I was sitting in the theatre with a set of big 3D glasses on my nose waiting for James Cameron’s Avatar to start (yes, I was one of the last people on earth who hadn’t seen it yet) when a trailer of Clash of Titans was shown. I was pretty much blown away by the intensity and special effects of the trailer so it triggered me to find out a bit more about the movie and the story behind it.
The Movie
The movie is a remake of the 1981 version which, I must admit, I have never seen. Based on the trailer, Clash of the Titans promises to be a very intense movie with lots of high quality special effects and mythical creatures like giant scorpions, flying horses and a kraken (borrowed from Norse mythology).
The cast is also quite impressive. Among the actors are Sam Worthington (main character in Avatar) who plays the hero Perseus and Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson as the gods Hades and Zeus.
How good the storyline of the movie is, remains to be seen. The story (see below) should provide for enough as it contains a love story and also enough drama and action to be very entertaining. However, knowing Hollywood, it can easily become too much of a good thing resulting in an over-the-top rollercoaster ride.
The Story
With my interest in Roman and Greek mythology, of course I had heard about the classic Greek story about the hero Perseus kills the gorgon Medusa but I wasn’t familiar with why Perseus went out to kill Medusa, what he had to do to achieve this. What I also did not know was that the story contains a second part about Andromeda.
In short, Perseus, son of the god Zeus and a mortal woman, has to kill Medusa and bring her head as a gift for his king. Several gods help him in his quests to prepare him for his face off with Medusa and after killing her, Perseus battles the sea serpent to save the beautifull Andromeda.
I thought about writing a full synopsis of the story here but decided not to do so. If you want to know the story you can visit the all-knowing Wikipedia.
Conclusion
I have no idea if the movie is true representation of the original myth (knowing Hollywood it probably isn’t) but I think Clash of the Titans should be worth watching.
Click here for the trailer of Clash of Titans or here for the longer version.
Great news! HBO has confirmed that it will produce the television series “Game of Thrones”, based on George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice & Fire“. According to the The Hollywood Reporter and Winter Is Coming, for now HBO has ordered a total of 10 episodes. These will be shown the spring of 2011, which means that unfortunately we will have to wait a year longer.
Earlier I wrote about the pilot having been shot and presented to the HBO review board for approval. Apparently, it was convincing enough to order 10 episodes but not to sign a multi-season, 20 episodes per year deal. Still, it is very good to hear that a fantasy series is picked up and made into a television series.
Given the creative team behind the pilot (including author George R.R. Martin), the actors cast so far (including Sean Bean) and with the backing of HBO, it looks like A Game of Thrones will be the real deal. I truly hope it will live up to the standards of HBO and will become the best fantasy television series ever made which, let’s be honest, shouldn’t be too difficult.
As said, we will have to wait for quite some time but that will give the producers all the more time to prepare for and film the episodes. Being a big fan of the Ice & Fire series, I can hardly wait!
Update: Teaser trialer
HBO has aired a short teaser trialer, watch it on the Winter is Coming fansite.