CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981, Blu-ray released March 2, 2010 – MSRP $34.99)
I have such a soft spot for fantasy and sci-fi films of the late 70s/early 80s. I don’t doubt that they are responsible for my fascination with the trappings of nerd-dom, from gallivanting space adventures to heroic tales of flying men in capes. I count Clash of the Titans amongst the most influential of those films on my young mind. And I’m so excited to finally have it in my Blu-ray collection, warts and all.
Clash of the Titans is the last great hurrah of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, after years spent making movie magic for such films as the original Mighty Joe Young (with King Kong animation pioneer Willis O’Brien), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. It tells the story of heroic Perseus, son of top-God Zeus, who must save his beloved Andromeda from the monstrous Kraken, last of the Titans. Along the way he fights through a demonic horde of Harryhausen’s animated beasts, like the deformed Calibos and the gorgon Medusa, with only his wits and divine armaments to carry him home to his princess. It’s a pretty straight forward but spirited adventure that clearly celebrates the wonder of the Greek mythology it draws from. Modern audiences might find the story a bit corny and will definitely be turned off by the antiquated special effects but film and animation buffs, along with those who grew up in the 80s, will no doubt look upon Clash of the Titans quite fondly.
The visual presentation of the Clash of the Titans Blu-ray disc is a challenging one to grade. To most eyes, this transfer will look like a mess. Varying levels of contrast, detail and grain will provide most with a confusing viewing experience. These issues are most likely all source based. There’s no evidence that Warner has done anything but a top-notch job with the elements at hand – elements that were clearly wrung through the ringer in the process of creating the vintage, multi-composite and stop-motion special effects on a shoe-string budget. In short, what Clash of the Titans needs to meet modern expectations is a full scale restoration. And I’m not expecting that to happen in the short term. So, this remaster is without question the finest this film will look for years. I personally found it a joy to watch, even with those really rough spots.
The audio is pretty decent here, despite the fact that the DTS-HD Master Audio track is only two channels. Even without a newly-created surround track, Clash of the Titans manages to present a nice, wide sound field and a fairly dynamic presentation on the whole.
The Clash of the Titans Blu-ray comes to us in another one of Warner’s beautiful hardcover book packages. I love these things. Like I’ve said a number of times now, if I’ve got to have packaged media, I prefer to have it on my shelf with this touch of class. And Warner really delivers here. Sadly, I have to report that all is not heavenly in Olympus! The special features on the disc are quite spare, improving on the DVD with the sole addition of a 5-minute “sneak-peek” of the upcoming Clash of the Titans remake, slated to hit theatres April 2nd. The only other features, still presented in their original 4:3 standard-def, are short conversations with Clash of the Titans creator, Harryhausen. Now, to be fair, the 23-minute A Conversation with Ray Harryhausen is quite good, and serves, for all intents and purposes, as a sort of “making-of” doc. The Myths and Monsters feature is a collection of seven very, very short Harryhausen comments on the creation of each of his animated creatures form the film. It would have been much less annoying with a “Play All” feature so I didn’t have to click on each one to listen to the individual 1-2 minute clips.
[...] Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Clash of the Titans Blu-ray Disc Review [...]
[...] of the Titans – yes, the remake this time, not the Harryhausen original – arrives on Blu-ray without the much derided post-production 3-D process partly responsible [...]
[...] sure POP won’t have the old-school, stop motion charm of his Jason and the Argonauts or Clash of the Titans but, as critical as I’m certain I’ll be of the writing, the directing and the [...]