Percy
Jackson: Sea of Monsters:
**/*****, or 5/10
Second
Percy Jackson film, following the demi-decent, excessively
long named Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,
but being even more forgetful. This time Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman
again) and his fellow friends from Camp Halfblood, where all the
offspring of the gods sired on mortals are gathered for their safety,
set out on a quest to find the Golden Fleece in the so-called 'Sea of
Monsters', better known as the Bermuda Triangle. They do so to heal a
magical tree that protects their home with a forcefield that keeps
non halfbloods out, but which has been compromised since the tree is
dying. The Fleece contains healing properties that might save it, and
therefore, save themselves. Unfortunately a band of rogue halfbloods
with sinister plans led by the same dull villain from the first film,
the whiny demi-god Luke, are also seeking this magical MacGuffin so
they can use it to deliver the evil god Kronos, a fiery humanoid
terror, from bondage. The brave Percy and his companions, Ron and
Hermione Grover the – supposedly funny – Satyr and the “wise”
Annabeth (with racist attitudes towards Cyclopses), must beat them in
a race against time across the most dangerous sea of all to defeat
Kronos for once and for all. And they get no help from their divine parents,
which is a shame since they were played by terrific actors you just
can't get enough of (the likes of Sean Bean and Kevin McKidd) in the
first film. At least we are a little compensated by the appearance of
Nathan Fillion as the dashing entrepeneur Hermes, with a nod to
Firefly thrown in (which totally blows over the heads of the
target audience, but might make some older viewers chuckle). Like its
predecessor, Sea of Monsters feels very much like the 'Greek
myth' version of the first few Harry Potter films, complete
with prophecies and chosen ones, magic and monsters, and a
triumvirate – though of two boys and a girl, sadly lacking the
necessary chemistry – of young lead characters getting entangled in
one action driven situation after another. Unfortunately the movie
lacks the heart and soul that increasingly drove Potter and Co.,
while the plot tries to keep its head above water in an ocean of
gaping plot holes and overly digital FX sequences. Some of these are
at least exciting to a minor extent, like the fight against a metal
robot bull and the scene where the protagonists are swallowed by
Charybdis (basically the Sarlacc from Return of the Jedi,
except embedded in water instead of sand), but the rest of them is
nothing if not boring. There's an irony in the fact that old fantasy
films fondly remembered mostly for containing elaborate monster
fights done in stop motion, like those of Ray Harryhausen, have stood
the test of time, while their present day counterparts that try the
same with CGI prove oh so forgetful and will undoubtedly end up not
so universally revered in future years. If you look at the set-up of
this film, a plot dealing with the resurrection of the ancient Kronos
whose rise will cover the world in chaos coupled with one scene after
another of the main characters fighting digital creatures, Sea of
Monsters bears more than a striking resemblance to the abysmal
Wrath of the Titans, which was also a lousy sequel to an
already disappointing film that unsuccessfully tried to cash in on
the ever ongoing public interest in Greek mythology by getting itself
lost in people battling digital creatures. A shame really, since the
notion of the ancient Greek world of gods and monsters continuing to
simmer just under the surface of modern times but unseen by Muggles
everyday humans is worthy of a better execution. Oh well, if we want
to see old gods get mixed up with our contemporary world, there's
still Thor: The Dark World to look forward to.
