a Wrath of the Titans: Collector's Edition [Blu-Ray] (2012)
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ARROW

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Jonathan Liebesman
Cast:
Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Rosamund Pike
Writing Credits:
Dan Mazeau, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

Synopsis:
Perseus braves the treacherous underworld to rescue his father Zeus.

MPAA:
Rated PG-13.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 99 min.
Price: $54.95
Release Date: 8/13/2024
Available Only as Part of Two-Film “When Titans Ruled the Earth” Set

Bonus:
• “Unleashing the Beasts” Featurette
• “Path of the Gods” Featurettes
• “Path of Men” Featurettes
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailer
• Image Gallery


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RELATED REVIEWS


Wrath of the Titans: Collector's Edition [Blu-Ray] (2012)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (August 5, 2024)

If viewed as creative endeavors, I find it tough to pick between 1981’s Clash of the Titans and its 2010 remake. Both come with enough strengths and weaknesses to leave them as generally mediocre, so I can’t say I prefer one to the other.

The 2010 Clash does enjoy one distinction that its 1981 predecessor lacks: a sequel. Apparently the notion of another Clash tale in the 1980s got some attention, but none ever went anywhere; as far as I can tell, the sequel never got past the “pitch” stage.

On the other hand, the 2010 Clash didn’t just produce a sequel, but it did so quite quickly. 2012’s Wrath of the Titans made it to screens less than two years after the release of the first flick.

After a quick recap, we learn that half-god/half-human Perseus (Sam Worthington) chooses to live a mortal existence. Set 10 years after the prior flick’s events, Perseus prefers to remain a simple fisherman, and he cares for his son Helius (John Bell).

One night Perseus’s immortal pop Zeus (Liam Neeson) visits to warn of a coming calamity. Because the humans no longer pray to the gods, they suffer from weakened powers and must worry about becoming mortal.

Because of the gods’ decline, demons imprisoned in Tartarus may soon escape, and if they do so, the gods will literally be powerless to stop them. Zeus asks for Perseus to help prevent this, but he prefers to stay on the sidelines.

For a while, at least. Along with his brother Poseidon (Danny Huston) and son Ares (Edgar Ramirez), Zeus attempts to recruit his other brother, bitter ruler of the underworld Hades (Ralph Fiennes), to join the cause.

Hades agrees but then immediately stabs Zeus in the back – along with the help of Ares, who feels jealous because he thinks his pop favors Perseus.

This leads to nasty critters unleashed on the mortal world and Perseus’s decision to assist the cause. He recruits Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) and Agenor (Toby Kebbell), the scoundrel half-son of Poseidon, to head toward Hades and set things right before Hades can drain Zeus’s powers and bring back their imprisoned father Kronos.

While the 2010 Clash did well enough to spawn a sequel, Wrath never birthed a third chapter in the series. Though not a huge hit, Clash still did fine, with $163 million in the US – and nearly $500 million worldwide.

Alas, Wrath fared much less well, as it snared a mere $83 million in the US. Decent overseas grosses helped get it to about $300 million worldwide, so the movie was not a total dud, but I suspect the significant decline in earnings discouraged the producers from the third chapter.

I won’t say this is a shame, as I can’t claim that Wrath delights me, but I do think it works substantially better than Clash did. That’s because it streamlines the experience and lacks the persistent dullness of the original.

I feel a bit hypocritical in my criticism of Clash vs. Wrath, as I normally slam movies that lack enough exposition. Of the two, Clash clearly spends much more time with character and story delineation; Wrath tends to hop right into the action and not bother with much else.

So why do I prefer Wrath? Because those story/character pieces in Clash were so darned tedious.

Granted, I realize the first chapter in the series needed to spend more time with these moments since it needed to set up the movie’s universe. Wrath doesn’t need to worry about that material because we already learned so much the first time.

I still think Clash could’ve developed its narrative and participants much better than it did. When the movie focused on action, it worked fairly well. It only lost me when it left battle, as those expository bits were almost always plodding and boring.

Here, the story moves at a pretty brisk pace. It’s not non-stop action, as the tale occasionally slows to introduce a new character or situation, but these moments seem quicker and less numbing in the sequel. Overall pacing feels much stronger, as the film cranks along at a clip that keeps us with it.

Wrath also comes across as simply more fun than Clash, which tended to take itself more seriously. The sequel delivers occasional moments of mild comedy, and these help lighten the mood.

Both provide solid action sequences, but the Wrath scenes fare better simply because they’re not islands unto themselves. Since we’re still interested even in moments without battle, the fights seem more compelling.

Heck, even the actors appear more involved this time, especially the gods, who come across as less campy here. Does any of this add up to a great mythology-based action film?

No – there’s a lack of depth that prevents Wrath from reaching a higher level. It also suffers from some dodgy visual effects at times. Nonetheless, it provides a surprisingly lively and enjoyable tale.


The Disc Grades: Picture A-/ Audio A/ Bonus B-

Wrath of the Titans appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Across the board, the movie boasted a terrific transfer.

Sharpness worked well. Outside of stylistic choices, virtually no softness materialized here, as the film was consistently tight and accurate.

I noticed no shimmering or jaggies, and edge haloes failed to appear. Print flaws also weren’t a factor in this clean presentation.

