1981 vs. 2010 - Clash of the Titans Redux

I'm the kinda guy who is all for change and progress. I'm a big movie goer who has hundreds and hundreds of titles under my belt. I've always been a big fan of the re-makes of SOME movies like Ocean's Eleven and Scarface (you can check, they are remakes.) whereas if someone tried to remake oh I don't know Star Wars *cough* Lucas is a prick *cough* with better graphics or something I would probably flip out. That's neither here nor there. What is here is in fact a remake of one of the best movies of the 80's and definitely one of my favorite movies of all time: Clash of the Titans.

I've actually just talked to a friend of mine who hasn't seen this movie before...ever. After yelling at her I proceeded to write this as a sort of quick run through of the original movie:

The story follows the birth and adult life of Perseus, son of Zeus who's birth challenges the king of a city who is the "father". In typical Greek tragedy fashion, the king of said country tries to do away with said son and mother who both end up surviving. Zeus gets ticked off and says, "Release the Kraken!" and Posiedon does and the city gets destroyed.

Zeus pretty much declares that Perseus be immune to the wrath of the Gods and offers no help when a Goddess's son is stricken with deformities for hunting down almost all of the great winged-horses. This son was to marry Andromeda, heir to the throne in another city. Perseus wakes in that city's theater surrounded by help from the Gods: A helm that makes him invisible, a sword of Adamantite that can cut anything, and just a regular bronze shield. He uses these items to cut the arm off of the Goddess's son and win the heart of Andromeda, only to have the Goddess get severely mad, and demand that Andromeda be offered as a sacrifice to the Kraken.

Perseus is in love with Andromeda and manages to get to the Sister's of Fate and find out that the only way to kill the Kraken is with Medusa's gaze. Needless to say he killed Medusa, stopped the Kraken and wins the day. Zeus then says anyone who again messes with Perseus will have to deal with him and that's the end.

Now, my only reservation about seeing the new movie is that it will focus so much on visually updating the movie that it'll lose its magic that it had when it originally came out. I don't want it to be just another action/adventure movie, but instead a remake that I can enjoy just as much as I did the first movie, again and again. I don't know, maybe I'm just old fashioned. Either way I'll be seeing the new movie sometime this week or weekend and will be sure to let you know what I think.

-Armand

"Repo Men" repo'd the idea! (Repo: The Genetic Opera)

Most of you I bet have heard of the new movie called, "Repo Men" that was released on the 19th of March this year. I also bet that not many of you have heard of Repo: The Genetic Opera which went straight to DVD in 2008. Uhm.......just cause it when to DVD doesn't mean its not there Repo Men, they did it first. After watching both movies and noting their differences and similarities. I can honestly say that Repo Men is just a slight twist off of Repo; a majority of the back story and content were almost copied.

Repo: The Genetic Opera is a musical that opens to a future world where a pandemic that causes organ failure has decimated the population leaving only a few million to try and live on. But there's a problem, those people are dying of organ failures too. A company rises boasting a cure for this death; genetically grown organs to replace your dying ones, at a price of course. This is where we see one of our main characters, the Repo Man. He's a masked servant to GeneCo., stalking victims who can't keep payments and literally cut the organs out while they're alive; he's also Shilo's dad. Shilo Wallace is seen reading in her mother's mausoleum after removing a gas mask; she has the same immuno-supressing blood disease that killed her late mother. In this same graveyard we meet the Gravedigger who pretty much narrates this story; he shows us what Zydrate is and also a literal body pit under the city. Rotti Largo and his kids are introduced soon after, Amber Sweet (played by Paris Hilton, don't worry, she ends up losing her face so its cool), Luigi and Pavi Largo; all four of whom are completely nuts. Blind Mag is a secondary main character, her story helps further the one about Shilo and Repo Man. Without telling you too much; this is one of the best written musicals I've ever seen and an instant cult classic in my opinion. Definitely a BUY if you're into a dark tragedy that you'll watch over and over.

Now that you know that, I'll tell you about Repo Men. Directly from IMDb:

"In the future humans have extended and improved our lives through highly sophisticated and expensive mechanical organs created by a company called "The Union". The dark side of these medical breakthroughs is that if you don't pay your bill, "The Union" sends its highly skilled repo men to take back its property... with no concern for your comfort or survival. Former soldier Remy is one of the best organ repo men in the business. But when he suffers a cardiac failure on the job, he awakens to find himself fitted with the company's top-of-the-line heart-replacement... as well as a hefty debt. But a side effect of the procedure is that his heart's no longer in the job. When he can't make the payments, The Union sends its toughest enforcer, Remy's former partner Jake, to track him down."

Let's compare then. Both have Repo Men. Both have a major company pulling the strings. Both have artificial organs with payment plans. Both have consequences carried out without remorse for the people who do which is death. Differences between the two are that Repo is a musical with substance and Repo Men is a typical action movie with guns blazing while trying to stay alive. Really. That's all. Good job Repo Men, you guys are totally original.

-Armand