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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: June 26, 2012.
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Cast: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
The follow up to the Clash Of The Titans remake from a couple of years ago is the latest in the long run of theatrical releases to make use of the currently very popular 3-D technology prominent in movie houses as of late. But does it hold up in 2-D, as it's presented on this Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack from Warner Brothers? Yeah, sort of. It's still fun, at least.
Ten years after Perseus (Sam Worthington) saved Princess Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) from the ghastly Kraken, he lives his life away from his father Zeus (Liam Neeson) and does what he can to raise his son Helius (John Bell) and life the quiet life of a fisherman. The movie would be boring if it were about Perseus fishing all day, so you could see it as a good thing when Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and Ares (Edgar Ramirez) capture Zeus and try to give Kronos, their father, another shot at taking over. The years have not been kind to the Gods, however, as they seem to be considerably less powerful than they were the first go round and the city of Tartarus seems to be following a similar fate and is beginning to crumble. With no other choice, Perseus teams up with Andromeda, Poseidon (Danny Huston) and Agenor (Toby Kebbell) to find Hephaestus (Bill Nighy) and save the day, hoping once and for all to set things right.
Wrath Of The Titans is fun. It's not great, it's not smart, it's not inventive and it isn't all that concerned with storytelling but it is fun. Lots of stuff blows up, various characters are always fighting and trashing sets and when they're not they're grumbling about their fate and spouting off crazy dialogue but yeah, you can have a good time here. This is a movie all about spectacle, all about explosions, all about chaos and carnage and action, action and more action. Those looking for a serious take on Greek mythology would do well to look elsewhere because this is more like a superhero brawl than anything else but it does what it does well and that's entertain.
The cast are game - Worthington plays the reluctant hero well and handles the more dramatic side of his part well enough. Liam Neeson is Liam Neeson, he is wise, he is sage and he is easy to like. He's well cast as Zeus and suits the part well. The rest of the cast also do fine, and although Bill Nighy initially seems an amusing choice for the part of Hephaestus, to his credit he winds up making the role his own. At ninety nine minutes the movie doesn't overstay its welcome and it's well edited and chock full of the kind of completely obvious digital effects you'll either love or loathe. There's lots of hacking, lots of slashing, lots of fire, lots of hot chicks, lots of mountains and lots of wacky costumes here - it's a sight for the eyes to be sure but there's no reason you can't turn off your brain and go with the flow. Once you get there, you'll find that this ridiculous world is a lot of big, dumb fun.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Warner Brothers presents the movie in a 1.85.1 widescreen AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer that looks pretty much as perfect as you'd expect a big budget major studio blockbuster release to look on Blu-ray. Detail is outstanding, colors are reproduced really nicely and black levels look very good. The scenes that take place in slow motion are a bit on the soft side as are some of the scenes that use a lot of CGI (almost all of them, really) but otherwise, this movie looks great in high definition.
The main audio option on this disc is an English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix, though standard Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound tracks are available in French and Spanish. Optional subtitles are included in English SDH, French, Spanish. As far as that DTS-HD track goes, it's pretty much reference quality stuff. There's surround usage throughout the mix and it's almost always completely bombastic, while the levels remain properly balanced throughout. There's lots of interesting rear channel activity and ambient noise to geek out over throughout the movie while the voices of the actors and actresses that populate the cast are always easy to understand. The score sounds beautiful, the bass is strong and tight and there are no issues with hiss or distortion - pretty much a flawless mix. Stuff blows up real good here, and your surround sound system will definitely get a work out.
The main extra on the disc is Warner's Maximum Movie Mode functionality which allows you to navigate through various making of clips and interview clips that are offered up as the movie itself plays out. Some of this material is pretty interesting, particularly if you have an interest in digital effects as they get a lot of coverage. You can also access the featurettes that make up the Maximum Movie Mode individually through the menus if you want. Additionally there are eleven minutes worth of deleted scenes included here as well as animated menus and chapter stops. As this is a combo pack release, you also get a standard definition DVD version and a digital copy so you can view the movie on a mobile device of your choosing if that's your thing.
The Final Word:
As ridiculous as Wrath Of The Titans is, and it's very ridiculous, it's hard not to have fun with this one if you go into it with the right frame of mind. Sit down, turn off your brain, and enjoy the carnage! Warner's Blu-ray looks and sounds excellent and includes some pretty cool extras too. If mindless entertainment is your thing, by all means, indulge.
