WRATH OF THE TITANS

title: WRATH OF THE TITANS
year: 2012
cast: Sam Worthington
rating: **

Although Greek Mythology has been around a long, long time before 1977’s STAR WARS, there are similarities in this tale of Perseus, the demi-god son of Zeus – the bearded God captured in the underworld by his evil son Ares and his brother, Hades. The STAR WARS connections include the basic plot of a rural fisherman (and a band of cronies) on a quest to rescue an important figure from the bad guys (farm boy rescuing a princess). And at the doorstop of the netherworld, a slab closes slowly – the good guys have just enough time to jump through to save their lives. After which they fall into a pit where, soon enough, the walls start closing in (trash compactor). Skipping to the finale battle with a giant Hell Beast, Kronos, Perseus and his black horse ride into the monstrosity where an exact hit, in a precise location, will destroy it completely (Death Star). Simularities between fathers and sons and power and greed, and all that other stuff could be in any myth or fable, but if you take away a quick battle with gigantic Cyclops men and a few bouts between Perseus and Ares, there’s not much here at all. And as one character tries to lighten the wrath with rogue comic-relief bravado, Toby Kebbell’s Arengor (Han Solo), slacker son of Poseidon, gets lost in a mesh of computer animation without a real plot. Perhaps THE MAZE OF HADES would have been a more befitting title – most of the time our heroes try getting into, and then out of, the underworld: replete with flashy but underwhelming 3D effects. And while the end provides a big bombastic battle to make up for the lack of story, there’s too much exposition about gods and titans and not enough cool little fights leading to the big one.