

The plot is wading-pool deep; Perseus (Sam Worthington) wants to be left alone, raise his son, and live a normal life, but the coming apocalypse won’t let him. Hades, sick of being relegated to the Underworld and mad at his brother Zeus for tricking him there in the first place, wants revenge. Against all hope, and with the help of forgotten demi-god Agenor (Toby Kebbell) and battle-hardened queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Perseus finds the strength and will to triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds and large, computer-generated, lava-veined titans.

If one doesn’t expect much, the movie succeeds on several points. The effects are impressive, from dual-bodied hell-spawned warriors to Kronos himself, a massive volcano of a titan. Zeus (Liam Neeson) is given a bit more to do than release the Kraken, Hades (Ralph Fiennes) finally drops the Voldemort-inspired whispering of the first Titans movie, and a few action scenes might cause you to notice later that you’ve been tensing your muscles the whole time. Overall, it’s enjoyable, with a few funny lines thrown in. (Upon a rough landing on Pegasus in front of a crowd, Perseus quips, “You used to be better at this,” and the horse smacks him in the back of the head with a wing.) Another bright turn is Bill Nighy (Davy Jones in the Pirates movies) as Hephaestus. He’s quirky, insane, and brilliant, and his take on the crippled blacksmithing god is a fun one.

The effects are the star of this movie, but often in movies of this type, something else has to give; in this case, the story. If people don’t know their mythology, they won’t know why Hephaestus has a thing for Aphrodite or why Perseus is attacked in the labyrinth by a hybrid man/bull. Ares (Edgar Ramirez) is angry at pretty much everyone—which makes sense with him being the god of war. There’s no indication throughout the movie that Perseus and Andromeda have any romantic interest in each other, but they fall in love in the last five minutes of the movie.

If you’re going to the movies to forget about reality for a couple hours and enjoy a movie that reads like a 7th grader’s Cliff Notes report of Lord of the Rings, try Wrath of the Titans. The movie does have its share of monsters and battles, making its PG-13 rating an appropriate one.

Want to see more before you decide?  Wrath of the Titans –  Official Trailer