Wrath of the Titans

More than just decent action and a feast of special effects for the eyes. Mr. Lava is sufficiently destructive and blobs of molten stuff that fly off him when he waves his arms about wipe whole cities off the map with apologetic matter-of-factness. The other monsters are also done very nicely. Keep up the good work. The story is roughly as dumb as the lamer episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess from my the days of my youth, but thanks to a bigger budget the whole thing looks a lot better. Liam Neeson is cool again, Sam also tries hard (with this screenplay, nobody has much acting to do) and Rosamund Pike is a slightly prettier Andromeda than the last one. The romantic storyline doesn’t work, and schizophrenic Perseus, always talking to himself, doesn’t instill much trust... but there we go. The action is super and I’ll certainly play Wrath a couple more times. (2012-06-15)

I just now noticed that this is a two-parter. As you can see, I didn't need the first one. I didn't find any Wrath of the Titans, but just a lot of jealousy and bitterness. Which I guess is fitting for a family of gods. You give one son one too many lollipops and you can worry about the one less gifted stabbing you in the back. But it wasn't that bad. There was always something banging, splashing, stabbing... so as an action movie, fine. No deep Greek myths and legends. (2013-05-25)

Sure, if I wanted to spit on it, I could go into any minute of runtime and pull out at least five things to criticize. However, the entire time Liebesman follows the rule "I’m not very good at this, but at least it will be noisy and fast," not letting down for even a brief moment. This can't be said of his predecessor, so no more long yawns or bleeding eyes. Worthington is fine, but the divine lineup is simply divine. PS: I would very much like to see some more serious stuff from this director. (2012-06-13)

Wrath of the Titans is a dumb megalomaniacal flick that is packed with action from beginning to end. It also features the best monsters you’ve seen in a movie in the past few years. Due to its one-dimensional characters, however, the potential of its elite British actors is wasted. The film is flat, but visually effective and full of quicksilver energy. Such energy in fact that it might be too much for viewers who would appreciate a bit of downtime with some emotions or – God forbid – some kind of a message. For its target audience, however, it is much more satisfying than the first instalment. If the first movie had looked like that, the second one would have attracted more people to the cinemas. (2012-05-23)

Enemies swarm one after another and Jonathan Liebesman lets all kinds of mud piles explode, but the charm somewhat fades. Sam Worthington's fierce expression could easily carry even a much weaker film, but this time around he has to take on a bit of routine, where the unforgettable battles like the scorpions from the first installment are missing. Chimera or settling the score with Kronos are still enjoyable, though on the other hand, the Cyclops and the Minotaur partly feel like forced attractions that the producers insisted should not go missing from an ancient fantasy saga. When even Rosamund Pike cannot fully sustain the role of the recast Andromeda (in a performance that is unnecessarily distinctive and incomprehensibly different), the final impression is unexpectedly sad. Yet where the creators redeem themselves is in their fearlessness in dealing with superior beings. I did not expect such a harsh body count, and because I don't insist on adhering to Eduard Petiška's stories (it's not history, but mythology), I remained pleasantly surprised at least by that. The feeling that this vengeful campaign against the Titans could have been done a class better, however, remained. (2012-06-25)