Wrath of the Titans is very soon to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray. In a review of Louis Leterrier’s 2010 Clash of the Titans for this website, I stated that the film was an enjoyable diversion but also expressed the hope that someday audiences would get more out of a film inspired by the ancient Greek myths.  Well, despite its shortcomings (conventional plot, tepid character development, trite themes, and—worst of all for this pedantic academic—gross departures from its original ancient Greek sources of inspiration), Clash did well enough (5.8 IMDB rating and, more importantly, $163 million domestic box office on a $125 million budget) to inspire some studio executive to green light a sequel, and so we get 2012’s Wrath of the Titans (executive produced by Leterrier but directed this time by Jonathan Liebesman).  Like Clash, Wrath is entertaining enough (earning a 6.0 IMDB rating), meeting audience expectations for ever more spectacular action sequences while also managing to elicit decent performances from a veteran cast, who give it their all to inject some humanity into this otherwise special-effects dominated extravaganza.  Unfortunately, Wrath does not fulfill my hopes for a memorable cinematic treatment of the ancient Greek myths, amounting to yet another one-and-a-half hours of mindless, forgettable diversion (hence only $83 million domestic box office, despite the bigger $150 million budget).  It’s basically Clash redux—distinguished from its predecessor only by the now complete absence of any relation to the original ancient Greek myth of Perseus and its timeless human themes (see my review of Clash), leaving one to wonder whether this genre of film has run its course.  The moderate entertainment value of Wrath aside, we definitely don’t need a third film in this series (Revenge of the Titans?  Beneath the Planet of the Titans?  The Bride of Chucky Meets the Titans?  Cowboys, Aliens, and Predators versus the Titans?), and if someone doesn’t come up with a new formula for films based on ancient Greek myths soon, movies like Wrath won’t even cut it as mindless entertainment anymore—their only usefulness will be as non-prescription substitutes for Ambien.

 Retaining most of the same characters and actors from Clash, the plot of Wrath continues the conflict between Hades and Zeus—with Perseus caught in the middle again.  The Hades-Zeus rivalry in Clash was a complete fabrication of its modern screenwriters, having little to do with the Perseus legend in particular or ancient Greek mythology in general.  In Wrath, the story has absolutely no relation to any ancient Greek myth that I know of.  This time, Hades (Ralph Fiennes), smarting from his defeat in Clash at the hands of Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Perseus (Sam Worthington), teams up with Ares (son of Zeus and god of war, played with thick accent by Edgar Ramirez) to attempt yet another overthrow of Zeus, this time by releasing Kronos (finally, a real Titan—release the Kronos!) from Tartarus, the under-underworld, where he had been banished by his son Zeus, who supplanted him as master of the universe.  In Wrath, Kronos is a behemoth of a fire-breathing, semi-molten, rock monster who seems capable of destroying entire planets.  In return for his release, Kronos will allow Hades and Ares to remain gods, while Zeus and the rest of the gods are destroyed—and apparently a lot of people along with them.  So, Hades and Ares bushwhack Zeus and hold him captive in Tartarus in order to perform a transfusion of his godly power over to Kronos.  However, though once again initially reluctant to get involved in the affairs of the gods and to use his god-like powers, Perseus eventually joins the fight to save the day.  Also as in Clash, Perseus’ greatest motivation is family—this time a little filial piety for his father Zeus and a lot of love for his now ten-year-old son Helius, for whom he is the sole parent, his wife Io having conveniently died (allowing Perseus a new love interest in the form of Queen Andromeda, portrayed by Rosamund Pike).  The only way for Perseus to rescue Zeus and to destroy Kronos is to combine the powers of Zeus’ thunderbolt, Poseidon’s trident, and Hades’ pitchfork into one superweapon, the spear of Triam.  It is his quest to do this (with some help from Andromeda and Agenor, Poseidon’s half-human son) that occupies most of the film.  Spoiler alert:  Perseus succeeds!  He’s able to rescue Zeus from Tartarus when Hades begins to regret betraying his brother Zeus and prevents Ares, who turns out to be the real villain, from stopping Perseus.  While Zeus and Hades join together to take on a now revived and rampaging Kronos, Perseus dukes it out with Ares, whose threatening of Helius inspires Perseus to fight on and prevail, despite his physical inferiority to Ares.  Now in possession of the thunderbolt-trident-pitchfork superweapon, Perseus rides his flying horse, Pegasus, into Kronos’ fire-breathing mouth, hurling the spear of Triam down his esophagus, which results in an unbelievably big explosion that utterly destroys Kronos.  The film ends with tender scenes between Perseus and Zeus (father and son reconciled), Perseus and Hades (Hades now without godly powers, but perhaps better for it), Perseus and Andromeda (an impulsive, juicy kiss—finally!), and Perseus and Helius (acceptance of their demigod status—more heroic adventures await father and son together—see below . . .).

