Have sword, will travel. The summer blockbuster season is choking on sequels, from Iron Man extensions to the further adventures of The Wolverine. Yet, parents with adventurous kids probably have circled a sequel that isn’t getting as much attention as your usual comic-book superhero, despite the fact that he starred in a pretty faithful adaptation of a literary hit.
That would be Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, which dropped its latest poster on Moviefone in an effort to drum up more awareness as we drift closer to the film’s August release date. Logan Lerman returns to the screen as Percy, the son of Poseidon who learned about his demi-god heritage in the underrated Percy Jackson movie from 2010, The Lightning Thief. That movie did a fine job of establishing the character’s mystical back story, and leaned on solid performers like Sean Bean, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, Uma Thurman and Pierce Brosnan planting their tongues in their cheeks but lending gravity to potentially cheesy material. In general, it worked.
Director Chris Columbus could have been the reason, and it worries me that he won’t be back for the sequel. Thor Freudenthal assumes control, though the first trailer looks decent, so many be don’t have much to worry about. The sequel has Jackson (Lerman) and his colleagues embarking on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece, thereby bringing peace to a divided kingdom. The new poster is cool, but I’d prefer to see new footage. Hopefully soon.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is arriving in theaters on Aug. 7.
