Pitting man against angry mythical beasts and angrier mythical gods, Wrath of the Titans, the new film continuation of the panned, yet financially successful, Clash of the Titans continues its linage by suffering the wrath of film critics.

The 2010 hit Clash of the Titans didn’t hit it for me. And once I knew a sequel was coming with new director Jonathan Liebesman, whose filmography evokes a series of groans (Darkness Falls, Battle Los Angeles, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), I cared even less for the extension.

So it strikes me as a minor miracle that Liebesman (and the screenplay by Dan Mazeau and David Johnson) manages to sustain a delicate, sentimental balance within the constant onslaught (the film jumps from one fight scene to the next). I suppose any island in a storm would do.

As we know from last time, the Greek gods are an endangered species, with humanity slowly forsaking them for more stable faiths. To remain immortal Hades (again played by Ralph Fiennes) allies himself with Ares (Edgar Ramirez) and entraps the old gods. He then uses Zeus’ remaining energy to spring free Kronos—who according to legend is the father they imprisoned in the pits of the underworld. Like most jailed gods, Kronos, when free, will fry the planet—literally.

So utilising his uncanny logic of a deity, Zeus (played by a powerhouse Liam Neeson), contacts his son Perseus (Sam Worthington, a tad better than last time) for assistance before getting caught. In their brief but effective father-son scene, Perseus argues that his mortality won’t match up to the power of the gods. Zeus, like all-screen Zeus’s before him, believes that being half-human makes Perseus (or any other Greek hero) a better champion than an old, almost snuffed, god.

And so we witness a lots of scenes with digital violence featuring the actual star cast of the film: Chimeras, Cyclopses, nasty-looking Makhai (undead minions with two heads and torsos, stitched back to back on a single body) and lest I forget, the smoldering-molten Titan Kronos—whose gargantuan 3D image, bursting out of his caged existence in the underworld, just freaked me out. Regardless of the insurmountable peril, Perseus will triumph, of course, because cinema has bred us with this foreknowledge.

The film has been directed by Jonathan Liebesman, with a screenplay by Dan Mazeau and David Johnson (based on the story by Mazeau, Johnson and Greg Barlanti, and a previous screenplay by Beverly Cross). Released by by Warner Bros,Wrath of the Titans is rated PG-13. A lot of digital doubles die digital deaths. —Mohammad Kamran Jawaid