The tone of Clash of the Titans seems more inspired by recent action films like 300 than its source material. It’s decidedly without a sense of wonder or enchantment, opting instead for a grittiness that doesn’t suit the mythological quest at the center of its narrative. Perseus, played as if he were a gruff American soldier by Sam Worthington, adopted by meager mortals after being sent adrift at sea as an infant, finds himself orphaned when his adopted family drowns as a result of the gods’ punishment of Argos. This punishment by the gods is a prime example of the confused mythology of Clash of the Titans: the Argonauts topple a statue of Zeus (god of the sky) into the ocean (Poseidon’s realm) to be punished by Hades (god of the underworld) who comes out of the ocean with his furies. But the event makes Perseus a loner, filled with spite to the gods, a sense of revenge that is not lessened when he learns that he himself is a demigod, the son of Zeus.

The gods agree to unleash the Kraken on the city of Argos in ten days, an act of destruction that can only be avoided by human sacrifice. Perseus intervenes, vowing to protect the city, and goes on a quest to find the secret weakness of the Kraken from the three Stygian witches. But less attention is given to the quest than battle sequences that all go on for excessively long periods of time, including a fight against giant scorpion after giant scorpion after yet-more-giant scorpions, until even the filmmakers seem so tired of them that they cease to become enemies, and merely transportation for the characters across the desert, until the anticlimactic showdown with the Kraken.

The dialogue throughout is unapologetically wooden. We get fishermen glaring into the distance and making bombastic statements like, “One day, somebody’s got to make a stand. One day, somebody’s got to say enough!”

The characters in Clash of the Titans are so thin you’ll get paper cuts. Sam Worthington seems an odd choice for a demigod, and seems incredibly modern with his buzz cut, American delivery, and action-hero attitude. Meanwhile, the gods seem stuck in the 1980s, dressed in shiny metallic armor that seems more fitting for a David Bowie music video than Mount Olympus. (Image 4) Liam Neeson as Zeus is a disappointment, and Ralph Fiennes as Hades even more so. Even the modern portrayal of the gods in Percy Jackson and the Olympians was more awe-inspiring. And there’s not much to be said about Io (Gemma Arterton), Perseus’ demigod love interest. She smiles gracefully and that’s about it.

There’s no real attempt at style with the cinematography. Leterrier lacks the ability to add a sense of the epic to his images, whether filming the palace of Olympus or a vast stretch of desert. There are many opportunities here, indeed, many moments that should have been heightened by the visuals: a fight against Medusa in a darkened pit should not have the same visual feel as a scene of crossing an epic desert after defeating giant scorpions. But here they do, and the film’s many battle scenes all blend together.

The costumes and make-up looked like what guests might buy for a themed costume party. Poor fishermen should not be wearing professionally sewn garments, and all the armor of the soldiers looked as if it had never been used before. And Zeus’ shimmering armor was in distractingly poor taste.

The CGI is competent without being revolutionary. Part of the enchantment of the original Clash of the Titans was the attention to detail spent on each stop-motion creature. It may have been dated upon its release, but it had a nostalgic charm. The creatures of Leterrier’s remake lack that warmth. Medusa and the Kraken may be skillfully rendered, but their designs are cold and forgettable.

As for the late decision to release the film in 3D, it was a mistake. It is obvious that the film was not composed for 3D, the images too dark and exceptionally flat. There’s no depth added to the image, and at times the 3D detracts from the coherency of the battle scenes.