Clash of the Titans (1981)

Clash of the Titans is an epic fantasy retelling the story of Perseus and Andromeda. Perseus’ mother was sacrificed for having an illegitimate son by her father, the king of Argos. Zeus (played charismatically by Laurence Olivier) himself was the father of her child and as punishment for the blaspheme (trying to kill his son) he summons the Kraken to cause a tidal wave and annihilate every living thing in Argos. Perseus is allowed a happy childhood and lives in peace on an island with his mother. The goddess Thetis, who wants revenge for Zeus’ punishment of her evil son Calibos decides to bring Perseus to the cursed city of Joppa where he can meet with real danger. Perseus then sets out to reclaim his kingdom and save the princess of Joppa, who is the target of both Calibos and Thetis.

There is not much to say about Perseus. He is brave and heroic. End of story. Harry Hamlin plays the role well enough, but he doesn’t really add anything to the character. The more interesting characters are the Immortals. For anyone familiar with Greek Mythology, the gods are plagued with human emotion. They are jealous and petty; Zeus admits to seducing a vast number of beautiful maidens and is extremely biased when dealing with his own son’s fate. He gives him magical weapons and armor and even guides him on his journey. This naturally upsets some of the other gods, particularly Thetis (Maggie Smith). Her son was vile and arrogant and Zeus cursed him with an extreme deformity (Calibos is played in part by Neil McCarthy for close ups and a stop motion counterpart for the action scenes).

The setup of Mount Olympus is an interesting one, particularly the miniature arena with a wall lined with little statues of the people of earth. Zeus toys with their lives and literally sets them up as pawns in his schemes and judgments. The film relies heavy on special effects and the preferred effects are mostly blue screen effects, miniatures, and stop motion creatures. The miniatures were created by Ray Harryhausen (who also created the creatures for Jason and the Argonauts and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) and all of them are well detailed. Combined with a lot of close ups and elaborate interior sets, the settings work well for the most part such as the outside of Medusa’s layer which is shot on location in a real ruin in Spain while the basement is a hand crafted set. The settings are never too distracting aside from the bizarre light show going on behind Zeus’ throne. The creatures are hit and miss; mostly miss. It seems wrong to compare these effects to the ones used in Jason and the Argonauts, since that film predates this one by nearly twenty years, but the effects in Jason and the Argonauts are much more effective (the skeleton fight at the end of the film is still incredible today). It's a bit disappointing that most of these creatures are so poorly integrated into the film, but comparing them to other films of the time (Star Wars, The Dark Crystal and even Dragonslayer) only further adds to the disappointment. The more minor creatures in Clash of the Titans, like the giant vulture and the two-headed dog, are among the most artificial looking, while the Kraken is so dated that it looks like it belongs on Skull Island in the 1933 film, King Kong. The Pegasus is adequate for the most part; they constantly switch between a real horse for close-ups and a stop motion one for the flying scenes, though a green-screen is used for when Perseus needs a close–up in the air. The green-screen effects aren’t great, but they’re better than the ones used in Krull.

The highlight of the film for not only the special effects, but simply in general is the fight with Medusa. Perseus descends into her layer with a couple of nameless, faceless, and voiceless soldiers who are certain to be killed. The layer is a well designed set illuminated with only the light from the torches surrounding the pillars and walls. There is no music as they attempt to find an enemy that they are not allowed to look at. Medusa is also a stop motion creature, but is by far the most convincing. This is due not only to the meticulous detail in the creatures’ grotesque face and body, but to the setting. The darkness and flickering shadows makes the stop motion effect seem like it belongs in the scene and adds to the believability of the scenario and the growing sense of suspense and danger. Outside of this one major sequence there isn’t much else to say for this film. It’s by no means terrible, but it’s not particularly memorable either. It’s light and forgettable, like something to watch on a lazy Saturday morning.