The moment “Wrath of the Titans” ended, it evaporated from my consciousness like a forgotten dream. One minute, I was watching the movie, and doing my best to care, and the next, it was over and I was leaving. For the price of a ticket these days, you want something that stays with you for a while.
It’s hard to imagine how a movie with a labyrinth that changes shape, or a massive lava monster bursting out of a mountain, or the Greek gods desperately battling for survival, can be boring, but there you have it.
The sequel to “Clash of the Titans” tries to engage viewers with a more poignant storyline than its predecessor. The movie opens 10 years after Perseus, the demigod son of Zeus, defeated the Kraken. A widower, he fishes for a living and takes care of his 10-year-old son, Helius. One night, Zeus appears and tells Perseus the gods are losing their power because people no longer pray to them. Worse, the walls of the underground prison Tartarus are weakening, and the gods will need the armies of the world to unite against the creatures that will break free. Perseus wants no part of the drama, and bids Zeus farewell.
Next, Zeus travels to Tartarus to meet with his brothers Hades and Poseidon, and Poseidon’s son, Ares. If you saw “Clash,” you’ll remember Zeus banished Hades to the underworld following a bitter power struggle. Although Zeus pleads with Hades to let bygones be bygones and rebuild Tartarus, Hades and Ares double-cross Zeus and chain him to a rock. In the distance, their father, Kronos, begins to drain Zeus’ power so he can escape his prison and unleash unholy hell upon mankind.
As luck would have it, a fallen god named Hephaestus once forged a three-part weapon that can destroy Kronos. Perseus snaps out of his “me” phase when creatures attack his village and nearly kill his son, and teams up with a queen and a thief to find Hephaestus.
That’s enough of the plot. While the script is stock material for a fantasy romp, it provides adequate fodder for good action. I liked an early scene in which a chimera, a two-headed beast that spits fuel with one mouth and fire with the other, attacks Perseus’ village. At one point, the camera follows Perseus as he runs through the village, leaps from roof to roof and then jumps onto the back of the creature and stabs it. There’s a lot of energy in that shot, although director Jonathan Liebesman drops the ball at the end of the scene when he fails to make how the fight ended clear. One minute, the creature has a leg up on Perseus, and the next, it’s tied up in chains. Maybe Liebesman didn’t shoot the footage he needed, or maybe the scene fell apart in the editing room.
There are several imaginative creatures in “Wrath,” but their appearance rarely has a bearing on the story. For example, Perseus encounters and defeats a Minotaur in the labyrinth, and then moves on, unscathed. The only reason the Minotaur was there was because it was time for a little action.
I do like Sam Worthington as Perseus, and was pleased to see more of a spark in his performance this time. The addition of a son gives his character more emotional depth. I also appreciated how Perseus’ relationship with his dad changes over the course of the movie, and how Zeus and Hades resolve their differences.
Ultimately, though, “Wrath” fizzles. By-the-numbers storytelling, random action and overly simple dialogue bring it down. As Perseus grabbed the weapon forged to defeat Kronos, mounted Pegasus and took off to fight his grandfather to the death, I had already lost interest.
A few humorous notes: The characters in “Wrath” have a habit of announcing where they are, even though everyone present has been there before. “Tartarus, the realm of the dead!” Zeus exclaims as he enters the underworld with Poseidon and Ares. I also wish I had kept count of the number of times someone adds a bitter “brother” to the end of a statement. “Help me - brother!” “How could you do this - brother?” It gets silly.
Hey, when a movie fails to hold your interest, you have to make up your own entertainment.
Rated PG-13 for intense fantasy action and violence. Two stars out of four. Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.