I question some of the changes to the plot and characters, particularly in the case of Perseus. Why should we care about him? He has no real friends. The people of Argos hate him, the warriors he fights with don’t particularly care for him, and by the time he reaches the climactic fight against the Kraken, the only woman who cared for him has already died.
OK, so are we supposed to root for Perseus because of his principles? He stubbornly wants to defeat the gods as a man, but does he even accomplish that? Zeus himself said that he got a little help from the sword and scorpions, and mere mortals can’t ride Pegasus, either.
With no friends, no love interest, and a failure to stick to his principles, Perseus doesn’t do anything to earn my respect. I’m left wondering whom I should be rooting for. The only person who seems to have morals in this movie is Princess Andromeda, and she is strung up to die. Since the movie focuses on less interesting characters, her rescue is unemotional and anticlimactic.
Overall, the effects are an improvement over the original, but it’s all relative. They were more amazing back then, when no other movies had effects to compare. I wish they’d pull back on the action a bit. Dizzying close-ups and quick editing, particularly in the scene with the scorpions, cheat us from seeing what’s really going on. And I actually prefer the Medusa scene from the original film.
Worthington is turning into one of the most interesting leading men in recent years because of his trademark understatedness, but in this movie, he’s almost too understated. He’s a reluctant ass-kicker, a formula that almost never works in an action movie. Mikkelsen is always appealing.
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