Images have began to circle the web announcing the remake of Clash of the Titans (is it just me or does it feel like it was announced about a month ago? Movie production sure is fast nowadays...). The movie based on the 1981 classic is being directed by Louis Leterrier and stars Sam Worthington (who's yet to prove his worth with James Cameron's upcoming Avatar) as the mythical demigod Perseus.
The original was a favorite of mine as a kid. I used to be enchanted by Ray Harryhausen's stop motion effects (I covered my eyes whenever Medusa appeared and was terrified by the Stygian Witches) and the plot got me interested in Greek myths.
Once I became film conscious however, the movie proved to be worthy because of several other things. That cast for starters! With Sir Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Burgess Meredith and Flora Robson among others, the film is an example of how great actors make even campy fantasy seem relevant. Not to mention Harryhausen's breathtaking effects (how he was snubbed for an Oscar is insulting).Now, next year's remake has people like Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and Mads Mikkelsen, but I wonder, just how much of the wonder that fuels the original one, will be recreated with CGI?
Few people are remake advocates, but with this one in particular just how much charm will be lost with the, increasingly, generic look of computer animated effects?
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As I'm not a fan of the original, I'm thinking this one might be tons better... or at least seem better.
I'm trying to remember -- did Ursula Andress ever say anything in the first movie?
I know, I hate how CGI is ruining everything. Those new commercials for 2012 are just over-the-top and terrible. CGI does not look real! Why do so few people care?
Anyway, loved the original. Harry Hamlin (pre-Lisa Rinna, thank God) was the hotness, and that mechanical owl was truly the shit. Perhaps the source material is enough to save the remake, but...le doubtful.
This was one of my favorite movies as a kid, along with DRAGONSLAYER.
Though as an adult, I have to say that Olivier was a bit of a long in the tooth Zues. A few times he sounds like he's gasping his last breath during his lines. I swear I hear a death rattle....or was that Madusa's tail?
I'm looking forward to the remake, but I don't know how much I will be able to love it. My loyalties lie with Hottie Harry Hamlin.
My brother was just telling me how he went to a talk given by Ray Harryhausen, where he had the models from some of his movies and he re-enacted the scenes with the models, explaining how they shot the scene. To me this seems like the truest spirit of play. I love Harryhausen's inventiveness and creativity and originality.
But so far I love the cast list of this new version.
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