I went to see Clash of the Titans yesterday. It was a remake (could one say update since both were set in the same time period) of the 1980s version, which was basically a showcase for Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation techniques. Of course this latest version uses the modern CGI techniques we've become accustomed to. The story is a bit different with Hades (God of the underworld) conspiring to bring down Zeus (king of the Gods) against a background of a war between men and Gods. A bit contrived but what the heck, it was fun to watch. The Kraken from the first movie shows up for the finale of this one, although there was no Kraken in Greek mythology. With so many wonderful monsters that are contained in Greek mythology I wonder why they felt the need to come up with something outside the the realm of that mythology. Pegasus the flying horse is in this one as well, although it's black rather than the traditional white, and so is Medusa. Actually in Greek mythology Perseus had gotten some winged sandals and a helmet from the gods which allowed him to defeat Medusa, who was one of three similar Gorgons and the only one who was mortal. When he killed her Pegasus was born from Medusa's spilled blood and it was actually the hero Bellerophon who rode Pegasus on his adventures. Bellerophon eventually got a bit cocky and decided he was going to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus and join the gods there, but Zeus made him fall off to his death for the sin of arrogance and took in Pegasus. Maybe in the end the originals were more interesting stories.
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