Clash of the Titans -- the 1981 Geek mythology fantasy starring Harry Hamlin, Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith, with memorable (if anachronistic) f/x from stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen — boasts a pretty hefty fan following, especially among Gen Xers for whom the movie is a geek pop touchstone.
Still, I think only Harryhausen zealots/purists believe that delightfully clunky block of retro-escapist cheese can’t be improved upon–perhaps the rare sacred cow that genre fans think should be remade and rebooted.
The new version, due in theaters March 26, is directed by Louis Leterrier (who’s already proven himself adept at improving busted franchises; see 2008’s The Incredible Hulk) and stars Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation; Avatar) as Perseus, Liam Neeson as Zeus, and Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort.
The first trailer is now here:
Some of my colleagues are raving. Me? Not sure. Is it just me, or does it look like Leterrier is trying to retain some of the vibe of Harryhausen’s scuttling, stylishly unreal creatures with state-of-the-art computer generated effects? I’m not sure I’m digging that. Coming after the sword-and-sandals glut of Gladiator, Troy, and 300, this new film feels not-so-fresh, even with the presence of magic and monsters. But never mind me — what do you think? Watch and post your snap judgments below.
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Ummm…was the Ralph Fiennes/Voldemort comment a joke?
I was wondering the same thing….
Yes. Voldemort does not exist in Greek mythology. This is a bit of humor for you.
Isn’t humor usually… funny?
I was wondering if this was a Harry Potter cross over movie? haha.
Ralph Fienes actually plays Hades, who kinda looks voldemortish in the movie, being that he is the God of the Underworld and all. I laughed.
Looks AMAZING! Now, it could just be the director’s uncanny way of using a scorpion’s tale like the lost drum stick of a snare drum gone wild in the middle of the trailer, but that looks like it’s going kick
Can we please officially retire AMAZING? The adjective and also the idea of putting it in CAPS is bordering on offensive. Does no one know of any other adjective? Let’s try some: Looks fantastic, brilliant, exciting, fun, great, mind blowing, exemplary. Ok, maybe not exemplary, but I think you get the point.
Also hoping we can retire “EPIC”
And “AWESOME!” Please let us ban the use of “AWESOME” for at least a decade.
Agreed.
Who are these douches that crop up on blogs and rather than comment on the topic want to pick apart adjectives to make others feel small. What I think would be AMAZING, EPIC, AWESOME- if you get a life. What did you people think about the trailer?
Looks more like Rome than Greece to me . ‘One day someone has to take a stand?’ against who? the Gods? The Titans look really cool though, but over all the trailer makes the movie seem over done. Needs further investigation. Unless I hear something compelling otherwise– DVD.
Titans. Will. Clash.
Thanks. Mr. Obvious.
That actually looks really good!!!! Finally a movie I don’t mind them updating, I’m pretty excited to see that one. It’s completely possible that it will be awful but good actors make me hopeful.
Hmmm…based on this trailer (and its accompanying music), the style seems a little 300-esque, just not as graphic novel-y. Even so, I’ll probably end up seeing it (with my husband and his friends).
I agree. The trailer reminded me a bit of 300…music style, some of the action sequences.
LOL, I take it you’re joking w/ the Ralph Fiennes/Voldemort comment?
Where is pegasus? and that little annoying but endearing metallic owl?
Asides from these ommissions from the trailer everything else looks KICK ASS!!!!
Pegasus is in there, if the one sheets are any indication, but I would imagine it might be a money shot saved for later. Don’t expect the owl, friend.
Thank the gods!
Not cool. Bubo was the best part of the original.
No Bubo? Blasphemy!!
I agree. Bubo was so cute.
From the look of the trailer, the remake departs greatly from the original in tone and style. I thought that Perseus was supposed to be a young man who was thrown into a situation where he was forced to fight. This Perseus seems older and kind of macho.
As much as I do enjoy the camp/baddness of the original, I am looking forward to this version. I do like the visuals, but my god, “Titans.Will.Clash.”…seriously? My 8 year old niece could come up with that tag line!
No shot of the Kraken, Pegausus, the Owl, Medusa… Maybe I didn’t see them because I don’t have the eye — THE EYE, THE EYE!
Medusa is right at the beginning. You see her from behind as she takes out the guy in the temple.
Classic! You almost made me pee I was laughing so hard!
Not a bad trailer, but the whole “Hades as a bad guy” is a complete ripoff of the Disney Hercules movie and has no actual precedent from Greek mythology.
Not totally true since Hades as the eldest brother of the God’s should have by rights been the ruler of Mt. Olympus and not the crappy Underworld, he kinda got screwed. And he has a history of being a d-bag in certain myths and the ancient greeks were terrified of him with his connection to death and all.
