Upper_Krust
Hero
Went to see this last night (in 2D).
In a nutshell, its terrible. Really disappointing.
I'll probably add a longer review when I sort out my thoughts but really seemed like there was no story. There's nothing sacrificed. The characters are throwaway. There's no gravitas to the action.
Perseus has literally been given 'God Mode' in this movie because he has infinite hit points. Ares is smashing his head through MULTIPLE pillars, then heel stomping him into solid stone and crushing the stone beneath him. I mean I know the character of Perseus is a 'demigod' of sorts but after you see him take the beating you get the impression nothing can hurt him.
I love (looking at) Rosamund Pike, but her character basically does nothing. She's just 'there'.
Aginor (The son of Poseidon) has a few nice comedic lines, but too few and far between.
Hephaestus (Bill Nighy) wasn't great and really isn't in it long.
Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes) were, for the most part, "dialling it in".
Ares couldn't really hold the role of main villain. The actor played him like a stoner. I expected the god of war to be angrier.
The supporting cast that accompany the main three heroes on the quest virtually have no lines and thus no character. So we don't care when the inevitable happens to these 'red shirts'...unlike the first movie where we got to know some of the characters.
Kronos also does almost nothing and could never make out what he was saying (which wasn't much).
The ending is too predictable. There is no sense of impending doom.
The first movie had its flaws, but was saved by the action scenes.
In this one there are several action scenes:
1. Chimera battle: Pretty good scrap, although the editing made it seem like Perseus' son gets barbecued, Perseus doesn't react, goes to heal his wounds then his son pops his head round the corner. He was right in the line of sight when it breathed on him for goodness sake! WTF!?
2. Perseus' Flashforward Vision Apocalypse of Kronos: Actually a better showing of Kronos' power than the end fight. Too brief though, lasts about 10 seconds.
3. Cyclops Battle: Easily the best scene in the movie by far.
4. 1st Ares Battle: Ares catching the dagger was cool but after that the rest was wishy washy. He kills an unarmed girl to show how bad he is. Moral of the story - don't pray for war kids!
5. Minotaur: Utterly irrelevant, too quick, edited so fast we can't see what's going on.
6. 2nd Ares battle: Functional (given the not so surprise twist) but otherwise unremarkable.
7. Makai Troops (End Battle): Move far too fast to really focus on what's happening. Ruined opportunity because the designs were cool. Also did anyone else notice that one of the mortal armies tactics for keeping the makai at bay was to have a load of flaming trenches on the battlefield - AGAINST FIRE BEINGS THAT HAVE JUST BEEN SHOT OUT OF A VOLCANO!
Its actually made me think about the stop motion animation of the Harryhausen era and why so much CGI nowadays seems pointless. The Makai are a great example of this. In something like Jason and the Argonauts, the director not only gives time for us to see the skeletons when introduced, but also there will be moments when the skeletons (or other monsters) will pause, rear up, or otherwise act 'real'. With the makai scene the bloody things are constantly on the move and virtually so fast we don't have time to appreciate them.
8. 3rd Ares battle: Devolved into fisticuffs much too quickly. I mean between them they have the 3 most powerful weapons in existence, but lets do some WRESTLING! For basically the third fight running Ares looks like he's not really trying.
9. Kronos (End Battle): Kronos almost does nothing (even though in the flashforward sequence at the start he seemed awesome). Okay thats not quite the case, he sort of punches the ground causing big nuke like shockwaves and later he shoots fire out of his eyes (which Pegasus goes through unscathed). Takes a few attacks from Zeus (which daze him for a few seconds).
Okay, so what did I like...?
The aforementioned cyclop's scene is great. Ares has this really cool mace that has such a satisfying crunch (with accompanying sparks) which is neat. Aginor has a few good lines (and one great line*). I fancy Rosamund Pike (but she looked better in the equally bad Doom movie). I like the design of the makai. The Kronos flashforward scene was tasty.
*
Everything else was basically dirt.
