Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

The Percy Jackson books were some of my favorite books growing up, and when a movie came out, I couldn't wait to see it. However, the film stays as far away from the source material as possible, which makes me wonder why the heck this movie was made.



There were certain things the movie just couldn't get right that I didn't think need changing. For example, in the book, Annabeth is blonde, Percy is 12, and when the car crash happens in the beginning, Grover was supposed to be unconscious. While it was true that Luke is evil, Percy doesn't fight him at the end. He fights Ares, the god of war.



The acting is decent, and Logan Lerman is a decent Percy Jackson. The special effects are cool, and the fights are really entertaining. The comedic elements are there, and the chemistry between the three actors are likeable.

In the end, it's just a popcorn flick for the family. It may not be the best movie ever made, but it's decent enough to enjoy. I just wish the movie stuck closer to the source material.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief My nine year old daughter and I watched this movie together and enjoyed it for different reasons. Rated PG, Percy and the blah blah blah… (I can't ever remember the whole name) is not really as scary as it is intense – the emotional conflict of good v evil rather then the purely physical. This means not much in the way of gore and some really great monsters. In fact, I loved it more for its modern portrayal of teenage fury in an Old World Olympian setting, than my daughter did for the special effects. It is reminiscent of Harry Potter and the…blah blah blah with its special effects and Lord of the Rings blah blah of its battle of good v evil and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (that one I remember) for its centaurs and satyrs. So it's not original; it's a well done and effective story of generational angst. On top of this are the awe inspiring special effects, especially the waterworks of Poseidon and his offspring. However, those never interest me as much as the human drama, and should serve as background, not the whole movie. (Some of us really do believe that) In this case there is a good blend.

Logan Lerman, as Percy, is an angry, lovable misfit who thinks he's a loser and becomes an Olympian. This has nothing to do with the sweat and grind of the Olympics we just watched on TV, but the realization that his absent father wasn't just a lout, he was also a god. This sets up the perennial teenage conflict surrounding the question "Who am I?" Percy's quest is just a bit more bizarre than usual. He is a god, or half of one, and has to discover what that means. Lerman is a great choice for Percy, not a perfect beauty, just a good looking kid, who we identify with and want to succeed. His emotional range is better than that of most actors in kid movies; Percy is conflicted, afraid, puzzled, and determined and it all shows.

Brandon T. Jackson is Grover, Percy's sidekick and protector. Jackson is a solid presence, supporting the lead and lending his soulful eyes to the role. Along with Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth, the awesome fighter and love interest, the three become a team to right the wrongs of the gods. I like to see young women with more to do in a movie than stir a male's passion, and Annabeth (couldn't decide on a name?) does. She fights, she wins, she loses, she gets the boy, and her stunning eyes are clearly descended from the gods. Jake Abel as Luke has the complex role of a neglected god child seeking revenge any way he can - lying, stealing and cheating on his friends. Abel needed to show more passion, more love, more bitterness, to make his downfall all that more spectacular.

There is such a huge cast it's hard to comment on everyone. Of the older generation Pierce Brosnan as Mr. Brunner / Chiron gives a "yes I remember what it's like to be young and full of myself just like you" performance of the wise and patient mentor, Uma Thurman is a delightfully evil Medusa, Sean Bean, well, in my book Sean Bean is always a god so he played Zeus very well. Steve Coogan as Hades and Rosario Dawson as Persephone are fun. If it's possible to play a kidnapped woman as funny, these two manage it. Joe Pantoliano as Percy's step dad Gabe Ugliano (like the name) is a good creep but the character seems dated. Ordering a wife to fetch beer is very Archie Bunker – do jerky step dad's still do that? Maria Olsen's fury and Julian Richings Ferryman are small parts with a big impact and they are each perfectly evil. Max Van Ville has his three seconds on film as a 70's kid and uses them to perfection. These three are (therefore) perfect examples of bit parts making a difference - it is the accumulation of believable detail that carries us along on the fantasy. Catherine Keener is the washed out Sally Jackson, Percy's Mom. Since she is more heroic than the heroes, it would have been nice to see a little spark in her somewhere in her martyrdom – why would a god fall for her except that she can wear a pair of skinny jeans? (Maybe that's enough) Since a lot of Mom's are going to see this PG movie it's nice to have a son risk everything for her, as lame and uninspiring as she appears to be. In fact, the premise that these teenagers were all abandoned by, not loser parents, but by superior perfect god parents becomes a comment on parenting itself - maybe Hollywood parents in particular –rich and successful parents dumping their kids to be raised by mere mortals, the nannies and day cares of the world? However godlike Percy may be he is clearly ticked off at being abandoned and the scene with his Dad at the end encapsulates the drama.

At 118 minutes (let's see, 118 divide by 60, 2 minutes shy of 2 hours) it felt a little long. My daughter was squirming by the end. Part of her restlessness was likely the result of all the previews and being pummeled by the non stop wave of sound. Does it really have to be that loud? We were plastered to our seats with our fingers in our ears for the swelling crescendos of the battle scenes. Hey movie theaters, any body listening? (Take your fingers out of your ears) It's too loud! And those earnest, dedicated multi-millionaire movie stars exhorting us to reach into our pockets for Haiti? How 'bout each of you giving a million or two and be done with it.

