Wrath of the Titans Blu-ray Movie

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus-the demigod son of Zeus-is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus' godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans' strength grows stronger as Zeus' remaining godly powers are siphoned...

Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Edgar Ramírez, Toby Kebbell
Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Action	Uncertain
Adventure	Uncertain
Fantasy	Uncertain

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Wrath of the Titans Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 5, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the When Titans Ruled the Earth release from Arrow Video.

Maybe sometimes "new and improved" turns out to be neither. 1981's Clash of the Titans is probably not considered a "classic" by large hordes of film goers, but it offers the final work of special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, and so has understandably entered the annals of beloved cinematic experiences for a certain demographic. It's not hard to imagine that among that group was Basil Iwanyk, who co-produced both films in this new set from Arrow and who is on hand in interviews offered as supplements on both discs, and he at least alludes to his desire to "update" the original film with the blandishments of then state of the art CGI. The result was big, noisy and, yes, filled with some at least intermittently impressive visual effects, but that still left critics cold (you know how they can be), even as ticket buyers lined up in droves and made Clash of the Titans an enormous international success. That of course led to Wrath of the Titans, which attempted to be bigger, noisier, and more consistently impressive, but which was met with the same critical approbation as the first film was. The sequel did manage to rake in over 300 million globally, but its budget was so immense that it may not have shown an "official" profit, leading to the cancellation of what had been announced as a third effort in the nascent series. Both of the "updated" Titans films were released on both 2D and 3D Blu-ray well over a decade ago, but Arrow has aggregated the two films together now, offering them in either 1080 or 4K UHD, and with Arrow's typically bounteous supply of bonus features and non disc swag in another really handsomely packaged release.

As mentioned above, both of the films in this set were released in 1080 years ago in both 2D and 3D presentations. Those interested in plot summaries and analyses of what the original release offered in terms of technical merits and supplements are encouraged to read Ken Brown's Wrath of the Titans Blu-ray review for details.

Wrath of the Titans Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality

Wrath of the Titans is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow provides the same insert booklet for both its 1080 and 4K UHD releases, with the following information on the transfers:

Clash of the Titans and Wrath of the Titans have been remastered by Arrow Films. Clash of the Titans is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with 5.1 audio. Wrath of the Titans is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 audio. On the 4K UHD release of the films are presented in 4K resolution in HDR10 and Dolby Vision. On the Blu-ray release, the films are presented in standard dynamic range.

The 2K DI feature master data was supplied by Warner Brothers. The films were restored and graded at Duplitech.

As I'm probably overly fond of saying, "different reviewers means different opinions", but in this case while I'm scoring this at the same 4.5 that Ken gave the Warner Brothers release, in one small but significant way this version is more accurate, in that it correctly offers a 1.85:1 aspect ratio instead of 1.78:1 (yeah, yeah, splitting hairs and/or pixels, but there you have it). Otherwise, this actually looks very similar to the Warner release, including general color timing, detail levels and suffusion. Ken mentioned hints of noisiness, but while the grain in this sequel is much thicker than in the first film, I didn't notice any real issues with how it resolved, even if it's admittedly yellow and clumpy some of the time. While this follow up enjoyed a really healthy budget, for whatever reason I found some of the CGI a little less convincing in this effort than in the first film.

Wrath of the Titans Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality

Ken gave top marks to the old Warner Brothers' Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, and as with Clash of the Titans 4K, while I'm assuming the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on this disc is more or less the same, I'm downgrading Ken's score by half a point due only to the aural equivalent of "hindsight". One way or the other, those who love bombastic surround activity will get their money's worth with this consistently aggressive mix which combines some pummeling LFE with really fun and immersive engagement of the side and rear channels in the action scenes. Again as with its predecessor, this track can be very "busy" at times, but is almost always well prioritized, with dialogue rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Wrath of the Titans Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras

With the exception of Maximum Movie Mode, Arrow has ported over the supplements from the older 1080 release from Warner Brothers, as well as offering one new supplement. See Ken's Wrath of the Titans Blu-ray review for more details on the repeated supplements.

Unleashing the Beasts (HD; 13:36) is the second part of a newly produced interview with producer Basil Iwanyk (the second part can be found on Wrath of the Titans).

Path of the Gods (HD; 12:50) is a set of archival behind the scenes featurettes. See the Title / Focus Points list in Ken's review for details.

Path of Men (HD; 21:46) is more archival behind the scenes featurettes. See the Title / Focus Points list in Ken's review for details.

Deleted Scenes (HD; 10:50)

Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:07)

Image Gallery (HD)

See the When Titans Ruled the Earth Blu-ray review for more non disc supplements.

Wrath of the Titans Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation

Only in Hollywood can you bank over 300 million bucks and still be considered a failure, but aside and apart from box office receipts, Wrath of the Titans frankly seems kind of pointless at times, at least until the next monster enters the fray. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements are very appealing, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.