The themes of Wrath are even more similar to those of Clash than its plot:  a celebration of humanity and healthy family bonds, particularly those of fathers and sons.  Again, as noted in my review of Clash, these themes promote modern values and have little to do with the ancient Greek myths, so there’s not much more I can add here on that subject.  Suffice it to say that once again Perseus proves that humanity can match the gods thanks to humans’ ability to be inspired by love (Perseus for his son Helius) and, as Andromeda declaims, their nature to hope even when there’s no good reason to hope and, therefore, sometimes succeeding despite all the odds against them.  On the theme of family bonds, the bad guys and losers (Ares and Kronos) are those who do not uphold healthy family bonds but rather turn on their brothers (Ares against Perseus, his half-brother), turn on their fathers (Ares against Zeus), or turn on their sons (Kronos against Zeus and, later, Hades as well).  The good guys and winners (Perseus and Helius) are those who do uphold healthy family bonds, honoring, aiding, and loving their fathers (Perseus for Zeus, Helius for Perseus) and loving and protecting their sons (Perseus for Helius).  To the film’s credit, Hades and Zeus are somewhat ambiguous characters, both good and bad at various points, and ultimately both winners and losers.  Initially, Hades was bad to turn on his brother Zeus, but he later realizes the error of his ways and joins Zeus, helping him and his son (Hades’ nephew) Perseus to defeat their bad father, Kronos, and his bad grandson, Ares.  Zeus was said to have been arrogant earlier in his life, banishing both Kronos and Hades to Tartarus, but he then forgives his brother Hades for turning on him and always loves his son Perseus.  And so in the end, Zeus prevails over the evil Kronos and is reconciled with his son Perseus, while Hades helps Zeus to prevail over Kronos as well, but both Zeus and Hades also end up losing their godly powers.

And, of course, there are lots of fist fights, swordplay, battles, and explosions.  The action sequences are pretty effective, for the most part.  Perseus’ fight with the Cerberus-like, two-headed, fire-breathing dog with the snake-head tail that erupts from the ground and threatens Perseus’ town and son is full of energy and excitement.  The CGI is quite believable for the giant Cyclopes who try to club Perseus and his friends into mush with huge tree trunks.  The shifting, labyrinthine passages of Tartarus inspire a real sense of claustrophobia and panic as its walls close in on our heroes.  And, finally, the humongous, molten-rock-like Kronos is a definite treat, hurling curtains of magma and fireballs at his enemies until he blows up in a spectacular explosion.

But, again, such delights are a dime-a-dozen these days, and there’s nothing to distinguish Wrath from its competitors—certainly not any interest in the ancient Greek myths, since it divorces itself from them in every way save the names of its characters.  In fact, it’s pretty clear that the makers of Wrath deliberately moved away from the ancient myths in order to create a superhero franchise for our times along the lines of Spiderman, Batman, or the Avengers.  Perseus is basically a man with god-like powers, which makes him both better than other men and even better than the gods—in the words of Zeus:  “being half human makes you stronger than a god, not weaker.”  So, with the tranquil age of Zeus at an end and chaos looming at every turn, Perseus, the superhero demigod, and his allies, his demigod son Helius, the lovely warrior woman Andromeda, and the wise-cracking demigod Agenor will travel the globe battling monsters and other malevolent forces, saving the day for humanity in sequel after money-making sequel—a Hollywood executive’s wet dream!  As fate would have it, however, at a domestic loss of almost $70 million, Wrath of the Titans offers nothing new and just doesn’t measure up, and so I’m afraid the only sequel we’re likely to see is Enough of the Titans. But if you just have to have your fix of mindless action, Wrath of the Titans will do, and you can purchase it on DVD and Blu-Ray, when it hits the stores on June 26th.