{"id":5760,"date":"2009-12-19T07:41:05","date_gmt":"2009-12-18T20:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/?p=5760"},"modified":"2009-12-21T07:44:38","modified_gmt":"2009-12-20T20:44:38","slug":"clash-of-the-titans-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/12\/19\/clash-of-the-titans-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Clash of the Titans 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past few days, the remake of the Ray Harryhausen SFX film Clash of the Titans<\/strong> (US-1981; dir. Desmond Davis) has jumped up quite a few notches on my attention scale thanks to the release of an extended trailer that takes what was looking pretty good and makes it look spectacularly interesting — to me at least.<\/p>\n

\"clash_of_the_titans_horse_sword_poster\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s not just the cool giant scorpions:<\/p>\n

\"giant-scorpion\"<\/a><\/p>\n

or the Gorgon with the extra-long serpentine body (a nicely traditional approach to a Naga-like creature<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\"gorgon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gorgon2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

or the Del Toroesque soothsayers:<\/p>\n

\"clash_of_the_titans05\"<\/a><\/p>\n

or Pegasus or the harpies or even the\u00a0\u00fcber-titanic Orga*-like Kraken (though that has rather a lot to do with it):<\/p>\n

\"kraken01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"kraken02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is something about this trailer that excites me in a way that the images and trailers of the critically acclaimed and reputedly excellent James Cameron scifi extravaganza Avatar<\/em> haven’t managed to do, as interested as I am to see the film. What that something is I’m not sure — and I know it’s a mistake to assume too much from a trailer. But I simply get the impression that Clash of the Titans<\/em> may be a remake that is totally justified and that director Louis Leterrier [hey, I thought his Incredible Hulk<\/em> was spot-on] might have done a good job with it. The Harryhausen original has some of the stopmotion master’s best work, yet for me it never held together very well as a film, with a spectacular cast that pretty well does nothing except stand around and talk, and an overly static feel.<\/p>\n

This remake is looking as though it might be not only visually excellent, with effectively created and well utilised CGI monsters, but also that it might have a coherent script<\/em> — an addition that generally (by all indications) had a low priority in the production schedules of many of the blockbuster FX films of recent times. There’s even hint in the trailer of a theme<\/em>. Of course, I could be wrong — but I can’t wait to find out!<\/p>\n

Trailer 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

If nothing else it gives hope that if rumours regarding a sequel to (or rather a re-boot of) the 1998 US version of Godzilla<\/em> under the auspices of Legendary Pictures are true, the result may be better than Emmerich’s reasonably effective but Not-At-All-Like-Godzilla effort.<\/p>\n

Gallery<\/strong>:<\/p>\n