The movie’s palette opted for a pretty standard mix of amber/orange and teal. These choices limited the color range, but I thought the hues looked solid given those decisions.

Blacks were deep and dense, and shadows showed clear definition; low-light and nighttime shots offered positive visuals. This turned into a strong image.

Similar praise greeted the intense DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Wrath. I’d expect non-stop action from a movie about a battle among the gods, and that was what I got here.

From start to finish, the movie used all five channels as nearly constant partners. Music filled the whole spectrum in a satisfying way, and effects demonstrated tremendous breadth.

Wrath certainly gave the audio plenty of opportunities to excel, and it delivered. We got plenty of winged creatures, explosions and similar elements, and all added pep to the film.

The components showed fine localization and blending. Everything came from the right spot and the pieces fit together in a smooth way.

Audio quality lived up to the standards of the soundfield. Music was bold and dynamic, and speech seemed concise and crisp.

Effects demonstrated terrific range, so highs were tight, and lows seemed deep and full. Bass response added a real kick and gave the movie great power. Everything worked here and this became an engrossing sound experience.

How did this 2024 Arrow release compare to the original 2012 Blu-ray? Both seemed very similar to me, so I would feel hard-pressed to discern any differences in picture or audio quality.

The Arrow disc combines old and new extras. Two collections of video programs port over from the old Blu-ray.

Path of the Gods offers four featurettes with a total running time of 12 minutes, 50 seconds. We find “Who Are the Titans?” (3:21). “Hephaestus: God of Fire” (2:34), “Lost in Tartarus’ Labyrinth” (2:51) and “Creatures of the Titans” (4:04).

In addition, Path of Men spans a sum of 21 minutes, 46 seconds. It offers six segments: “Battling the Chimera” (3:55), “Agenor: The Other Demi-God” (3:00), “The Cyclops Fight” (3:35), “Prison of the Titans” (3:46), “Minotaur: The Human Nightmare” (3:03), and “The Heavens Raise Hell on Earth” (4:27).

Across all these, we hear from director Jonathan Liebesman, producers Polly Johnsen and Basil Iwanyk, writers Dan Mazeau and David Leslie Johnson, visual effects supervisor/2nd unit director Nick Davis, stunt coordinator Paul Jennings, Framestore visual effects supervisor Jonathan Fawkner, special effects supervisor Neil Corbould, semior armoury technician Tim Wildgoose, MPC CG effects supervisor Anders Langlands, MPC animation supevisor Greg Fisher, LMU Dept.of Classics and Archaeology Professor Chiara Sulprizio, UCLA Department of Classics Professor Richard Rader, CSYDH Department of History Associate Professor James Jeffers, Framestore animation supervisor Paul Chung, prosthetics designer Conor O’Sullivan, prosthetics sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn, prosthetics makeup second supervisor Goran Lundstrom, location manager Martin Joy, assistant costume designer Joe Hobbs, and actors Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Edgar Ramirez, Ralph Fiennes, Rosamund Pike, Toby Kebbell, Spencer Wilding and Bill Nighy.

The pieces look at creatures and their creation, story/character issues and the film’s tone, various effects, cast and performances, sets, locations and production design, stunts and action, costumes, and elements of the mythology at the film’s core.

The content offers good information. The clips deliver a lot of useful material and entertain as they go.

Three Deleted Scenes run a total of 10 minutes, 50 seconds. We get “Perseus Owes Helius an Explanation” (4:27), “Perseus Addresses the Troops” (4:50) and “Zeus Is Led Past Missing Olympians” (1:33).

The first two are the kind of slow, unnecessary exposition that harmed the prior movie, so I’m glad they were cut. “Olympians” is a bit more interesting, though, as it shows a little more of what happened to the other gods.

The remaining extras are new to the 2024 Arrow release. Unleashing the Beasts goes for 13 minutes, 36 seconds and provides a new interview with producer Basil Iwanyk.

He tells us about the development of the sequel as well as bringing in a new director, cast/performances, aspects of the production and thoughts about a third film in the franchise. A companion to a chat on the Clash disc, Iwanyk provides a solid view of the movie.

In addition to the film’s trailer we find an Image Gallery with 50 elements that mix movie shots, photos from the set and advertisements. It turns into a decent compilation.

Note that the 2024 Arrow release drops a picture-in-picture feature from the 2012 disc called “Maximum Movie Mode”. This brought a form of multimedia commentary that worked well and becomes a lamentable omission here.

Because I felt lukewarm toward 2010’s Clash of the Titans, I didn’t expect much from its sequel. Happily, Wrath of the Titans works much better, so while it lacks the depth that would elevate it to a higher level, it still offers more than enough action and excitement to create a pretty entertaining 99 minutes.

The Blu-ray offers excellent picture and audio along with a moderate roster of supplements. Even if you didn’t care for Clash of the Titans, Wrath merits a look, as it consistently surpasses its predecessor.

Note that this 2024 Arrow release of Wrath of the Titans comes only as part of a two-film When Titans Ruled the Earth package. This set also includes 2010’s Clash of the Titans.

To rate this film visit the prior review of WRATH OF THE TITANS

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Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main