Film Review: Wrath of the Titans

I recently saw Rosamund Pike's latest film, Wrath of the Titans and I posted my my full Film Review: Wrath of the Titans in my other blog, In The Mood For Movies, where I post my general movie reviews (of the movies I've seen in theaters).

Here's part of my review where I mentioned Rosamund Pike as Queen Andromeda...

Wrath of the Titans (2012)
starring Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Liam Neeson,
Ralph Fiennes, Edgar Ramirez, Bill Nighy, and Toby Kebbell

Watch the trailer for Wrath of the Titans

(source: WarnerBrosPictures)

[Warning! ... for those who haven't seen this movie and don't want to be spoiled...]

Synopsis

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus—the demigod son of Zeus—is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus' godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans' strength grows stronger as Zeus' remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon's demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

I saw Wrath of the Titans on iMax 3D last Saturday (on its opening weekend) and I thought it was pretty good. While it was not a masterpiece (and I didn't expect it to be), it was still a fun, fantasy, Greek mythology based, action flick and I enjoyed watching it. I must say, it was a vast improvement from its predecessor Clash of the Titans (which I've seen late last year, which I thought was an alright film. I didn't dislike/hate it and didn't think it was the worst...just a typical Greek mythology based film. I must admit, I was more interested in watching this sequel all because of Rosamund Pike joining the returning cast as Andromeda, replacing the first actress, Alexa Davalos, who played the same character...not that I dislike her in that role, but she didn't have much screen time in the first movie...Gemma Arterton did as Io, but she wasn't any better either...) as far as its impressive visual 3D effects, fight scenes, a cool winged horse Pegasus (love seeing Perseus flying on it...it would've been nice if Andromeda got to ride it as well...in the online game she was able to ride it), and monsters/titans (ie. cyclops, makhai, chimera, minotaur, and kronos). Also, it had plenty of action, a much better storyline (this time around), awesome visual effects, and more screen time for Liam Neeson's Zeus and Ralph Fiennes' Hades as well as Rosamund Pike's Queen Andromeda.

Rosamund Pike (the only female leading lady in this film), on the other hand, as warrior Queen Andromeda did great on her part and it was nice to see that she had more screen time (and not a damsel-in distress here) than the first Andromeda character (and actress) in the previous installment. Though it would've been nice to see her doing more action/physical fight scenes (and not always get knocked down or be wasted and out of place on the background in a few battle scenes, while the men, as usual, get more fun action scenes...I know, she's a woman and a Queen, but she's also a warrior and a fighter...at least she still tried and got a few fight scenes to show here...and nice to see her appeared more in this film...and get an unexpected kiss from Perseus at the end...didn't see that coming as there was little attraction and no flirtation between them, but Perseus' cousin Agenor was trying to hook them up, lol). Still, Rosamund (minor issues aside of her Andromeda character) did a great a job on her part, she didn't disappoint me at all. She always seemed to be the highlight (or rather the best part to watch) of the movies she starred/co-starred in whether the movie was great or just so and so. She's a versatile, underrated character actress, in my opinion, that should be in more starring roles or least big co-starring/supporting roles (as she did in this film).

Read my full Film Review: Wrath of the Titans.

Speaking of Rosamund as Andromeda, I saw a big billboard standee in front of the iMax screening room weeks before this movie was showing (and had been on display there for a while) of her character poster along with the other Wrath of the Titans main cast and their character posters and the film's poster as well. Here's a pic of RP as as warrior Queen Andromeda...