Clash of the Titans (2010)

Louis Leterrier’s remake of the 1981 Clash of the Titans was dumped on by critics offended by the film’s slack script and stiff acting, but those high standards didn’t stop them from hailing the similarly problematic Inception as a modern masterpiece. Clash of the Titans was also heavily criticized for its sloppy, 11th-hour conversion to 3-D, but was it any more distracting and unnecessary than so-called “good 3-D”? Leterrier streamlines the original (which is absolutely terrible, and thus ripe for revision) in this version of the Perseus myth, keeping the focus on killing gods (it’s the movie The Golden Compass should have been), and flashy, fun set pieces featuring giant scorpions, underworld boatmen and the best flying horses ever committed to film. Sam Worthington is wooden but effective as Perseus, while The Special Effect Formerly Known as Liam Neeson plays Zeus.