A generous 3 out of 10. Can't see this getting a third instalment.
In a nutshell, its terrible. Really disappointing.
I'll probably add a longer review when I sort out my thoughts but really seemed like there was no story. There's nothing sacrificed. The characters are throwaway. There's no gravitas to the action.
Perseus has literally been given 'God Mode' in this movie because he has infinite hit points. Ares is smashing his head through MULTIPLE pillars, then heel stomping him into solid stone and crushing the stone beneath him. I mean I know the character of Perseus is a 'demigod' of sorts but after you see him take the beating you get the impression nothing can hurt him.
I love (looking at) Rosamund Pike, but her character basically does nothing. She's just 'there'.
Aginor (The son of Poseidon) has a few nice comedic lines, but too few and far between.
Hephaestus (Bill Nighy) wasn't great and really isn't in it long.
Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes) were, for the most part, "dialling it in".
Ares couldn't really hold the role of main villain. The actor played him like a stoner. I expected the god of war to be angrier.
The supporting cast that accompany the main three heroes on the quest virtually have no lines and thus no character. So we don't care when the inevitable happens to these 'red shirts'...unlike the first movie where we got to know some of the characters.
Kronos also does almost nothing and could never make out what he was saying (which wasn't much).
The ending is too predictable. There is no sense of impending doom.
The first movie had its flaws, but was saved by the action scenes.
In this one there are several action scenes:
1. Chimera battle: Pretty good scrap, although the editing made it seem like Perseus' son gets barbecued, Perseus doesn't react, goes to heal his wounds then his son pops his head round the corner. He was right in the line of sight when it breathed on him for goodness sake! WTF!?
2. Perseus' Flashforward Vision Apocalypse of Kronos: Actually a better showing of Kronos' power than the end fight. Too brief though, lasts about 10 seconds.
3. Cyclops Battle: Easily the best scene in the movie by far.
4. 1st Ares Battle: Ares catching the dagger was cool but after that the rest was wishy washy. He kills an unarmed girl to show how bad he is. Moral of the story - don't pray for war kids!
5. Minotaur: Utterly irrelevant, too quick, edited so fast we can't see what's going on.
6. 2nd Ares battle: Functional (given the not so surprise twist) but otherwise unremarkable.
7. Makai Troops (End Battle): Move far too fast to really focus on what's happening. Ruined opportunity because the designs were cool. Also did anyone else notice that one of the mortal armies tactics for keeping the makai at bay was to have a load of flaming trenches on the battlefield - AGAINST FIRE BEINGS THAT HAVE JUST BEEN SHOT OUT OF A VOLCANO!
Its actually made me think about the stop motion animation of the Harryhausen era and why so much CGI nowadays seems pointless. The Makai are a great example of this. In something like Jason and the Argonauts, the director not only gives time for us to see the skeletons when introduced, but also there will be moments when the skeletons (or other monsters) will pause, rear up, or otherwise act 'real'. With the makai scene the bloody things are constantly on the move and virtually so fast we don't have time to appreciate them.
8. 3rd Ares battle: Devolved into fisticuffs much too quickly. I mean between them they have the 3 most powerful weapons in existence, but lets do some WRESTLING! For basically the third fight running Ares looks like he's not really trying.
9. Kronos (End Battle): Kronos almost does nothing (even though in the flashforward sequence at the start he seemed awesome). Okay thats not quite the case, he sort of punches the ground causing big nuke like shockwaves and later he shoots fire out of his eyes (which Pegasus goes through unscathed). Takes a few attacks from Zeus (which daze him for a few seconds).
Okay, so what did I like...?
The aforementioned cyclop's scene is great. Ares has this really cool mace that has such a satisfying crunch (with accompanying sparks) which is neat. Aginor has a few good lines (and one great line*). I fancy Rosamund Pike (but she looked better in the equally bad Doom movie). I like the design of the makai. The Kronos flashforward scene was tasty.
*
Everything else was basically dirt.
A generous 3 out of 10. Can't see this getting a third instalment.
