Gentlemen, let the battle commence

After an awkward half-an-hour or so as it struggles toward a visual style to represent the world of Greek mythology, Clash of the Titans kicks into action with a battle between human warriors and a giant scorpion. Then it's off to the races as our hero, Perseus (Sam Worthington), must vanquish increasingly lethal monsters in a quest to rid humankind of the cruel and mettlesome deities who would rule man for all eternity.

Clash is a popcorn movie that reaches back to the fantasy epics of old and forward into the digital future, where the word "unimaginable" no longer exists.

The film's mythological world has rugged scenery and otherworldly battles between men and beasts that fill the screen with a mosaic of unbridled action.

Perseus' dilemma, unknown to him until the action begins, is that he is the mortal son of Zeus (Liam Neeson), king of the deities.

Raised by humans, he insists he belongs with them, but he will need devine powers to rescue humanity in a dual clash between deities and men and between Zeus and his vengeful brother, Hades (Ralph Fiennes), king of the underworld.

The story sends Perseus on a quest to save Argos, the cradle of civilisation, and Princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos), whose sacrifice might quell the wrath of the deities, angered by the independence the humans, which they created, exhibit toward their masters.

Escorted by a small fighting force lead by Draco (Mads Mikkelsen), Perseus must travel and confront a king-turned-hideous slayer (Jason Flemyng), the rampaging scorpion, the half-human, half-snake Medusa and finally the most feared monster of all, the Kraken.

It's certainly not easy being a supernatural power. At least by his side he has a spiritual guide and guardian angel, Io (Gemma Arterton), who looks like she would make a hot date if things ever settled down.

The film is least successful translating Mount Olympus and the council of the deities to the screen. It looks more like something one might encounter in Las Vegas with its fake Greek pillars and campy atmosphere. Neeson's Zeus is outfitted in gleaming armour that shines worse than one of Liberace's jackets.

The digital creations are marvels, and French-born director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk) pulls all the visual elements together in creating a dark though credible mythological world.

The original Clash of the Titans in 1981 was a last hurrah for Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion king of such 1950s, 60s and 70s movie extravaganzas as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts and One Million Years BC.

Sadly, his pre-eminence in stop-motion animation and creation of wondrous monsters was by then eclipsed by filmmakers who had fallen under his thrall as youngsters, most notably George Lucas, whose Star Wars films made Harryhausen's special effects and grainy matte plates look outdated.

Although he paid a kind of homage in Clash to the new visual masters by inserting a mechanical owl that replicated the role of R2-D2, Harryhausen never made another feature.

All this is briefly referenced in the new Clash with a winking line that occurs when the warriors are packing for their journey. A soldier pulls out a mechanical owl and asks what to do with it. "Leave it behind," he is told. Indeed, the Harryhausen world of movie magic has been left behind long ago by today's remarkable digital artists.