Whenever I find a movie that is a sequel, I always wonder if I should first watch its predecessor.  However, since Wrath of the Titans (2012) is about Greek mythology, such worries are useless.  Not only does it matter little in the face of Christianity, but the number of different stories that originated with this defunct religion make it so that you can come in at any point in the events and it will make just as much sense.  Then again, a scholar of this material might quibble.  It focuses on Perseus (Sam Worthington), the demigod son of Zeus, who was definitely somebody invented by the ancient Greeks.  They made a movie about his chronicles in 2010 called Clash of the Titans.  Since they apparently did not run out of the hoary monsters in that film, they made Wrath of the Titans.  Like the source material, originally speaking, everything in the follow up is invented from whole cloth.  But is it entertaining?  Not really, but let me tell you about it anyway.

Actually, there is not much to say about the beginning of Wrath of the Titans.  The only thing that might cause any wrath is a small catch of fish for Perseus and his adolescent son, Helius (John Bell).  Having slayed his dragons, Perseus has settled for a quiet life amongst the mortals.  Helius is more restless, but heeds his father’s words of caution.  One night, Perseus’ dad, Zeus (Liam Neeson) visits Perseus and Helius’ home, delivering a warning and a request for help.  Deep below the Earth, Hades (Ralph Fiennes) is attempting to release the god who fathered them all, Kronos.  According to Zeus, this will spell the destruction of god and man alike.  To face this threat, he is calling on all immortals to stop Kronos from being unleashed on the universe.  Despite the potential existential crisis, Perseus refuses.  Zeus is saddened, but understands.  Without his favorite son, Zeus travels into the underworld where he is met by Ares (Édgar Ramírez), the god of war, and Poseidon (Danny Huston), the god of the sea.  Ares snidely remarks on the absence of his half-brother, but they press on all the same.  Once they get to Hades, Ares betrays them.  Zeus is captured and Poseidon barely escapes with his life.  Following this, more beasts are unleashed on the world, including a giant, two-headed, flying chimera that assaults Perseus’ fishing village.  Taking up arms for the first time in a while, he is able to kill the creature, but not before it wreaks a great deal of havoc.  In the aftermath of the battle, Perseus takes Helius to the nearby temple to pray, calling upon his father for guidance.  Instead, they get the mortally wounded Poseidon.  Before turning into dust, the god of the sea gives Perseus his famous trident with the instruction to find Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), the god of metal working.  Only by combing Hades’ pitchfork, Poseidon’s trident, and Zeus’ thunderbolt, will they have a weapon capable of defeating Kronos, called the Spear of Trium.  Finally, Poseidon sends Perseus for find the sea god’s mortal son, Agenor (Toby Kebbell).  Now with a mission, Perseus travels to the land ruled by Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) where Agenor is currently being held prisoner for a variety of nefarious activities.  Because Andromeda is sweet on Perseus, she lets him meet with Agenor.  The demigod of the ocean (I guess?) earns some trust when he says he know how to get to the island on which Hephaestus can be found.  Thus, with Andromeda’s fastest ship, and the queen herself along with a few guards, it is off to yet another mythical land.  Once there, as they are figuring out where to find the god of blacksmithing, they are ambushed by a group of cyclops.  The only things that save our heroes is Perseus brandishing Poseidon’s trident, a symbol the giants respect.  Indeed, they bring Perseus and company to Hephaestus, who is a few lightning bolts shy of a thunderstorm, if you catch my meaning?  Still, in between talking to an imaginary friend, he responds to Andromeda paying him homage.  Once mollified, he shows them how to get to the underworld and volunteers to accompany them.  However, one of Andromeda’s warriors, Korrina (Lily James), made the mistake of praying to Ares.  This means their enemy can find them before they enter the labyrinth to get to the underworld.  Everyone save for Agenor, Andromeda, and Perseus perishes in the attack.  The maze is little better, with the minotaur (Spencer Wilding) stalking them throughout their journey.  Once they defeat the minotaur, the way is opened to where Zeus is being held.  Just as they are about to reach their destination, a fight commences between Ares and Hades, the latter of whom has relented in the face of his suffering brother.  It is the opening Perseus needs to free Zeus, but the head god is wounded in the process.  There is also the bigger problem looming of Kronos getting free.  Outside, Agenor and Andromeda have arrayed their army to do battle, though I have no idea how they hope to defeat a volcano person the size of a mountain.  Before the final struggle begins, Perseus sends word to Ares that they should face each other alone, the former hoping to wrest Zeus’ lightning bolt from the latter.  Back on the ground, Hades visits Zeus and revives the wounded god.  Together, they lend what little strength they have remaining to help the mortals.  Yet, what wins the day is Perseus’ victory over Ares.  Once this is accomplished, he unites the three weapons of the gods to create the Spear of Trium.  He then uses that, while on the back of the winged horse Pegasus, to shove it down Kronos’ throat.  In the aftermath, he gets one last embrace with Zeus before the god is also dusted.  Hades wanders off somewhere and Perseus decides to live the rest of his life with Andromeda.  The end.

With the death of Zeus and Hades having no more power, Wrath of the Titans suggests that this is the end of the age of gods.  Historically speaking, this makes sense from a few different perspectives.  If you look at the Greek myths on which this film is loosely based, they were written about times that were ancient even to the Greeks of 2,500 years ago.  You get a sense of the changing attitudes when Perseus takes Helius to the temple to pray to Zeus.  The structure is in disrepair and Perseus comments on how the temple has ceased to be used.  As a Catholic hearing these words, I am of two minds.  First, I appreciate father and son taking the time to pray, even if it is in a pagan setting.  When Christianity came about, they used some of these earlier forms in order to convert people to the true Faith.  This also leads to my second point.  God has always been the one true God.  Still, if you read the Bible, you will hear mention of other beings that humans considered to be divine.  These have always been false deities, and avenues for the enemy to lead large swaths of humanity astray.  At the same time, the Church is not as condemnatory of these beliefs as you might think.  To be sure, one should not worship anyone other than God.  This is often described as God being jealous of us, which sounds bad, but it is out of an infinite and unknowable love for us that this sentiment comes.  Further, the Church acknowledges that mankind has not always had access to God, largely based on geographic and/or historical factors.  However, there has always been something within us that yearns for the divine, and what you see on the screen is a pale representation of how some people once tried to come to terms with those feelings.  In a strange way, this is represented in the film in the awe and respect the characters pay to the gods whenever they intervene in their lives.  It is nothing like the genuine article, but there is something to be noted about this behavior.

I also think I should be rewarded for behaving so mildly while reviewing Wrath of the Titans.  I am kidding, but it is also not a good movie.  For something that is already unbelievable given the subject matter, it gets even more so when you have Perseus flying a horse down the gullet of a lava monster, and living.  This one is a pass.