But he wasn’t in Clash of the Titans originally.
I just really wish they’d stop remaking every single movie my family ever rented on Betamax when I was 3.
So long as they don’t touch ‘the NeverEnding story’ I’m good
Um, they’re redoing that one too…http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=53283
OMG, I’d die if they remade that. The original is full of too many good memories.
Oh Hell to the No! what happened to screenwriters? aren’t there people writing screenplays in hollywood? why remake Neverending story??????????
It looks like they’re embracing the cheese, and to that I say amen. As Harryhausen films go, Clash is pretty clunky. But I’m glad to see that in spiffing it up, they’re not going all serious. For pete’s sake, it’s not high art. Have fun with it!
Loved it!! I have still yet to see a movie with Sam Worthington in, it, but he keeps getting cast as the lead so it may be interesting to watch. But the trailer looks kick-ass. Can’t wait to see it.
Great rock video!
You keep the giant scorpion, but you ditch the R2D2 homage? Not cool. The original is still one of my favorite childhood memories. I don’t mind a remake as there’s so much rich material to be mined from Greek mythology, but I hope they bring more to the table than CGI scorpions and Voldemort (And, yes, I know Voldemort’s not really in the movie…)
I totally agree. Looks like it might just be another summer – let’s throw everything we can into the mix and hope it sticks – blockbuster.
Calibos better make an appearance or I’m going to be seriously put out. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I had a hard time actually seeing what was happening in that trailer. Lots of jumping and stabbing, I guess? The original was fun (the owl, Burgess Meredith) and exciting but not so busy — I hope they keep some of that in the new movie. Hope it’s good. Will give it a shot.
Agreed the trailer was way too jumpy; I had to watch it three times.
This definitely has the Harryhausen feel–but it seems they’ve altered the story a bit. Still looks cool–I’m always interested in seeing how Hollywood portrays Greek Gods…
The trailer looks like good fun, but if you think that “The Incredible Hulk” was an improvement over “Hulk” I have to officially take everything you like in to question.
Word up
“Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort” Bwahaha! Good one. And “Titans will clash” is, I hope, indicative that they’re not taking things too seriously. But I’m with jen–I couldn’t see much of what was going on, what with the short-attention-span jump cuts.
I would have liked to see more of the gods and goddesses interact…. I feel like I saw a trailer for another bad action movie. I would have liked to see something that ahad a little more of a resemblance to the first one, since this movie isn’t that old.
I’m a Greek mythology nut so I’d be watching this regardless. Looks good though!
Not to mention, casting a more well known American in the lead role probably would have been better. I still have no idea who Sam Worthington is, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen at least one movie that he’s been in.
He’s really hot. That’s all you need to know. However, you will know him after Dececmber (Avatar).
How can you tell anything about the plot from that trailer? It did just look like lots of swords stabbing. I have to admit, I LOVED the original as a child to the point where I memorized all the dialogue.
I was a junior in high school when this came out and I too memorized the entire dialog! I will probably see the movie on DVD. I really liked the original with its style! Call me a purist.
agreed….i liked the less is more theory from the first one….I remember thinking Harry Hamlin resembled Jim Morrison and for a tweener I was in heaven. This trailer looked like it is all about flash/stab/effects…*blech*
i can’t get past the music, it’s awful. i hope that’s not a preview of the actual soundtrack.
The music in this trailer sounds like a mash-up of Trans-Siberian Orchestra crossed with System Of A Down’s “Chop Suey”. But as we all know, the music in a trailer doesn’t necessarily end up in the final movie.
Much as I love Liam Neeson, he’s not Laurence Olivier. But no one is. Nice to see Alexa Davalos, though. I loved her as Gwen on Angel & in the short-lived Reunion.
Dude, Gladiator came out NINE YEARS AGO. Can it really be considered part of a “glut”?
You said: “Coming after the sword-and-sandals glut of Gladiator, Troy, and 300, this new film feels not-so-fresh…”
That’s three movies, over the course of ten years. Gladiator (‘99, Troy (‘04), 300 (‘07). You call that a glut? I for one am excited for this film, which is rare since most stuff leaves me high and dry.
One of the special things about the original was the Ray Harryhausen special effects. Now its all computers. The trailer is so fast paced I had no idea what the story was about (I’m assuming it’s the same from the original.) I really don’t think this’ll be very good.
They sort of had me til “Titans Will Clash.” Better than the tagline for Worthington’s other film. “Terminators. Will. Be. Salvated.”
And for those of you looking for Calibos, Jason Flemyng shows up at :30 looking vaguely like him, but is apparently playing Acrisius.