Movies!: TITAN!

4-6-2010
Since they are becoming a regular part of my blog, I've decided to separate the movies into their own segment. Depending on my schedule and the number of quality films released in Korea, this 'Movies!' section may continue to appear weekly for the duration of my time here, or perhaps burn up and die out eventually sometime after I've seen all of the upcoming summer blockbusters. At this point I can't tell which it will be. In addition to loving movies, I also love movie posters, which is why I've already posted a handful as images for some of my blog entries. As cool as they normally are to me, I think they look even smoother when written in Korean. The Clash of the Titans poster is a great example. Here the movie is just called Titan. That's a cool piece of movie trivia for you.

As for the reason why I've broken my "one image per blog" rule today, it's because I watched the 1981 version on Sunday and then went to see the 2010 edition an hour later (and because they are two really cool posters). I wanted to re-watch the original because the last time I saw it was when I was around 8 years old, so it's been a while; plus I've always confused it with Jason and the Argonauts, so I wanted to straighten that out. I wasn't expecting much of the 1981 classic; even as a child I thought it was cheesy. In fact, I almost stopped watching after 10 minutes because I couldn't stand how bad it was. However, I forced myself to finish watching and by the end I actually enjoyed it a little. Having the original fresh in my memory made me slightly more excited to watch the re-make.

Since this was Titan's opening weekend, there were many more people at the theater than the previous times I'd gone. I had to choose my seat carefully this time since I would probably have to actually sit there, as opposed to the other times where I just picked my seat at the box office and then just sat wherever I wanted, wondering if an usher with a flashlight would come to check my stub and then yell at me in words I don't understand. I imagine getting yelled at in Korea could be a little scary. You don't know if a person is saying, "Move to your seat, sir" or "I'm going to beat you with my nightstick". I think it's probably better for foreigners in most cases to avoid confrontation if possible, just to be on the safe side. Anywho, I wanted to 'up the ante' on my movie experience in Korea, so I ordered a hot dog this time to go with my popcorn and bottled water routine (I haven't made it to the dried squid level yet). However, upon ordering, I peered into the glass counter and saw that the hot dog in the display was GREEN, which freaked me out. In my mind there were only 2 explanations: 1.) Hot dogs in South Korea are actually vegetarian, which is blasphemy, or 2.) The hot dog on display had been there so long that it was rotten, which was equally disturbing. Turns out it was answer #2, because my hot dog was red...ish. I wasn't so worried that i didn't eat the thing; I paid money for it after all. They only have two condiments for 'dogs at theaters; one is red and the other is yellow, but they're not ketchup and mustard. One is called sweet sauce and the other is called hot sauce. Upon saucing up and finally taking a bite, I have to say that I wasn't very impressed, and I probably won't order a hot dog again, but at least I didn't get sick and barf.

The theater was packed, and I had a good aisle seat on the left toward the back. The re-make stayed true to the original for the most part, with a few twists thrown in for the fans. There is a lot more action in this version, and it's faster paced. Sam Worthington, who plays the lead role of Perseus, is also just more of a tough guy, which is in stark contrast to Harry "Prettiest man I ever saw" Hamlin. What was wrong with the 80's? Actually, given the story, characters and year it was released, the original 'Clash' feels a lot like a Star Wars knockoff set in Greek mythology. It even has it's own version of R2-D2.

So, I enjoyed both movies. It was a good weekend. Many folks won't take the time to watch the first movie, in which case the re-make will be just another big action flick with great special effects, but nothing you haven't seen before. However, if you're going to watch both, I recommend that you definitely watch the original first; I think you'll be quite satisfied with the update.

Clash of the Titans (1981) B-
Clash of the Titans (2010) B