Went to see Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters tonight with My Sweet Honey and the Queso Kid. I hadn’t really planned on watching this until it came out on video. Effects were fine, the acting was passable, but it just didn’t really connect with me.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked the books. In fact, I liked the books a lot. That may be part of why it didn’t really click with me. But there were also a couple of moments where I felt like someone – and I couldn’t really put my finger on who – cheated a little bit. And… I think they created a lot of problems for themselves if they plan on making any sequels (which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, as this was book 2 in a series of 5.
Cheated. What do I mean by that? Well…
THAR BE SPOILERS BELOW, ME HEARTIES!!!
Seriously. Spoilers. The movie doesn’t follow the book all that closely, if I remember correctly.
Still here? Okay then.
When I talk about “cheating”, that usually means that I think someone has broken a world-rule. Every fictional world (alas, unlike the real world) has to operate by certain rules that are set up by the writers so that the readers understand how everything in the world works. So, for example, you have to explain that when a God and a human woman… ahem… “love each other very much”, the end result is a human being. But when a God and a nymph “love each other very much”, the end result is some form of not-quite-human creature. Like a cyclops. Great. We get that, we understand it. We understand that when Percy clicks his pen, it becomes a sword.
And EVERYONE who is around Percy probably knows that about the sword, because when he pulls out a sword to use, that’s the sword he uses. So it makes no sense for people to tie him up and leave the pen in Percy’s pocket because… why, again? At this point, we’d already established that one of the people who were tying Percy up was at the camp at the beginning of the movie. So they should have known to remove the pen. That’s something I’ve heard described as an “idiot point” – or a point in the plot that only works if the characters are idiots. (likewise, any plot that can be resolved in about thirty seconds if characters would just talk to each other.)
That’s one example, but it’s not the most egregious one. The biggest cheat happens as they’ve just fought a battle for the Fleece. One of the characters suffers a mortal wound. Luckily, our heroes have the Golden Fleece, a magical item capable of healing any one or any thing. In fact, we’ve just seen the Fleece pretty much resurrect Cronus, and that process begins the instant they put the Fleece on Cronus’ little tomb-thing-a-ma-bob. Big light show, impressive effects, the whole nine yards. So, no problem. Monster gets dispatched pretty quickly. They put the fleece on the poor sap who got wounded and… nothing.
And for a couple of seconds there, the characters are having this moment where they’re all really sad. Never mind that none of them are questioning WHY this thing isn’t working, no one’s wondering if the Fleece will really solve the problem they needed it for, they’re all busy encouraging the character “not to give up”. Which has me raising my eyebrows. “Give up? What do you mean, don’t give up? The Fleece should be healing her. Why isn’t the Fleece healing her?”
The character apparently dies and then… WHAM! Lights! Effects! Character wakes up and wonders what just happened!
And I got really mad. Look, breaking the rules is one thing. Maybe there’s something we don’t understand about the rules, and needs to be explained by someone else. Maybe resurrecting a God has drained the Fleece, or maybe it needs to recharge. Maybe the character has to want to be healed. I don’t know. Something. But to break your rules without an explanation so that your characters can have a moment to emote a bit… that’s not just a cheat. That’s a cheap shot. One below the belt.
Anyway, events also occur in this that I really don’t remember from the original, which I think will make it more difficult for the writers in a potential sequel (which they did set up… a little problematically, but they did set it up).
I really liked the Percy Jackson books. And I would encourage people to read them. And the movie wasn’t bad. My Sweet Honey really liked it (said it was better than The Wolverine, which I disagree with, but to each their own). Anyway, I guess that’s the lesson as a writer that I take away, and will try to follow (no promises).
No cheating. Especially no cheating to get a cheap emotional response.