The 2000s and 2010s saw the rise of movie trends that are still going strong today. Of course, there’s the resurgence of the superhero movie, with fans eagerly awaiting the release of Supergirland Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The “legacy sequel” also became a thing thanks to the aptly-named Tron: Legacy, which helped pave the way for Creedand Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens. The biggest trend in both decades is the rise of movie adaptations of young adult novels, thanks to the blockbuster success of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises. One of the more underrated young adult fantasy franchises is slated to debut on Netflix this month, and it makes for a perfect weekend watch.
The franchise in question is Percy Jackson, as both Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters will be available to stream on Netflix starting this Monday. Both movies are based on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians novels by Rick Riordan and follow Logan Lerman‘s titular protagonist as he discovers that he’s the son of the sea god Poseidon. While the Percy Jackson movies are divisive among fans of the books, there are still elements that make them worth watching. They also aren’t as bad as Chaos Walking.
The ‘Percy Jackson’ Movies Fully Embrace 2010s Culture
Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, and Brandon T. Jackson in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.Image via 20th Century Studios
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the Percy Jackson movies is how distinctly rooted they feel in the 2010s, merging the trappings of the modern world with Greek mythology. That’s one of the core aspects that made the books stand out, and it’s fun to see how directors Chris Columbusand Thor Freudenthal incorporate that element into The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters, respectively. Sea of Monsters features a taxi cab piloted by the Fates and a coffee shop run by a hundred-handed man, while The Lightning Thief turns the lair of the Lotus-Eaters into a glitzy casino in the heart of Las Vegas. Add in the fact that the casino’s sequence scored to “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga, and it’s something that has to be seen to be believed.
Another element that makes the Percy Jackson movies worth watching is Logan Lerman’s performance. Lerman brings Percy perfectly to life, capturing his frustration at learning that his father never bothered to speak to him and his sheer shock at discovering the world of demigods. He also has incredible chemistry with the rest of the cast, including simmering romantic tension with fellow demigod Annabeth Chase (Alexandra Daddario) or his friendship with the satyr Grover (Brandon T. Jackson). While Lerman would go on to deliver great performances in more dramatic fare like The Perks of Being a Wallflowerand Fury, the Percy Jackson movies helped shine a well-deserved spotlight on him.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
A Third ‘Percy Jackson’ Movie Never Came To Pass
Anyone with passing knowledge of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series knows that it consists of five books, so the question remains: why was a third Percy Jackson movie never made? The answer lies in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and its poor reception. Not only did Sea of Monsters land the Percy Jackson movies with the title of a “second-rate franchise“, but it also failed to match the box office haul of The Lightning Thief. Logan Lerman also cast doubt on a third installment when he was interviewed at the 2015 Virtuosos Awards, citing the fact that he and his co-stars were growing too old to portray teenagers.
“I know the fans would really like it and I really want another one…I think we all are getting a little old to play those characters, so I wouldn’t hold my breath necessarily.”
While Percy Jackson‘s time on the silver screen was cut short, the franchise currently lives on in the Percy Jackson and the Olympiansseries on Disney+. Fans have showered praise on the series for having Rick Riordan involved in a creative capacity and for sticking more closely to the books than the movies did. Ironically, when news of the Percy Jackson TV series broke, fans immediately threw Logan Lerman’s name in the ring for Poseidon. Though Lerman said he was too young to play the sea god, he did offer Walker Scobell, who took up Percy’s enchanted sword Riptide, words of encouragement.
The Percy Jackson movies occupy a strange place in pop culture, as they were released when the young adult craze was dying down, and other movie franchises were starting to dominate the Hollywood landscape. They’re still fun to watch, and if nothing else, they’ll inspire viewers to pick up the books.
