No one loved the original Clash of the Titans more than I. (Except for the golden mechanical owl. I constructed one after seeing the film just to destroy it utterly.) So when I saw a title with the Greek Titan Atlas, I was all in. Alas, neither old-fashioned stop-motion animation or state-of-the-art CGI could save this film. In fact, we have two films: the story of a woman tycoon running a railroad surrounded by incompetence and government meddling interwoven with the tale of a Titan holding the world on his back as punishment for revolting against the Olympian gods. (At some point I hoped the films would intersect and Atlas would drop the world on a train like a beach ball, shrug, then lift the Earth back on his shoulders. But that was wishful thinking.) Clearly Atlas was aware of events in the train story. More often than you'd think possible, the film CUT TO a CLOSE SHOT of Atlas who would look TO CAMERA, shrug and say something along the lines of "So who takes trains anymore?"Emotional scenes where Dagny Taggart, (Taylor Schilling) fights to keep her company afloat were undercut by annoying ZIP PANS to Atlas, portrayed by screen newcomer Leemon Waddle. At one point, Atlas breaks into a full blown Yiddish accent saying, "You think a railroad is tough? The world you should try holding some time. Oy gevalt!"
Maybe it worked in the screenplay, but presenting the audience with Titan cutaways made me wish for a golden mechanical owl. And that's never happened before. Rated Two Stars for filming in color and English. (Image: flickr.com)
