The second installment of the Percy Jackson series revolves around the need to get the Golden Fleece of myth to heal the barrier which protects Camp Half Blood since it has broken and now everything scary in Greek myth is after the demi-Gods. Not only is that happening but Percy (Logan Lerman) is dealing with a family crisis when a cyclops called Tyson (Douglas Smith) appears claiming to be his brother. Oh, and he is feeling under appreciated.
So with the first film I could understand the changes they made. Creative licence and everything but this film was kind of a slap in the face to everyone who read and enjoyed the books. I walked into this film with the same frame of mind as I did the first one but came out significantly more frustrated. It is understandable they had to change things in order to make it more grown up after all in the books the protagonists are 12 and in the movies they are about 35 but this just took the Micheal.
Now that the prestige of recovering the lightning bolt for Zeus has worn off and Percy is considered to be like every other half blood at the camp Percy is feeling insecure. It is clear that as an audience we are meant to feel sorry for the ignored Percy who is forced to clean an outdoor stadium full of confetti. Unfortunately, I don't. It is clear that all Percy is experiencing is what every other student has had to deal with at some point in their demi-God school life. I do, however, feel sorry for the obvious blanking that Poseidon is doing to his son. On top of that a Cyclopes is sent to the camp by Poseidon to bond with his brother, Percy.
Tyson in the books comes across as a socially awkward boy with not a lot of intelligence who can't help but be left out due to his birth and looks. In the film he there is none of the endearing qualities that make Tyson a likable character. He has the personality of a child with Percy and Annabeth assuming the role of parents. They included some of the features of a cyclops from the book such as Tyson being fire proof.What frustrated me was that apparently his clothes are also fireproof. In the movie he also makes stupid mistakes like dropping the canister of wind from the four corners of the earth into the ocean claiming "should have used two hands". This should be a forgivable offence but at that point both me and a few other audience members felt as frustrated as Annabeth felt although it is pretty clear that she has a lingering hatred for Cyclops's. And it is annoyingly predictable why.
So with the first film I could understand the changes they made. Creative licence and everything but this film was kind of a slap in the face to everyone who read and enjoyed the books. I walked into this film with the same frame of mind as I did the first one but came out significantly more frustrated. It is understandable they had to change things in order to make it more grown up after all in the books the protagonists are 12 and in the movies they are about 35 but this just took the Micheal.
Now that the prestige of recovering the lightning bolt for Zeus has worn off and Percy is considered to be like every other half blood at the camp Percy is feeling insecure. It is clear that as an audience we are meant to feel sorry for the ignored Percy who is forced to clean an outdoor stadium full of confetti. Unfortunately, I don't. It is clear that all Percy is experiencing is what every other student has had to deal with at some point in their demi-God school life. I do, however, feel sorry for the obvious blanking that Poseidon is doing to his son. On top of that a Cyclopes is sent to the camp by Poseidon to bond with his brother, Percy.
Tyson in the books comes across as a socially awkward boy with not a lot of intelligence who can't help but be left out due to his birth and looks. In the film he there is none of the endearing qualities that make Tyson a likable character. He has the personality of a child with Percy and Annabeth assuming the role of parents. They included some of the features of a cyclops from the book such as Tyson being fire proof.What frustrated me was that apparently his clothes are also fireproof. In the movie he also makes stupid mistakes like dropping the canister of wind from the four corners of the earth into the ocean claiming "should have used two hands". This should be a forgivable offence but at that point both me and a few other audience members felt as frustrated as Annabeth felt although it is pretty clear that she has a lingering hatred for Cyclops's. And it is annoyingly predictable why.
I did not like Annabeth in the 1st movie and I like her even less now. There seems to be a distinct lack of Percabeth in this movie and therefore to me she was just the annoying sidekick who was too grown up for her characters age. She is also now a blonde and from the flashback it appears she always was. This flashback shows the characters Luke, Annabeth, Grover and Thalia at the age they should really be in the movies give or take a few years but even that is unsatisfying due to the incredibly confusing death of Thalia. I understand it couldn't go to the graphic level of Spartacus: Blood and Sand for the children who would watch this but they took it a step to far by making the audience question whether or not Thalia had actually died... The scene had so much potential to be an emotive portrayal of what was a heartbreaking storyline. The score worked towards this at first with minimal instrumental leading to soft strings and a haunting voice singing before it is ruined by too loud brass instruments and the enchanting and mystical song that was featured is gone.
We don't see Thalia again until the end of the movie where she comes back to life still in her punk outfit with only slightly longer hair yet having aged 10 years. Bit odd but acceptable because it is probably the most accurate part in the film.
We don't see Thalia again until the end of the movie where she comes back to life still in her punk outfit with only slightly longer hair yet having aged 10 years. Bit odd but acceptable because it is probably the most accurate part in the film.
Overall though, the best part of this film was Nathan Fillion's cameo as the God Hermes. As usual, Fillion brought his charming persona and comic mastery to the character as well as delivering on the guilty father front. Of course there was a reference to Firefly by saying the best shows are always cancelled after one series which in my opinion was the funniest, subtlest and overall best part of the movie which upon reflection makes me sad because out of 110 minutes that 10 second phrase was one of a few good parts.
I was disappointed with this film. It was too predictable and the characters seemed to have lost all charm along with the loved cast from the last movie being excluded so...
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