WHEN TITANS RULED THE EARTH: Clash of the Titans (2010) and Wrath of the Titans (2012)
3 stars
Arrow Video. Limited Edition 4K UHD. 12th August
CLASH OF THE TITANS: Disc 1
When I saw that CLASH OF THE TITANS was due on UHD I was excited – Harryhausen in 4K… unfortunately this isn’t that film but rather the remake starring Sam Worthington. Oh well! One can dream.
A young baby, Perseus is rescued from a coffin in the ocean and brought up by fisherman Spyros (Pete Postlethwaite) and his wife Marmara (Elizabeth McGovern). Some time later he has grown into hunky Sam Worthington. He is actually the son of Zeus and a human mother so is a demigod. All around him the humans are losing faith in the gods, and he sees soldiers from Argos (not that one!), smashing a giant statue of his real Dad into the sea and declaring war on the gods. Next thing they know, winged creatures come from the sea and kill them all before coalescing into Hades (Ralph Fiennes). Only Perseus survives the attack.
Soon the humans are embroiled in a battle with the gods as Zeus (Liam Neeson) tells his brother Hades to ”turn them on each other”. When King Kepheus (Vincent Regan) and Queen Cassiopeia (Polly Walker) declare they are deities now, an angry Hades appears and tells them they have ten days to sacrifice their daughter Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) or he will unleash the Kraken. Which frankly is what the audience want…
Whilst he is initially reluctant to join the fight Perseus will inevitably be drawn into the action.
With lots of familiar faces in the cast – including Gemma Arterton, Jason Flemyng, Nicholas Hoult, Mads Mikkelson and Luke Evans among them – this is treated rather more seriously than the Harryhausen version, with action sequences well handled by director Louis Letterier and an epic score by Ramon Djawadi to bolster things. The monster sequences have a modern dynamism to them, with the giant scorpion sequence especially good – something that the old style stop motion would have been unable to create – though the Medusa here looks somehow less real than the model one in the 1981 version!
Much darker than it’s forerunner with more horror like creatures, however the story feels thin and there aren’t really enough monsters. Still if you are fan of this redo, it looks fantastic on this 4K disc… “Release the Kraken!”
There is a cameo appearance by the mechanical owl Bubo from the original film.
I originally saw this at the flicks in 3D.
WRATH OF THE TITANS (2012): Disc 2
CLASH was obviously successful enough to warrant a sequel.
Perseus (a returning Sam Worthington), having saved humanity, decides to live as a human to bring up his son in a small fishing village. He is visited by his pop Zeus (Neeson once more), as people aren’t praying to the gods as much and they are losing their powers – which can lead to chaos.
When Hades and Ares, son of Zeus, kill Poseidon and kidnap Zeus and take him to the underworld, Perseus has to team up with another demigod Agenor (Toby Kebbell), son of Poseidon, to try and rescue him – before Hades and Ares can unleash more Titans like Kronos.
This is much the same as the previous outing, with a few monsters to contend with and an even more serious tone – the new familiar faces here include Bill Nighy doing his usual scenery chewing, Lily James and Sinead Cusack. Neeson and Fiennes continue to keep remarkably straight faces throughout. Much CGI engulfs the finale. Look out for Bubo the owl in another cameo.
Steve Kirkham
EXTRAS
4 stars – comprehensive selection of extras
DISC 1 – CLASH OF THE TITANS EXTRAS
Scaling Mount Olympus, a brand new interview with producer Basil Iwanyk
Sam Worthington is Perseus
Zeus: Father of Gods and Men
Enter the World of Hades
Calibos: The Man Behind the Monster
Tenerife: A Continent on an Island
Scorpioch
Actors and Their Stunts
Wales: A Beautiful Scarred Landscape
Bringing Medusa to Life
Prepare for the Kraken!
Sam Worthington: An Action Hero for the Ages featurette
Alternate ending
Deleted scenes
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
DISC 2 – WRATH OF THE TITANS
Unleashing the Beasts, a brand new interview with producer Basil Iwanyk
Who Are the Titans?
Hephaestus: God of Fire
Lost in Tartarus’ Labyrinth
Creatures of the Titans
Path of Men (behind the scenes)
Battling the Chimera
Agenor: The Other Demi-God
The Cyclops Fight
Prison of the Titans
Minotaur: The Human Nightmare
The Heavens Raise Hell on Earth
Deleted scenes
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Plus you get: Illustrated collector’s book containing new writing by author and critic Guy Adams and film scholar Josh Nelson; Double-sided fold-out posters for each film featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Joe Wilson; Six postcard sized artcards; Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Joe Wilson
