By Anthony Castellano
Staff Writer

During the big Easter Holiday weekend that recently passed, one movie stood above them all for the heated box office crown, and that movie was the “Clash of the Titans.” If that film title sounds familiar to anyone out there, it should, this newer, updated version is a remake of the cult classic 1981 movie bearing the same name. This film, however, is a massive, big budget movie compared to the small, tiny film that came before it. Many critics out there have totally bashed this updated tale on Greek Mythology. Although it’s flawed and far from perfection, “Clash of the Titans” succeeds in giving it’s target, young audience looking for a solid fantasy and action-packed adventure tale, just what their looking for, thus, making it worthy of a positive recommendation.

The film is loosely based on the famous Greek Mythology that many of us have read and heard about while growing up. It features such memorable names as Zeus, his evil brother Hades, Poseidon, the evil creature tandem of Medusa and the Kraken, and the protagonist/hero of the story, Perseus. Perseus is the the young part human man, part God looking to avenge his adopted human parents death at the hands of Hades, also better known in this story as the son of the mighty Zeus, to go along with his trusty sidekick horse, Pegasus. The star of this motion picture is definitely one of the most talked about breakout performers of last year, Australian actor Sam Worthington, who starred in the biggest blockbuster of all-time, a little picture known as “Avatar.” Worthington does a fairly good job once again carrying an epic action film that has some of the same elements of fantasy on a large scale that were found in the aforementioned “Avatar.” With a mixture of charisma, well placed emotional depth with his unique connection with his life-long immortal female guide/friend known as Io, and his considerable bruiting strength, Worthington is able to make this seemingly over the top story seem some what believable and relatable to the average viewer.

Along with a strong leading hero in this film and a well-rounded all-star supporting cast, the action sequences are at times breathtaking, whether you watch them in 3-D or in the standard 2-D version. Audience members can look forward to in your face action packed sequences of warriors battling gigantic scorpions in the desert, an exciting battle with the multi-headed beast known as Medusa, Hades’ dark and foreboding underworld, and the formation of the larger than life devilish sea monster beast previously made famous in the “Pirates of the Carribean” movies, called the Kraken.

Despite the mixed reviews, the film has been a box office smash. In it’s opening holiday weekend it made an impressive total of just over $61 million dollars, as that strong start has paved the way for a grand total of $134 million dollars in North America and just over $324 million dollars worldwide in just three weeks in the theaters, according to the trusty “Box Office Mojo” website. Much of this success can be directed to the last minute switch to turn this movie into 3-D, as a way to capitalize on the amazing success that “Avatar” had last year and has since caused a firestorm of movies trying to emulate it’s overwhelmingly successful path. Numerous fans and critics, however, have voiced a number of complaints that this usage of 3-D wasn’t very necessary and didn’t add much to the story or the visual wonder of the cinematic experience like other hit 3-D movies recently have. Many have described this use of the technology as a mere gimmick and excuse to charge more money for tickets and in the end, make more money during these tough economic times. Since I only watched this film in it’s standard 2-D format, I can’t make a definitive comment on that criticism many fans have made, but it is something to be aware of if you are deciding whether or not to spend your few precious dollars during these tough times on the higher priced 3-D movie choice. As for me, the basic 2-D version was more than adequate in delivering the thrills and chills that this action-packed fantasy film was going for. It seemed to do a pretty good job of throwing you right in to the intense action on-screen in a similar fashion to the way the new Hollywood craze of 3-D typically does, and since it was 2-D it was a far more affordable experience and hit on the almighty wallet.

So I definitely feel confident enough to recommend the more cost efficient, equally as entertaining, 2-D version of the box office smash hit “Clash of the Titans” for all you out there who are just looking for a quick, under 2 hours, action-packed thrill ride across the vast landscape of Greek Mythology.