‘Clash of the Titans’ remake: Let’s get Kraken

March 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

Movie

Clash of the Titans

The ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But, the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus is helpless to save his family from Hades, vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus and unleash hell on earth. Leading a daring band of warriors, Perseus sets off on a perilous journey deep into forbidden worlds. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, he will only survive if he can accept his power as a god, defy his fate and create his own destiny.

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Anyone who’s been to the movies lately knows that “Release the Kraken!” is probably the catchphrase of the season.

As uttered in the trailer for “Clash of the Titans” by a bearded, berobed, Olympic-size Liam Neeson in reference to an 800-foot beast with bad teeth and a worse attitude, it doesn’t have the romantic tingle of “You had me at hello.” Or the saltiness of “I’ll have what she’s having.” But as movie mantras go, it captures the exclamatory quality of “Clash of the Titans.” And of a movie year that has redefined the big-screen spectacle.

Few movies would seem more amenable to a remake in the age of computerized special effects than that camp classic “Clash of the Titans,” which, under the direction of Louis Leterrier (“The Incredible Hulk”), has become a story of men vs. gods — namely, the half-man/half-deity Perseus (Sam Worthington) pitted against the god of the underworld, Hades (Ralph Fiennes), who is trying to seize power from Zeus (Neeson) and create hell on Earth. Though the story is slightly different, the emblematic accessories of the 1981 original — Pegasus the winged horse, Medusa the snake-haired demon, the unruly Kraken — are all back and enhanced.

Leterrier, in fact, started creating his own special effects as an 8-year-old, after he saw the first “Clash” in Paris. “I was putting wings on my ‘Star Wars’ action figures to make them look like harpies,” he said.

The new “Clash” was not intended as a 3-D movie — it was the success of “Avatar,” Leterrier said, and that other 3-D conversion, “Alice in Wonderland,” that prompted Warner Bros. to order that “Clash” be retrofitted with an additional dimension. But that’s OK, its director said.

“When the company doing the conversion saw my film,” he said, “they said, ‘This is just what we want — stuff coming at you, stuff going away, big swooping camera moves.’ ... We had this enormous cable camera that goes down and back up and follows Pegasus up and down. My directing style was lending itself to 3-D, so it was a perfect movie to do that.”

Good thing, because when it comes to would-be theatrical blockbusters, the 3-D juggernaut is on the luge track to Crazytown. So is Hollywood’s love affair with international casting. Starring as Perseus in the new version is “Avatar’s” Worthington, the Australia-bred star whose trajectory is definitely heading up. Also in the film beside Worthington, the Irish Neeson and the English Fiennes: the French Alexa Davalos (Andromeda) and the Danish Mads Mikkelsen as Perseus’ buddy, Draco.

And as far as Leterrier is concerned, putting new faces on-screen can only be good. “I like discovering people on-screen,” said the director, who used the well-known Edward Norton in “The Incredible Hulk,” but with “Transporter 2” gave the fledgling Jason Statham a boost.