ROTTEN TOMATOES: "Clash" Remake Lands a Titan of a Screenwriter Comments

"Clash" Remake Lands a Titan of a Screenwriter

by Scott Weinberg | April 18, 2007

Summary

Even if you know next to nothing about screenwriters, I bet you're a fan of Lawrence Kasdan ... even if you don't know it. The guy's biggest successes include "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and now he's returning to adventure genre to pen the "Clash of the Titans" remake. Back to Article

(1-23 of 23 posts) | Reply

Xhrix writes:
on Apr 18 2007 12:50 AM

This should be great!!!!!!

Can't wait to see modernized Medusa and Kraken. I hope they slip Harry Hamlin in for a brief cameo too :P

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Neonknight writes:
on Apr 18 2007 02:21 AM

I don't see why they should remake this. If however, they do remake it, I hope they would stick closer to the original mythology than the first movie did.

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vader_of_vjun writes:
on Apr 18 2007 02:28 AM

So...many...Laurence Olivier film...remakes.

First Sleuth, then Boys from Brazil...I'm eagerly awaiting the Marathon Man remake...

:|

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cgcbooks writes:
on Apr 18 2007 02:46 AM

HO HUM!

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digitalsoul68 writes:
on Apr 18 2007 05:54 AM

[b]Sounds like they should do God of War instead...[/b]
enough with the remakes!

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GreenBastard writes:
on Apr 18 2007 06:18 AM

More remakes! as long as they are good.

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bigbrother writes:
on Apr 18 2007 06:36 AM

In reply to this comment (#861888)
I wonder if they'll even do the Kraken again? Since that's really Norse myth. Though Perseus did slay a sea serpent sent by Poseidon if I remember correctly. Also in the original myth it was Bellerophon and not Perseus who tames Pegasus. Perseus had flying shoes like Hermes.

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Prosper761 writes:
on Apr 18 2007 06:43 AM

Finally, a movie whose original is bad enough to warrant a remake. My sister and I have always referred to this movie as "Clash of the Trite Ones." Bubo the owl was a cheap and lazy attempt to create an "R2-D2" type character for this lamest of Ray Harryhausen movies. I'm so glad that a proven screenwriter is taking this on. Maybe we'll actually get a decent movie this time.

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LEGENDc writes:
on Apr 18 2007 08:22 AM

[b]I Can Not Wait[/b]
Clash is my all time favoite, this is a blessing in disguise. Watching 300 and playing Gods of War 2 this is all I could think of, bring it all back giant scorpions, three headed dogs, Medusa, Calabus, Zeus, the three blind witches, that giant flying hawk, Pegasus, and one of the best heroes of all time PERSIUS. Finally a remake to anticipate, and can we bring Flash Gordon back now?

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The_Corrector writes:
on Apr 18 2007 09:27 AM

In reply to this comment (#861892)
Enough with people saying enough with the remakes

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unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Apr 18 2007 09:47 AM

That's a great start, hopefully they get a good director now.

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Alexaion writes:
on Apr 18 2007 10:17 AM

Yeah, Perseus isn't the sort of hero that one might find in, say, the Iliad. He's a folk hero, nearer to Herakles or Theseus, and more of a folk tale than either of those two. He bears magical items and is sent on a quest, and was not raised as a nobleman - hallmarks of folk-tales. Most of the other heroes, in contrast, have nothing magical about them.

Anyway, this would be a neat movie to see remade, and in some ways I hope they keep the 'inaccuracies' in. Yeah, sure it was Bellerophontes who tamed Pegasus, and Pegasus himself sprung from the blood of Medousa (alongside the giant Khrusaor), but it's more fun to keep him. 'Accuracy' is a very fickle thing, and needn't be always considered. Recall that the ancient story tellers were not always consistent. Tell me, say, the names of the seven champions in the Seven Against Thebes; or who was elder, Zeus or Poseidon; or what Agamemnon's home city was. These things vary between authors, and ever character representations might vary within a single author between various works (the disparity of Menelaos' character in the Andromache as opposed to the Helen, for example.) So I have a difficult time calling such things inaccuracies, or wishing them removed, and I know and love my Greek myths more than most.

