DVD review: Clash of the Titans | The Bounty Hunter

Published on Thursday 14 January 2010 10:10

Clash of the Titans Warner Bros, £19.99 The Bounty Hunter Sony, £19.99

IF YOU made the mistake of shelling out for the 3D version of the woeful Clash of the Titans in cinemas earlier this year, you'll get roughly the same experience on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Which is to say, a perfectly mediocre two-dimensional movie experience. Cynically (and hurriedly) converted into the extra-dimension to meet the post-Avatar demand for goggle-eyed entertainment, Clash loses nothing in its transfer back to flat screens beyond the irritating blur of half-finished effects work.

Avatar's very own Sam Worthington, still failing to inject anything approaching charisma into his blockbuster work, stars as Perseus, the demigod son of Zeus (Liam Neeson) who has to embark on a mission to stop Hades (Ralph Fiennes) from seizing control of the heavens.

That should be the film's cue for at least some spectacular creature-feature action, but comparatively, the alleged cutting-edge effects look cheaper than Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion monsters from the 1981 original.

That said the supporting cast is still filled with a reliably talented slew of slumming-it British thesps dressed in camp costumes and heavy-duty beards, enunciating dialogue so ripe their faces seem contorted in a look of disgust. Extras include deleted scenes and ending.

IF YOU'RE in any doubt about how bad this year's crop of mainstream Hollywood fare has been, a double bill of Clash of the Titans and The Bounty Hunter should destroy all hope for even the most forgiving movie fan.

Chemistry-free leads Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston mug their way through two charmless hours as bickering exes thrown together when his bounty hunter is hired to bring her journalist in after she breaks her bail terms chasing down a story lead.

From this set-up no further gags are forthcoming, just lots of boring set-pieces and mindless sub-plots involving gambling debts and overbearing mothers-in-law.

Butler's woeful New Jersey accent almost rivals the wince factor of Ewan McGregor's tone-deaf yank twang, though the grin he sports suggests he can't quite believe he's allowed to get away with this while being fabulously remunerated. Aniston isn't much better. She can't, as a rule, do neurotic or sexy. She certainly can't do both together, but that's what the film asks of her – and what she fails to provide.