Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters— Silly But Good

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, directed by Thor Freudenthal

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is the sequel to Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. This film is about Percy Jackson going on a quest to find the Golden Fleece so that he can save Camp Half-Blood. Luke has turned against the Gods, and plans to find and use the Golden Fleece to bring Kronos back to life.

Percy, Grover, Tyson, Clarisse, and Annabeth

Before setting out on the quest, Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) learns that he has a half brother named Tyson (Douglas Smith). Percy and Tyson are both sons of the God Poseidon. Tyson is a cyclops. Zeus had turned his daugher Thalia (Paloma Kwiatkowski) into a pine tree; when Luke (Jake Abel) showed up at Camp Half-Blood, he poisoned the pine tree. Percy’s friends Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) realize that the Golden Fleece can heal anything and propose a quest to obtain it to save Thalia’s tree. Percy finds out that there is a prophecy that may or may not refer to him; he might be the half blood who can either save or destroy Olympus. Dionysus (Stanley Tucci), the director of Camp Half-Blood chooses Clarisse (Leven Rambin) to go on the quest instead of Percy and his friends. Clarisse is the demigod daughter of Ares, the god of war.

Percy, Grover, and Annabeth defy Mr. D’s orders and set out on the quest. Tyson wants to come on the quest too. Annabeth does not trust Tyson because he is a cyclops and she thinks cyclopses are dangerous and violent. After taking a ride in the Chariot of Damnation, our heroes are dropped off in Washington D.C. Percy received coordinates to the Sea of Monsters from the three drivers of the taxi cab (Missi Pyle, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Mary Birdsong). Grover is kidnapped by Chris Rodriguez (Grey Damon) and is taken to Luke. Luke is on a yacht called the Andromeda.

After visiting Luke’s father Hermes (a very funny Nathan Fillion), Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson track down Luke, but are captured and thrown in the brig of the yacht. Using one of the artifacts that Hermes gave them, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson escape from the brig. The group is eaten by Charbydis and find Clarisse in Charbydis’s stomach. Clarisse is on a ship with zombies who are following her orders. Percy and Clarisse must work together to escape from Charbydis’s stomach.

Tyson, Clarisse, Grover, Annabeth, and Percy in Polyphemus’s cave

After arriving at Circeland, Polyphemus’s lair, Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and Clarisse find that Grover has been put to work by the cyclops Polyphemus (Robert Maillet). The group escape from Polyphemus, trap him in his cave, and steal the Golden Fleece. However, Luke is standing outside the cave and demands that Percy hand over the Golden Fleece. When Percy refuses, Luke attempts to shoot Percy with a crossbow, but Tyson steps in front of Percy and falls into the water below.

Luke begins bringing Kronos back to life with the Golden Fleece. Luke and Percy fight over the Fleece, but Luke is stronger than Percy. Tyson shows up and throws Luke down because the water had healed his wound (he is a son of Poseidon after all). Kronos comes to life and consumes both Grover and Luke. Percy fights Kronos with his sword and kills Kronos, thus saving Grover and Luke. Luke lands in Polyphemus’s lair and is eaten up. However, the Manticore stabs Annabeth. Annabeth dies, but Percy brings her back to life with the Golden Fleece.

When they return to Camp Half-Blood, Percy gives the Fleece to Clarisse who places it on the pine tree. The pine tree heals from its poison and even brings Thalia back to life. Percy realizes that Thalia is a child of Zeus. This means that the prophecy of saving or destroying Olympus could refer to Thalia, and not Percy.

I really liked Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. It had a lot of humor in it. I liked Hermes interaction with the snakes. I also liked the snakes commenting Tyson on his hair. Tyson has dreadlocks. I also liked how Annabeth changed her perception of Tyson throughout the film. I liked the relationship between Percy and Tyson. I liked how Percy had to learn how to become more of a leader. I liked how Clarisse had to admit that Percy was not as weak as she had previously thought.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is a silly film. Circeland is located in Florida. Olympus is located in New York City. In the first film, the city of the Lotus Eaters was Las Vegas. In the first film, Percy and his friends went to California (the Hollywood sign, specifically).

I recommend Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters to fans of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson book series, fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lighning Thief, fans of mythology, fans of action /adventure films, and fans of fantasy films. I would give Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters an A-.

The Amazing Spiderman 2: As Good As The First One

The Amazing Spiderman 2, directed by Marc Webb

The Amazing Spiderman 2 is the sequel to The Amazing Spiderman. The Amazing Spiderman was a reboot of the Spiderman trilogy, which was directed by Sam Raimi. The Amazing Spiderman movies are directed by Marc Webb.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 starts out with Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) trying his best to avoid his girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) because of a promise he made as Spiderman to Gwen’s dying cop father (Denis Leary) at the end of the first film. Gwen’s father wanted Gwen to be safe. Being with Spiderman could put Gwen in danger.

We are introduced to a new character, Max Dillon (a very geeky looking Jamie Foxx). Max works for Os Corp. He is bullied by his boss (B.J. Novak). In addition, Max does not feel like he is an important person. That all changes one day when Spiderman saves him from being hit by a car. Spiderman tells Max that he is important. Max becomes obsessed with Spiderman and views him as a friend.

Jamie Foxx as Electro in The Amazing Spiderman 2

One day Max has an unfortunate accident at work. He is electrocuted. Os Corp deletes his file and classifies him as dead. Max has been transformed into the villain Electro. Electro does not know how to control his newfound powers. No one can see him because he has become invisible.

In addition, Peter’s friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to town to see his dying father. His father informs him that his illness is hereditary, so Harry will have it too. Harry is at the age where the illness first develops. Harry’s father dies the next day and Harry becomes Os Corp’s new CEO.

Harry’s illness progresses, so he asks Peter for help. He wants Peter to get him in touch with Spiderman because he thinks Spiderman’s blood will save him from dying. Peter tries to talk him out of it because he doesn’t think Spiderman’s blood can help Harry. Spiderman also refuses to help Harry, causing Harry to hate him.

Harry teams up with Max after he gets fired as CEO of Os Corp. Harry had tried investigating what happened to Max. Harry and Max both want revenge on Spiderman. They break into Os Corp, and Harry finds a suit of armor made by his father, as well as venom from genetically altered spiders. Harry injects himself with the venom and turns into The Green Goblin.

Peter and Gwen in The Amazing Spiderman 2

After Peter and Gwen defeat Electro, Harry kidnaps Gwen after figuring out that Peter is Spiderman. A fight ensues, and Gwen falls to her death. A distraught Peter gives up being Spiderman until disaster strikes again.

I liked The Amazing Spiderman 2. I thought it had a lot of action in it. The special effects were good. There was a lot of humor in the film. I liked how The Amazing Spiderman films don’t copy the original Spiderman films.

I would recommend The Amazing Spiderman 2 to fans of “Spiderman” comic books, fans of the Spiderman trilogy, fans of The Amazing Spiderman, fans of comic book adaptations, and fans of action/adventure films. I would give The Amazing Spiderman 2 an A-.