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Just what the world needs: a remake of the cheesy but much beloved 1981 Ray Harryhausen film "Clash of the Titans." As someone who grew up on the brand of stop animation silliness celebrated by director Louis Leterrier's remake, I understand the temptation to revisit a Saturday schlock classic. That doesn't mean we're obliged to condone it.
Recently minted action star Sam Worthington is Perseus, a demigod raised by mortals who finds himself suddenly thrust into a proxy war between gods determined to bring mankind to heel for insufficient reverence.
Liam Neeson plays Zeus, king of the gods of Olympus, complete with a shiny silver suit and a horrendous black wig. He is matched in head-scratching career diversion by the great Ralph Fiennes as Hades, the god of the underworld. Both do a lot of hollow emoting, although Mr. Fiennes seems to be having a lot of fun slinking around like a shadow and pronouncing words that begin and end with "s" with serpentine corniness.
When Perseus' mortal family is killed by minions of Hades, he joins warriors from Argos in a quest to confront the dark god before he can unleash an undersea monster called the Kracken on an irreverent mankind. Hades gives the budding atheists of Argos a choice: either sacrifice its beautiful queen to Zeus or be pulverized by the Kracken.
Duplicitous Hades is also plotting against Zeus, who would much prefer that mortals love the gods voluntarily. Hades thrives on human fear, so he and Zeus have different interests. Meanwhile, everyone involved in this film is plotting against the viewer.
Few films have ever been as monumentally silly as "Clash of the Titans," but I can honestly say that it isn't boring. As dumb as the story is, the CGI is good enough to keep you watching for the next stunt or special effect.
The extras include deleted scenes and a profile on Mr. Worthington. The Blu-Ray version has an alternate ending that is more intriguing than the theatrical release, but not so intriguing you actually want to go out of your way to see it.
-- Tony Norman
You have to love filmmakers who can poke fun at themselves.
In one of the extras on "Repo Men," director Miguel Sapochnik and writer Eric Garcia reveal: "What we wanted was a minute-and-a-half long action car chase and what we settled for was a single shot of two cars bumping into each other." After a pause, one adds, "That's how the sausage is made, folks."
"Repo Men," starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, is a futuristic action-thriller set at a time when people can buy expensive artificial organs to keep themselves alive.
But the price for "artiforgs" is high and so are interest rates and penalties for late payments; fall behind and a repo man will hunt you down and cut the organ right out of your body.
The premise is fascinating and the leads have good chemistry but the execution is weighted toward the bloody, gory, graphic side of the equation. Too much attention is focused on the bodies and blood and too little on the society that drives people to such desperate measures.
Extras on the DVD: feature commentary with the director and writers; five deleted scenes of almost nine minutes; seven fake but spot-on commercials for the outfit peddling the artiforgs; and a six-minute look at the visual effects showing how the city landscapes were created or enhanced and how a scene in which a woman fishes around a torso for organs was done.
In the end, it's probably a better rental than the centerpiece of an evening out for dinner and a movie.
After all, you may not want to order sweetbreads or liver anytime soon.
Rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, language and some sexuality/nudity.
-- Barbara Vancheri
TV on DVD
"Sergeant Bilko: The Phil Silvers Show, The First Season" ($42.99, CBS Home Entertainment) is a five-disc set that features all 34 episodes from the first 1955-56 season.
Silvers was never better than in this Emmy-winning show, perfectly crafted for his fast-talking shtick. The constant theme is Silvers conning less nimble thinkers around him, and the Army setting allows a perpetual shark-out-of-water element that heightens the comedy for a character so clearly shaped by Silvers' native Brooklyn.
The show had a large cast, but unlike ensemble sitcoms today, there's no question of the star here. The late Allan Melvin, who played one of Silvers' henchmen, offers some commentary, and a mid-1960s episode of "The Lucy Show'' with Silvers as an efficiency expert is part of the nearly 15-hour package.
-- Brian O'Neill
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