This could have gone either way, what with a cast of mostly "where have I seen them before?" types, plus Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes camping it up like a pair of aging bearded drag queens - and that contradiction kind of sums up the movie.
On the one hand it was sillier than an ancient Greek Monty Python sketch. On the other, it was an exciting adventure with fabulous special effects.
My toes curled every time I saw the trailer with Zeus / Neeson proclaiming "release the Kraken", but thankfully he got that melodramatic command out of the way and the Krah-ken (as Hades / Fiennes gaily pronounced it) was duly released.
Mayhem naturally ensued, in a wonderfully violent swirling of teeth and tentacles. Reviewers who described the monsters as "static" must be thinking of the 1970s original, because each badass encounter, with giant scorpions, bat-like demons, snake-infested Medusa and the [titter] Krah-ken was genuinely gripping. The intervening dialog was a bit dull, but hell (er, Hades), what do you expect?
Having grown up on the originals (the English translations, not the original originals) of Aesop's Fables, The Iliad and The Aenid (or was that a prog rock band from the 80s?) I kind of new the basic stories, and this was mish-mash of some choice cuts.
All in all, a playful romp through a sea of utter hogwash. Immense fun. Honest.
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