Wrath of the Titans – Bonus-packed Blu-ray improves on the movie

Wrath of the Titans arrives on home video this week (June 26), and I’ll refrain from reviewing the film itself here, but you can check out my thoughts on the film from the original theatrical release. Suffice it to say, nothing has really changed as far as the film’s content to change my opinion that the movie seemed to be more concerned with tossing in as many different pieces of mythology as possible rather than focusing on a cohesive and gripping story (and this point is brought to light in the bonus material). I really enjoyed the scenes with all of the gods in the original film, but almost all of them have been dispensed with in the sequel to the detriment of the final film. Unfortunately, there’s no added footage incorporating the missing gods.

So why should you consider picking up a copy of the new home video version of the movie? Let’s get the technical specifics out of the way first. For this review, I looked at the Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack (provided by Warner Home Video). Comparing the image on both the DVD and the Blu-ray, I can say that both look very good with the only real noticeable difference being the more vibrant colors on the Blu-ray’s 1080p high definition video. The audio options include DTS-HD Master Audio in English 5.1, Dolby Digital French 5.1 (dubbed in Quebec), and Spanish 5.1 (there’s also a Portuguese audio track that’s not listed on the packaging). Subtitles are available in English for the Hearing Impaired, French, and Spanish.

Aside from the technical aspects, the Blu-ray is loaded with some very cool extras, and these are what I found to be worth the price of buying a movie that’s good, but not great. The highlight of the disk’s bonus features is the ability to play the film in Warner’s Maximum Movie Mode. This very cool feature allows you to watch the film while simultaneously viewing background information on the making of the film. You are given two options to choose from — The Path of Men or The Path of Gods. The Path of Men offers behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the movie with input from various cast and crew members. The Path of Gods gives you information about the Greek mythology, from various scholars, cast and crew, that is incorporated into the movie. You can switch between either path while watching, and occasionally the two paths will diverge. It’s cool, but sometimes overwhelming when you have up to four video windows open at the same time. For the film geek, though, it’s a pretty awesome option (and your enjoyment may vary — I had a hard time getting the feature to work consistently on my Blu-ray player, but what I did see was pretty neat).

While in Maximum Movie Mode, you also have the option to watch Focus Points during the film. This option will pop up at various times, and will allow you to pause the scene, watch some information about the making of the scene, and then it will return to the film when the segment has ended. The Focus Points are also viewable as stand-alone bonus features with a Play All function.

The Path of Men Focus Points include:

• “Battling the Chimera” which shows how the single shot was accomplished on set (and it’s interesting to see the title Clash of the Titans II on the clapboard)
• “Agenor: The Other Demi-God” which spotlights actor Toby Kebbell
• “The Cyclops Fight” shows how the actors have to deal with something that isn’t there
• “Prison of the Titans” shows the process of imprisoning Zeus and sapping his powers
• “Minotaur: The Human Nightmare” looks at the makeup process of turning a man into a monster
• “The Heavens Raise Hell on Earth” is a look at the production of the climactic battle

The Path of Gods Focus Points include:

• “Who Are the Titans?” which gives the viewer some background on the myths incorporated into the film’s story
• “Hephaestus: God of Fire” talks about the origins of the god (one of my favorite characters in the film)
• “Lost in Tartarus’ Labyrinth” gives some background on why the labyrinth was created
• “Creatures of the Titans” talks about the various incarnations of the mythological monsters and how they are visualized in the movie

I found all of these features to be very informative and interesting, and was amazed at how some of the effects shots in the film were accomplished. In addition to the Focus Points, there are also three deleted scenes:

• “Perseus Owes Helius an Explanation” — shows deleted footage from the temple scene in which Perseus reveals his godly origin to his son
• “Perseus Addresses the Troops” — a very long and tedious scene that takes place prior to the final battle, wisely cut because it would have ground the film to a halt
• “Zeus is Led Past Missing Olympians” — a very brief scene as Zeus is taken through Tartarus and sees a few of his children also imprisoned there

The scenes are mildly interesting, and don’t really add much to the film although I think the “Missing Olympians” scene could have been expanded to explain why we didn’t see more gods in the film this time out. The DVD only includes the deleted scenes and the language and subtitle options. Overall, if you enjoyed the movie, it’s a no-brainer to pick up the video, and even if you didn’t like it, anyone who is really into seeing how films are made would enjoy all of the behind-the-scenes footage from the Focus Points and Maximum Movie Mode. (I boosted my original rating by one point specifically because of the bonus features on the Blu-ray.) The movie is available in several different configurations — DVD only, Blu-ray only, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, and Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD Combo — and all but the single DVD include the UltraViolet option which allows you to unlock a digital version of the film that is accessible on just about any mobile device once you set up accounts with UltraViolet and Flixster. It’s a pretty neat feature. You can purchase any version of the video through the links below.

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Jun 25, 2012 @ 14:41 EST5EDT