MOVIE REVIEW: 'Wrath of the Titans' aims low, falls shorter
Most viewers going to see "Wrath of the Titans" are probably expecting a movie light on story and heavy on action, which is exactly what they’re going to get.
This isn’t an inherently bad approach to take when making a film, but it’s hard to excuse the lack of a good story when a number of the action scenes fail to deliver as well.
The movie, a sequel to 2010's "Clash of the Titans," starts with a surprisingly interesting premise. Mortals have stopped believing in the Gods and have thus stopped praying to them. This has left the Gods in a severely weakened state, which opens up the opportunity for the Titans, led by Kronos, to rise up and overthrow the Gods.
Unfortunately, "Wrath of the Titans" doesn’t delve much deeper into the interesting parts of its story.
The protagonist of the film is the half-god Perseus, played by Sam Worthington. Joining him on the journey are Queen Andromeda, played by Rosamund Pike and another half-god named Agenor, played by Toby Kebbell. Zeus and Hades are once again played by Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes.
Worthington and Pike put in pretty mediocre performances. Many of their lines are delivered in a stiff and boring manner, and there doesn’t seem to be much depth to their characters.
Neeson and Fiennes make for pretty awesome deities, but the film doesn’t give them much to work with.
Kebbell is a pleasant surprise as Agenor. His character is interesting, and he is one of the only people in the film capable of delivering any humor. Unfortunately, like every other character in the film, he seems severely underdeveloped.
Much like the story, the action in "Wrath of the Titans" starts off strong but becomes a little dull as the film progresses.
Some scenes, like the Chimera tearing through a village, look great and really get the viewer’s adrenaline pumping. But there are also scenes like the Minotaur fight, which end much too quickly and give audiences a very anticlimactic and unsatisfying conclusion.
It seems as though the further into his journey Perseus gets, the easier his battles become, despite facing more powerful enemies. Rushing through potentially cool action sequences in order to fit in more of the monotonous story does not make for an enjoyable second half of the film. Even the massive final confrontation somehow manages to be completely underwhelming.
"Wrath of the Titans" is too superficial to provide an engaging story but has too many sub-par action scenes to leave audiences feeling satisfied.
Film: Wrath of the Titans Genre: Action, Fantasy Rating: PG-13 Score: 2 out of 5 stars
