Clash of the Titans:
A recent remake of the 1981 film of the same name. Was a huge success in Cinema, raising an overall gross of $385,563,557 worldwide. It was quite poorly received by critics, who stated that there were not enough visual thrills and that the film did not live up to its potential.
The films begins with a prologue that briefly explains the legend of the Titans and how they were defeated by a creature of unimaginable size and power that was born of Hades himself...the Kraken
The narrative begins with an old fisherman who finds a young boy in a floating coffin, his mother dead, and the old man takes the boy in. Over the years, the small family comes across increasingly hard times, with the fish disappearing from the oceans, but they remain adamant that they will not blame the gods for their troubles, unlike the rest of mankind, all of whom has waged war upon their creators. When they come across the statue of Zeus being attacked by army of the 'local' king, they witness the power of Hades, who appears and disintegrates into a horde of demons that lay waste to the army; Hades then plunges toward the fishing boat and destroys it, killing all but Peruses (the young boy, now grown up).
Peruses is taken to the king's court in the city of Argos, where he is questioned about the events on the cliff top. Then, as soon as the king curse the Gods, Hades appears in a shroud of smoke, disabling the palace guard and ageing the queen to death, he warns that if the faith of the people is not restored, he will release the Kraken upon them, and only way they can stop this and prove their faith is to sacrifice the princess to the beast. Before leaving he reveals that Peruses is the son of Zeus (The god became human for one night and impregnated the wife of a former king and enemy). Enraged, Peruses makes an oath of vengeance for the death of his family, and with the entire palace guard, they ride out in search of a way to defeat the enraged Gods.
Hades makes an agreement with a disgraced king (horribly disfigured due to a bolt of lightning from Zeus), and grants him limitless power with which he intends to kill his illegitimate son (Peruses), Hades reveals that his plan is gain power form the fear of the people and overthrown the Gods on Mt.Olympus.
The place guard has now virtually been wiped out by various attacks from both the disgraced king and a horde of giant scorpions controlled by the desert Djinns (Beings of pure magic and driftwood). The leader of Djinn's joins forces with the soldiers and together they hunt down the stygian witches, who reveal that the only way to kill the Kraken is to turn it to stone, which can only be done using the head the gorgon Medusa, (who will not give it up without a fight), they spend the next week traveling across deserts and mountains and make their way to the gate to the underworld, where they find Medusa's temple and eventually kill her, but at the cost of all the remaining soldiers.
The God's have now reached the end of their tether, Zeus is filled with wrath at the disloyalty of the people, and Hades finally convinces his brother to release the Kraken. After such an action packed build up, the Kraken does not disappoint, it really is huge. The beast begins to wreak havoc upon the city just as Peruses arrives sporting the head of Medusa, after an action packed chase from the flying demons of Hades, he kills them and proceeds to the head of the Kraken where, just before it devours the princess, the head of Medusa is thrust in to it's gaze. Once the Kraken has been turned to stone, it crumbles into the sea, Hades; Wrathful at having been defeated attempts to kill the demigod once and for all but fails and is sent back to the underworld.
On the whole, I thought the film did not live up to its expectations; it had a huge amount of potential to grab audience. Throughout the duration of the film, the characters are slowly building up the image of the terrifying Kraken , but when it eventually appears, you never really see much of it and it is killed before it has a chance to any real damage.
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