<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman. Starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Toby Kebbell, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy.

God it’s not a great film. But it is a far better film than its predecessor, Clash of the Titans, was. In Wrath… the acting is better, the 3D is surprisingly superb and well it’s 100 times better than Clash… so it’s got my vote just for that one clubbed with low expectations.

Don’t ask me what Clash of the Titans was about; it’s all a blur. I just remember the much-touted 3D was abysmal as was the acting, writing and direction. But with new director Jonathan Liebesman (The Killing Room, Darkness Falls and the underrated Battle Los Angeles), Wrath seems to be in better hands but unfortunately not words as new writers Dan Mazeau and David Johnson haven’t really used much of their brains penning the dialogue to this one.

Sam Worthington is trying very hard to be leading man material and he’s back as the Greek demi-god (half human half god) Perseus ten years after his clash with the Kraken monster that Hades (God of the Underworld) had unleashed on human kind. He has a kid and wants a peaceful life. But unfortunately, great God Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Perseus’s father needs his help. The humans have lost faith in the Gods and stopped praying and so the Gods are about to die. Zeus also enlists the help of Hades (Ralph Fiennes), God of the Sea Poseidon (Danny Huston) and his other son, God of War Ares (Edgar Ramirez) but that doesn’t turn out as planned.

Perseus eventually acquiesces for his 10-year-old son’s sake and goes on a quest to save his father from the Underworld city of Tartarus and recover the three mythical weapons: Poseidon’s Trident, Zeus’s Lightning bolt and Hades’s Two Pronged Fork to form the all-powerful Trium. He’s assisted by Poseidon’s demi-god goofy son Agenor (Toby Kebbel) and Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike); all of them ultimately trying to stop Hades, Ares and their kind from unleashing the imprisoned God Cronos on mankind. Suitably riveting stuff this.

Now what’s great about Wrath is that it has a simple story, engages you, envelopes you with amazing 3D (shot in this time and not just slapped on like in the first film) and a thrilling background score by Javier Navarrete (Pan’s Labyrinth). The cast is pretty eclectic as is the crew and what that does is bring you a lot of ‘Greek’ Gods and humans talking in varying accents from Australian to British to Latin and we’re surprised there wasn’t an Indian in there for good measure. Of course Ralph Fiennes does drone on in Shakespearean fashion and I’m getting a bit tired of him now as predictable Mr Bad Guy. Neeson as Zeus is good, Pike is a great actor and she’s quite hot, Toby Kebbell plays the fool for comic relief but the gem of comedy is Bill Nighy as weapon master Hephaestus. Sam Worthington is like wallpaper I’m afraid and could have been replaced by Channing Tatum, who though not a good actor, has more screen presence than Worthington.

Wrath of the Titans will take you for a lovely visual spin, it may be cheesy at times and the dialogue is simplistic (I mean they’re Gods for God’s sake) but you’ll still have a relatively good time watching this one.