Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Yesterday I had the chance to catch the Lightning Thief. The latest movie adaption of the many teenage adventure novels. Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is a regular teenager with dsylexia, ADHD, and a horrible step father, seem familar? Turns out hes really the son of Posiden, no no that movie with Kurt Russel. Poisden, the Greek God of the Seas. Turns out also, that Greek God's exist, and they sometimes mate with mortals to make DemiGods. Percy joins the ranks of Hercules, Achilles, and Perseus as a DemiGod. And he is unaware of this fact until Hades (Steve Coogan) starts to hunt him down. Apparently someone has stolen Zeus' most powerful lightning bolt and Percy is named the prime suspect, due to his connection with Posiden Zeus' and Hades' brother. With help from his new friends, Percy looks to bargan with Hades by telling him he didn't steal it so he can get his mother back from his grasp.
Overall this movie is your normal teen chosen to save the world but cant come to grips with being a savoir cause hes so young-movie. Well, almost. Early in the movie Percy gains confidence in his abilities, which is something that sets him apart from his other counterparts. He believes he really can get Hades to give him his mother back with his explanation, and dosen't pout over the fact that hes only a teenager who has to save the world. Alexandria Daddrio plays Athena's daughter, Annabeth, and love interest. Shes a tough chick who quickly joined the ranks of my personal favorite hot young actresses who rock list, along with Emma Stone, and Ellen Page. Her story is simple, she just wants to see the world. Never had she been outside the walls of Camp Half-Blood, a camp for training of the DemiGods.
The two are joined by Percy's personal protector and token black guy, Grover(Brandon T. Jackson) a satyr, for those who dont know a satyr is like Pan, the Greek God of Nature, I believe. Basically Grover has goat legs. And from time to time acts like one too, a goat I mean. Aside from being Percy's protector, Grover throws in some lines you'd expect from a black guy hanging with two white kids, imo. He serves a purpose, especially at the end, wont spoil it. But most of his lines arent far from "That's wack." and other token black guy movie phrases. I never read the novel so I couldn't tell you how well it compares. But as a stand a lone movie, its pretty good. I think they'll amp up the stuff in the sequel. But I'm sure that the fans of the novels will love seeing these characters come to life on the screen. The visual effects are great too. Nothing looks particularly bad. In fact nothing about this movie is particularly bad, but nothing blows you away either. It's right in the middle. Also Rosario Dawson cameo's as Hades' wife, and well. If she really was then you can send me to hell anytime. There are other movies that are out right now that might be more worth seeing, so if you have hesitations about it, just wait for the DVD release.
Overall it's an enjoyable movie, but dosen't seem to have the power to knock the Behemoth of Avatar down a peg. It's a 3/5.
I felt the film was pretty good, albeit it not following the plot of the book nearly as well as it should have. Still respectable, though.
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