Some time ago that wanted to check this movie that with so much I remember fondness to have seen in a VHS rented in full fury of the domestic video in the middle of the 80. And that better occasion that to a few weeks it dresses in the premiere of the boasted new version, which evidently in the trailers is going to have a few special effects that will be the peeling but we already will see if he can take the history with so many efficacy as he was accustoming the tandem formed by Charles Schneer and Ray Harryhausen. And the fact is that none of them was directing, but all his productions take a personal and non-transferable stamp. Scheer and Harryhausen were employed together at a dozen of movies from middle of the 50 and wonderful fantastic adventures of the caliber bequeathed us of "Simbad and the princess" or "Jasón and the Argonauts". The formula Harryhousen / Schneer was consisting of narrative blocks alternated with powerful sequences of monsters and special effects, taking care in end of the script and the staging. It is not possible to say for anything that his movies were alone an effects exhibition. “Fury of Titanium” was his last work, and although Harryhausen was still meeting with desire of realizing more projects, she began feeling that his way of understanding the special effects was begun being perceived by the spectators like antiquated and chose for the retreat.
- Give them cane Perseo! - There is notable the advance of the skills of retroproyección that Harryhousen was using to shape his mock-ups before the real images filmed in advance. In the movies of the 60s there were differences of contrast and definition between the standard image and those who were containing creatures but for when it was realized “Fury of Titanium” these technical were allowing a big level of realism and detail. Only the famous jump effect was staying like hanging subject between stills in the movement of the creatures that he condemned to the negligence to this skill before the creatures heyday robóticas and other advances of the epoch, and the CGI let's not say already a few years further on. Luck that everything good and seemingly obsolete it turns and we could have seen excellent projects cheered up in stop-motion recently (“Mary and Max”, “Coraline“, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, ….) and even projects of real image that promise to cheer monsters up returning to the Stop-Motion.
- the Kraken doing of theirs (with Judi Bowker of any bait it does not "attack") - “Clash of the Titans” is a good movie, he is not at the level of "Simbad and the princess" or "Jasón and the Argonauts" but it is not far from the quality average of the works of Harryhausen / Schneer of in the 60 and 70. Perhaps one might have used a more charismatic actor in the role protagonist of Perseo (the truth is that Harry Hamlin does what can, but bearing in mind that the producers shuffled the possibility of giving the alternative to some Arnold Schwarzenegger who one year later would jump to the stardom with “Conan“ there might have been worse the remedy than the illness). Of the most beautiful feminine protagonist Judi Bowker who interprets Andromeda not us quejaremo. ... As author's stamp (I repeat Harryhousen / Schneer is not the directors but it is possible to consider them to be real "authors" as very well Carlos Aguillar affirms in his book "The fantastic movies of adventures") the script it is effective, the guessed right narrative rhythm and the history always flows with interest combining learnedly the adventure, the dialogues, monsters, etc.
- Perseo taming Pegasus - For more frikis to mention that there are many creatures in this movie and most of them are very well, but for some motive he lacks some sequence that it remains in the retina of the spectator comparable to the struggle with the skeletons or the hydra of three heads of "Jasón and the Argonauts" or to the fight to four hands with the goddess Kali in "The fantastic trip of Simbad". The monster covers with stars in “Fury of Titanium” it is a Jellyfish (a creature with hair of snake and form of reptile which look turns in stone, protagonist of a brilliant scene in semidarkness that took to the friend Ray three months of work for four minutes of sequence) continued closely by the giant marine monster Kraken, although perhaps the scene best solved at technical level is the brilliant Perseo struggle against giant scorpions. There are many other creatures as the winged horse Pegasus (magnificently cheered up), an owl - robot (!) that combines skills robotizadas with the stop-motion, the antagonist Calibos, etc.
- a cherub meanwhile monster: Andrómeda on the verge of serving as aperitif to the Kraken -
It is evident also in the production that for the first time they counted with a free budget (16 millions), what is translated in a major wealth in the production design (big location quantity, many air sequences, …) and in being provided for the first time with famous actors like this gods' pantheon where we can find Lawrence Oliver, Ursula Andress, etc. The movie was a box office, being placed between the most popular 10 of 1981 collecting only in USA 41 million dollars.
I have curiosity great for this new version, but in the review that I have done of the original I have many doubts in which they manage to tack the history of a so effective way. Of course the special effects will be resounding (or not, that some chestnut has seen in movies of big budget), but we already will see if as movie works, adding also the suspense of his hurried conversion to 3D with the already almost finished movie.
Do see (or to check) "Fury of Titanium" original
Evaluation: 7/10
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