This film is pretty terrible. The end.
I actually didn’t hate the first Percy Jackson film, although I was one of the few. I didn’t like it, but didn’t hate it. I seem to recall leaving the cinema not outraged that I paid money to see such a movie, but one that I probably wouldn’t watch again.
It later transpired that I was wrong as I subsequently did watch it again when the movie aired on television and perhaps even enjoyed it. It certainly had a good cast and you have to give book-to-film adaptations a bit of slack when it comes to movie production. It’s so difficult to adequately represent a piece of fantasy-themed imagination with living actors and actresses.
As for Sea of Monsters, it was just terrible. The plot was so cliché-ridden that I could talk in nothing but clichés for the rest of this paragraph and it will STILL be less-clichéd than Sea of Monsters. At the end of the day, if we see the glass as half full, and thinking outside the box. Sorry.
Our glossy-eyed heroes return feeling good about saving Olympus until Percy’s confidence starts taking a beating from the new Regina George-like queen bee in the form of Clarisse. Percy then hears a prophecy which entails him either saving or destroying the Wizarding World.. I mean teen Demi-god Greek World thingy.. and off he goes on a new adventure to find the Golden Fleece. Good.
So why is Percy Jackson so bad?
I think my biggest gripe is Logan Lerman. Having seen Perks of Being a Wallflower, I know Lerman can act spectacularly. Even in the Lightning Thief, he was the best bit about that movie. It feels like in Sea of Monsters, he’s just not trying. And I get that impression from a lot of the cast; most of the performances are very unconvincing and convey just how little the actors care about making a sequel. So much so that almost everyone remotely famous from the original cast is conspicuously missing. One might think that a film about Gods would actually have one on screen?
As for the plot, it’s hard to say what was taken from the book and what wasn’t; I must confess that I haven’t read any of the Percy Jackson books, although I’d probably give them a try. I’m unwilling to spoil the ending (or even the beginning or middle) for folks so I will leave it at this: the climax of the movie is spectacularly unsatisfying and takes a giant sh*t over not only the bastardized version of Greek mythology that the filmmakers used to set the story at the beginning, but with mythology in general.
There are, however, bits that I did appreciate. The CGI (which I’m not typically a fan of – in any movie) is lush and done to a high standard. I’m guessing they had money to spare by not having to pay any of the famous actors for the sequel. And there’s pop-culture references aplenty which make you smile. Nathan Fillion’s cameo is sharp and refreshing, and his Firefly remark is fabulous yet clearly thrown in for the adults watching this film with their children.
Should you see this film? Probably not; just watch the Harry Potter films instead as so many elements of the story have been taken (or “inspired”) from there. Apart from Logan Lerman, who despite phoning in a performance, still out-acts Daniel Radcliffe in every single meaningful way.
Grade: C
Some of my Hypable colleagues felt very differently about Sea of Monsters. Here’s a bunch of reasons why they loved it.
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