Saturday, January 01, 2011

Clash of the Titans - better than expected

I avoided the recent remake of "Clash of the Titans" when it was released in theatres because of early bad press, both from critics and from the fans. Most of the criticism seemed to stem from the lousy 3D effects, although the movie was panned pretty generally. I finally got around to watching it on DVD the other night, obviously in its intended 2D format and I must say, it is actually a pretty enjoyable flick. True, Sam Worthington is not a very convincing Greek hero, but the action was tight and the story was very reminiscent of my early gaming experience. This is, ultimately, the purpose of this post. Unlike many gamers whose original pen-and-paper role-playing experiences date back to the early 80s, I have never felt all that much influence from the sword-and-sorcery genre. Sure, I read some Conan stories and my D&D characters always insisted on a fair share of the loot, but the thought of playing a thief or adventuring solely for personal gain never occurred to me. My characters were always heroes, like Perseus or Gandalf or Beowulf, defending the weak and fighting evil. The story of Perseus, leading a small band of heroes on a perilous journey to uncover a means of defeating the Kraken and saving Argos was not just an entertaining story for me, it was a nostalgic reminder of youthful fantasies.

Also, riding giant scorpions, that's Metal!

-Rognar-

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