It’s a pretty rare feeling for me to walk out of a theater feeling scammed. But as I pitched my 3D glasses in the eco-friendly disposal boxes outside my theater, that’s exactly how I felt.
After seeing the success of “Avatar” early this year, Warner Bros. decided to add an extra dimension to the release of “Clash of the Titans.” Usually, 3D adds to the wow factor of a movie and enhances the experience. This, as moviegoers are now beginning to learn, also enhances the ticket prices – and the more we go, the higher they climb.
But the only thing that 3D enhanced in my viewing of “Clash of the Titans” was my disappointment and indignation. I like the technology, and I know that great filmmakers will utilize to create some truly incredible cinema. But here, we see 3D at its worst. When it is just arbitrarily added to any movie, then it truly becomes a boondoggle and a meaningless accessory.
It is now the responsibility of the American moviegoer to stop 3D from becoming an arbitrary embellishment, and it has to start here. If studios and theater goers think that we are so smitten by 3D, then they will continue to take advantage of us. Think a movie like “Clash of the Titans” being retooled for 3D is bad? At this rate, we will have “Precious 2″ playing in 3D in the coming years. That idea doesn’t sound all that crazy to a studio executive with you $4 premium ticket price lining his pocket.
My eyes might have seen in three dimensions, but my brain saw a movie that only had one. Given how deeply rooted in mythology the story is, I had very high expectations for “Clash of the Titans.” Unfortunately, as you have probably deduced by now, it fails on all levels.
The movie goes in no apparent direction for nearly all of its running time, dually a fault of director Louis Letterier (“The Incredible Hulk”) and the laughable script. The dialogue is horribly crafted and can be laughed off at an alarming rate. I can’t complain too much about the acting when the cast features such actors as Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, who make their best attempts at creating a character from the dreadful material they are given to work with. And I might have been impressed by the effects had I not seen them all in the trailer. Just to add insult to injury, the movie wraps up in a completely anticlimactic and unsatisfying fashion.
Although I was incredibly disappointed in “Clash of the Titans,” I think my wallet and I will eventually come to see this experience as a wake-up call to the perils of 3D. The technology is only worth the money whenever it is implemented to add something to the moviegoing experience. Given the plethora of 3D movies being packed into theaters this year, research is necessary to see if the extra $4 is really worth it. So, lesson learned. But I hope you learn yours from a different movie – see “Clash of the Titans” in 2D. D+ / 
