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Wrath of the Titans (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Yes, I am making an IJAM thread for this.
Clash of the Titans was bad. The effects sucked, the plot was boring, the characters two-dimensional. It was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I've watched SyFy original movies.
Wrath of the Titans was...an improvement.
The good part of the movie is that they finally picked up what amounts to a theme. What I was getting from the movie was that "Zeus was a dick and his dickitude has consequences". This is what motivated Ralph Fiennes as Hades: Hades got the raw end of the stick and now he wants revenge. One of the best parts of the movie is when Zeus begs for Hades' forgiveness just before Cronos is freed. For a moment, the movie became more than a glorified B-movie.
This isn't to say that the movie isn't without its flaws, though. Characterization is still two-dimensional (only Zeus and maybe Hades were close to well-developed). A perfect example of this is Ares. Ares is a generic villain with generic motivation (which still ties into the theme above) who honestly seems more plot device than actual villain. This is all well and good if you're a giant pubic louse or an alien who gives people space cancer, but it isn't good at all if you're aiming for a believable villain.
There were a lot of deaths that we were supposed to feel sad about but didn't, like that one chick who prayed to Ares or Poseidon (hard to feel sorry for the latter, as it was mentioned that he raped Medusa). The one death I felt sad about was Hephaestus', and that was only because he was played by Bill Nighy. Perseus' son is also used in an attempt to feel more sympathy for the guy, but it doesn't work.
Overall, Wrath is what PoTC wants to be: good, mindless entertainment. Don't expect anything new or innovative from it, though: it's almost as cliche as its predecessor.
Comments
I wouldn't say that that is the good part. Rather, I'd say that the best part is when Hades accepts that, because that's the moment where characterization truly kicks in; Hades isn't a true villain, he's just a desperate guy being driven to desperate measures because he doesn't want to face oblivion.
One of the better parts of the movie, too, is how it left Hades alive at the end. It's rather poignant, too, because it's left Hades powerless, alone in the world, and facing oblivion; but at the same time, he's also come to accept it, and he doesn't hate his lot in life any more. It's a very human moment, which is good, because there weren't a lot of humanising moments within the movie.
Another moment I felt was humanising was when Hephaestus saw Queen Andromeda, and agreed to help her because she reminded him of Aphrodite. It wasn't very subtle, but it was a great deal more subtle than anything else in the movie, and added some complexity to the Gods that had previously been lacking.
Really, the bit that exemplifies the way the movie expects us to care for two-dimensional characters was the scene where Ares kills the member of the party that kept praying to him all the time. Later, in the Labyrinth, there is a short scene where we see Andromeda seeing a vision of her, but apart from that, we don't know a thing about her. I can't even remember her name. We weren't told anything about who she was, except that she's a warrior, has some connection to Andromeda, and she prays to Ares, and yet the movie still expected us to feel sad about her death.
I felt that the Labyrinth in general had a lot of wasted potential. I mean, Hephaestus said that it "tricks the mind" but all Perseus does is get lost and fight a Minotaur and BAM! They're out.
Nah, I believe I saw two scenes where they saw someone who was dead. The scene mentioned above with Andromeda, and Perseus sees his son, which is what lets the Minotaur get the drop on him.