What they need now is a good monster movie director. Hmmm... PJ does monsters pretty well, and has that whimsical edge. Tim Burton could do it in interesting fashion. Most Greek myth isn't whimsical, but a little more heroic, yet Perseus by the nature I have spoken of would do better being less 'Greek' and more whimsical. Hmmm... I don't know my directors well enough. Maybe someone like James Cameron, but I think he's going to busy for years on Avatar.

However, with this all, I'd say they should still use old-fashioned models and stop-animation. For some reason the suspension of disbelief and the fantasitcal mood is better served by that, rather than our modern CG, whose clean and crisp look seems to conflict a bit.

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crudebob writes:
on Apr 18 2007 11:24 AM

A worthy choice for a remake of a Ray Harryhausen movie since the studio forced a dumb down of the oiginal.

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dracus writes:
on Apr 18 2007 11:31 AM

Talk about the perfect movie genre for George Lucas.

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PunkJr writes:
on Apr 18 2007 11:32 AM

For fuck's sake... why do we have to keep remaking classics??

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needles writes:
on Apr 18 2007 11:39 AM

In reply to this comment (#861900)
I agree. Harryhausen hated that mechanical owl the studio insisted on. He said it remided him of that moroinc Daggit in the Buck Rodgers television series.

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hilohawaiian69 writes:
on Apr 18 2007 12:38 PM

In reply to this comment (#861903)
[b]i have to say...[/b]
i actually liked the original and i think it's rather entertaining for the cheese-fest that it is. I am also looking forward to the remake with all this new techonology in special effects it could look awesome.

P.S. I actually thougth Dreamcatcher was alright.

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okuonuora writes:
on Apr 18 2007 01:24 PM

In reply to this comment (#861902)
Um, maybe cuz the first one was MADE OF CLAY?!? Now they can use crappy computer graphics instead of crappy claymation.

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FireflyFan4evr writes:
on Apr 18 2007 09:46 PM

Well being that this could be considered more of another version of the myth, it does not necessarily have to be considered a remake. I liked the original alright, but a remake wouldn't hurt either.

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cabezone writes:
on Apr 18 2007 09:57 PM

In reply to this comment (#861904)
If Dreamcatcher is the movie with ass weasels, I thought it was decent.

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BrianInSD writes:
on Apr 18 2007 10:47 PM

[b]Didn't Xena: Warrior Princess already do this?[/b]
Hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in Greek Mythology and they choose to remake this one. I have an idea: How about a shot-by-shot remake of the Lou Ferrigno version of Hercules! Get Gus Van Sant on the phone!

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criddic writes:
on Apr 18 2007 11:31 PM

[b]"Clash" Remake Lands a Titan of a Screenwriter[/b]
Clash of the Titans was an entertaining mythological adventure and was a good showcase for the effects of Ray Harryhausen. Remaking it with CGI is intriguing, but I have found that I sometimes prefer the old-time effects to the physically-unrealistic quality of some CGI movie effects. When used well, such as in Minority Report or the Harry Potter movies, they can create believeable worlds, but some of the effects in the newer Star Wars episodes were over-kill.

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Alexaion writes:
on Apr 19 2007 09:58 AM

In reply to this comment (#861908)
Well, maybe some day they'll do the Seven Against Thebes. There is an incredibly important story to Greek myth that is on one hand almost forgotten about, and on the other is almost to the scale and power of the Iliad, the only aspect lesser being that we have no telling of it by a master poet like Homer. Morever, it has never yet been filmed, yet is filmable to a great degree, with wonderful characters.

Oh, and for anyone that doesn't know the story... don't look it up on Wiki. Not only does it not do that story any justice, but most of the article is just plain wrong or misleading. One of these days I'll write up an article myself. The story of the Seven deserves a bit better than that.

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