Sunday 4 April 2010

Louis Leterrier is in my brain.


So yesterday I saw Clash of the Titans which is without a doubt, my personal film event of the year.

I adore the original 1981 version and watched it religiously as a child with my Dad. Ray Harryhausens creations blew my mind and although it may look laughable compared to todays Avataresque standards I feel his monsters have a timeless look about them.

So when I discovered it was under going a remake I pretty much lost my mind with excitement. I've watched every trailer available in the run up to the films release date and I even purchased Jason and the Argonauts - the original 1963 version - to satisfy my unquenchable lust for colossal monsters generally being a nuisance in ancient Greece.

Now the reason I think Mr Leterrier is in my brain is because for me, he did everything I would have done in his position. During the conversational scenes I found myself thinking, 'that was a very short conversation, have I missed something'. For exmple I'm pretty sure there's one scene where Perseus is arguing that he is not a Demi-god capable of smashing the Krakens grill, he is in fact, just a lowly fisherman. This is usually where there is a ridiculous 'finding your inner hero' montage that annoys me to monsterless tears. However I was pleasently surprised to see that all it takes is for one person to say to Perseus; 'No, your are not just a man', and off he goes, to get involved.

I actually complained as I walked out then I thought, 'wait, he has done exactly what I would have done given the chance to make a decent monster film'. He cut the bullshit dialogue to just what you needed to know allowing the monster scenes to come around quicker which to be honest is what these films are about.

The best stories in Greek mythology aren't called 'Perseus talks about maybe slaying the Kraken because he is riddled with self doubt'. They are about men slaying monsters, adventuring, and annoying the gods.

If there are any girls reading this don't worry, like all good Greek tales there is a love interest thrown in and I've heard Perseus looks pretty good too. So it's not all combat and shouting.

I was genuinely impressed with the film but I wont tell you my favourite bits because I will end up spoiling all of the monster and battle scenes for you, but I will say the Kraken is particularly impressive and is a far cry from Harryhausens 1981 interpretation.

So yea, If you like monsters, Gods, beautiful women, fighting and watching two people fall in love, go and see it. If you don't, you probably need to get better taste.

Oh and one more thing, Liam Neeson is Zeus! ZEUS!! What more do you want?