Kronos' Wrath

Time to reel in the basics and get back to what this li'l blog o' mine is all about: insights from the movies!

Last night, I was one of the lucky few to witness Kronos' wrath unleashed on mankind ahead of time (i.e. I got to watch Wrath of the Titans on its premiere night, made possible by Magic 89.9 and a few other sponsors), and I must say, 'twas very entertaining.

Wrath is the long promised 2nd story to the 21st century remake of Clash of the Titans, and although a bit weak in its Greek mythology, the action and story more than made up for the lack. I say its weak in Greek because in my humble mortal's opinion, the producers could have delved a bit more on the monsters. Don't get me wrong. The mayhem they caused was really explosively entertaining but I couldn't stop myself from wondering stuff like, "Where'd that Chimera come from?", "What's the story behind the Minotaur?", "What the heck's a Makhai?", and "Kronos, who?!"

Okay okay, so maybe not all of those. I'm not too much of a ditz to not know who Cronus, father of the godly triumvirate, is. A bigger story on the Minotaur, since he was the Medusa of this sqweakquel, would've been appreciated though. At least Medusa's backstory of being envied by Athena so she was turned into a monster that turns men into stone was brought up, albeit quickly, in the plot of Clash. Or was that in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief...

But I digress.

Action need no major explanation. As aptly used in the title, there is much wrath in this movie. Poor Chimera had a spear stuck through one of its heads. Minotaur had its horns broken off. God of War Aries made a rag doll out of our demigod hero in their how-is-this-even-possible fight scene. There were a couple of missed moments on my part due to the inability to process blood and gore (i.e. I turned away from the screen. I'm squeamish like that.).

But the story... now there's something wholly unexpected. Afterall, when you think of Wrath, family and forgiveness aren't the two Fs that automatically come to mind. But seriously, injecting filial and brotherly love into Greek mythology is somewhat new to me. Normal for Perseus to be drawing strength from his son Helius, but for Zeus to be weak and needing the help of his son Perseus, when he is betrayed by his other son Aries, whose betrayal stems from his envy of his half mortal brother who he thinks their father loves more than him, and for Hades, god of death and the underworld, to turn a new leaf over to help his brother Zeus because they've forgiven each other for their mistakes... wow! Who thought up those plot lines?

Did I reveal too much of the story? Point is, for me Wrath wasn't all about the messy, fussy destruction of the world. It was also an undoing-and-coming-back-together of a family. Plus the lengthy cameo of Bubo the owl while Hephaestus was doing his semi-neurotic monologue was cute.

I reco you watch this for sheer entertainment. However, ff you're looking for a lesson in Greek mythology, read Percy Jackson instead. :)