Clash of the Titans (1981, 118 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082186/
It's been forever since I've seen something it seems. Again. I finally get around to seeing a movie for the first time in about two weeks and it's the Ray Harryhausen classic Clash of the Titans. Harryhausen is amazing and the work in this movie is no different.
The film follows Perseus (Harry Hamlin) as he "fulfills his destiny" to be heir to a kingdom. Perseus falls in love with Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker) but due to claims made by her mother, Queen Cassiopeia (Siân Phillips), Perseus is forced to find some way to destroy the sea monster called the Kraken. Through a picaresque adventure, Perseus confronts the Stygian Witches and later crosses the River Styx to kill Medusa and use her head to turn the Kraken to stone. Other notable actors in the movie are: Laurence Olivier as Zeus, Maggie Smith as Thetis, and Burgess Meredith as Ammon.
The film isn't a masterpiece of acting. But it's really not supposed to be. This is a movie that highlights Harryhausen's amazing abilities to transform these imaginations into living, breathing creatures on the screen. Particularly of note is the battle with Medusa where even the torch lit room is taken into account in putting shadows on the creature. Other interactions between actors and the creatures, such as Perseus's battle with deformed Calibos is also remarkable. If we do look at the acting, though, no one is amazing but no one is terrible either. Some of the lines are cheesy and corny but it's somewhat expected when dealing with mythology.
Overall, I gave this film a 8/10. It's just great again and again. Perhaps nostalgia and other factors are somewhat raising this grade a little but I note that an 8/10 is a "film that can be watched repeatedly and still be very good or better" and this movie is exactly that. As an aside, I also see this is being "remade" for a 2010 release but upon reading the Wikipedia article, the plot summary doesn't even seem remotely similar. Here's hoping it's enjoyable in it's own right, even if it is taking that name.
[Note: Due to a voting update, I have changed the rating of Clash of the Titans to a 7/10.]
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