I have to admit it, I haven't read the book, but regardless of whether it was faithful or not, this rarely ruins a movie or TV adaptation for me. That said, I can understand the disappointment of those who loved the book. However, I really enjoyed this film, it is hardly the best movie I have ever seen, but I personally consider it one of the better movies of 2010 that I've seen so far, and that is saying a lot considering how disappointing some of the movies have been.

Where the film is lacking is in the storytelling. There are those who say that it gets bogged down by too many mythological references, and I have to say I kind of agree. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief had a brilliant concept to work from and a fairly original one at that, and while the references were very interesting and cleverly incorporated, the writers could have simplified a little how much they included. Back to the storytelling, it does have a lot of exciting moments, such as the scene at the museum with the fury, in Medusa's lair, the fight with the hydra, in the underworld and the climax, but some parts in the middle half drag and feel clunky, and I personally could have done with less of the scene in the casino.

Complaints aside, the film looks incredible, the special effects are excellent and the cinematography and scenery are clever and skillful. The music only adds to the excitement and the dialogue has some very nice moments with some humour from Grover and with Gabe when he is seen on television talking about Percy's disappearance and both Medusa and Persephone are deliciously seductive in looks and in dialogue. The film also moves briskly in general, and the direction is decent. Personally I liked the acting, Logan Lerman is surprisingly appealing as Percy, and Brandon T.Jackson is lots of fun as Grover. People have said Alexandra Daddario was too old as Annabeth, I wouldn't know, but she looks lovely and is very spirited in the role. Pierce Brosnan was surprisingly good as Mr Brunner/Chiron, though it was a bit of a shock seeing him with a horse's lower body, Rosario Dawson is fabulously sexy as Persephone and Sean Bean is okay as Zeus though he doesn't have much to do. The real joys however are with Uma Thurman, who gives a delicious turn as Medusa, and Steve Coogan who was a big surprise as Hades.

Overall, I actually liked this film, it was fun to watch, while nothing absolutely outstanding or mind-blowing. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

My family went to see the movie "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" today. All of us have read the books and are big fans. I do think it's interesting the comments made about how this movie is a ripoff from Harry Potter. If you actually read the book, the movie was nothing like it. I'd say it wasn't a bad way to spend a few hours. My family liked it, at no time was I wondering how long we'd been in the theatre. But where the book was great, the movie lacked...a lot.

CGI was awesome. Medusa & her snakes were amazing.

If you can avoid paying full price (where we live you can see movies on the weekends for $5 per person before noon), you won't feel like you were short-changed with this one.

The premise of this movie - that Greek gods were real and have offspring in the modern world - is interesting. But the execution of this idea felt very rushed in this movie. I haven't read the book, so can't judge where the blame lies for this.

The movie is an enjoyable way to kill a couple of hours, but isn't as engrossing as other movies of this genre.

Several big stars feature in cameo roles and for anyone who knows a fair bit about who celebrities are, this tends to distract from the movie. Uma Thurman, Brosnan, etc., aren't really given the screen time to build a strong character for themselves. Perhaps the best of these is Steve Coogan playing Hades, but even here you send most of his screen time thinking "oh look, it's Steve Coogan" rather than being drawn into the movie. It could have benefited from having the minor roles played by less known actors - as it is, their appearances tend to detract from the main characters who actually do a good job with the material they have been given.

But these are minor concerns - the biggest problem with this movie is that Percy finds out he's a demigod and suddenly seems to develop gifts with no effort or training, just by virtue of knowing his past. At the start of the movie, he already demonstrated an exceptional ability to remain underwater for long periods of time. But after finding out he's a demigod, he develops strong sword fighting skills with no training or effort (the start of the fight between the red helmets and the blue helmets, before the water "thing"), and later is capable of manipulating water in a couple of scenes without being taught this skill or having any difficulty or doubts about his ability to do it. This is just preposterous. The mythical/other worldly framework is generally used to provide a context to display human failings, struggles, and virtues. Instead, in Percy Jackson, this framework is used to simply give the lead character a loose justification for overcoming other mythical creatures. He doesn't have to question how to use his powers, nor does he have to put any effort into developing these powers.

Like I say, the movie isn't so bad as to make it unwatchable, but they really missed a chance to make this movie have a strong impact by failing to give it any depth. It is all just the bells and whistles of CGI and having mythological creatures just to have some interesting looking battles and a trip to the underworld. It could have been so much more. Whether this is a failing of the movie, the books, or both, is up to those who have read the books to decide. But the movie reeks of jumping on the Harry Potter bandwagon in an attempt to get box- office success, while ignoring the fact that those movies were built on books that had some depth to them. That is what gave them their cultural poignancy. This movie lacks it completely.