The gods have spoken and their new mandate is as follows. “Thou shalt not make any more 3-D movies until thou hath mastered the art of doing so!” 3-D flicks are the fad these days and it seems every film that is released comes with a pair of glasses. The problem is that unless it is an animated film the quality of the imagery actually suffers more than it is enhanced. Clash of the Titans is a perfect example of a film that suffers from the 3-D craze. This film has all the elements to make it a pre summer blockbuster and it is releasing during a time when nothing else offers any competition. Full of action, larger than life creatures and a story line that works well with all ages; Clash of the Titans did not need to be in 3-D.

The story revolves around Zeus (Liam Neeson) and his brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes). The mortals of Earth have become proud and feel they no longer need to worship the gods and that they can make it on their own. Zeus longs for his people to pray to him once again and thinks that love and patience will bring them around. Hades believes fear would be a better motivator for prayer and convinces Zeus to let him unleash his minions. Perseus (Sam Worthington), Zeus’ mortal son, must help wage war against the underworld and their plot to destroy heaven and earth.

This film does a good job of showing the struggle of god and man. The endless discussion of why were we created and what is our journey all about is prominent. There is plenty of dialogue to resonate with those of any background and belief. Zeus is frustrated because his people no longer pray to him. He wants to instill in them a purpose but they ignore him. He says in the film, “They reward my love, with defiance..” Then you have Perseus who blames the gods for taking those he loved and so has no desire to pray to such gods. It is this conflict that causes Perseus and Zeus to try and come to terms.

There is plenty of action in this one as well. Perseus and a small band of warriors must try and get the head of Medusa in order to do battle against the Kraken. Along the way they fight all sorts of mythological creatures. Plenty of loud edge of your seat battles to satisfy the action fan. The frustrating part is that with 3-D a lot of the images are blurry and lack definition. You lose the pristine look that HD has perfected. The 1981 original had better on screen quality. This hopefully is not the case in the 2-D theaters and you may want to opt for that version.

Clash of the Titans is rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality. In the vain of Lord of the Rings the violence deals with creatures that are big and loud and scary. It is safe for those 13 and older plus those 10 and up who have a good grasp of reality will be ok too. Though it is tempting to think that you have to see it in 3-D or you will miss out, the smarter option is to see it in a normal 2-D theater. There is nothing in this that lends itself to 3-D and as mentioned earlier, it ends up making it a worse film. Clash of the Titans still gets 3.75 out of 5 coins for the ferryman. Sure it plays a little loose with Greek mythology but still creates a strong enough story to lock you in. So says Matt Mungle.