Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman – Gamer) is your average American teenager; he does ok at school and hangs out with his best friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson – Tropic Thunder) for most of his free time. He has never known his father, who abandoned his family after he was born. Being raised by his single mother Sally (Catherine Keener – The 40 Year Old Virgin) has been tough but the two Jacksons are happy, even if Percy can’t quite understand why she keeps dating losers like Gabe (Joe Pantoliana – The Matrix).
On a routine school excursion to the museum, Percy comes under attack from a winged creature, claiming that he has stolen a lightning rod. He can’t fathom what’s happening until its revealed to him that Percy is no ordinary boy. He is the son of the Greek God Poseidon (Kevin McKidd – Journeyman), and he has a destiny to fulfil. Grover is more than he seems too; he is Percy’s protector and has been undercover keeping him safe for all of these years. Now that the creatures of the netherworld know who he is, Percy must go into hiding at a special location called Camp Half-Blood for gifted kids like him. Whilst there he trains under the tutorship of Chiron (Pierce Brosnan – Die Another Day) to become battle ready. The Gods of Mount Olympus think that Percy has stolen the lightning rod of Zeus (Sean Bean – The Lord Of The Rings) so it’s up to him, Grover and a new companion named Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) to clear Percy’s name, find the real lightning thief and rescue his mother from the clutches of Hades (Steve Coogan – The Parole Officer), the god of hell, before the war to end all wars begins on earth.
Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief is the latest popular fantasy book to be given the big screen treatment. Under the watchful gaze of Harry Potter director Chris Columbus, the franchise is in capable hands. The parallels to Harry Potter are plentiful but if you can look past that, there is a fun movie to enjoy here.
Percy is played quite competently by Logan Lerman, a front-runner to be the next Spiderman if internet rumours are to be believed. He handles being the main lead very well and has a good chemistry going with Brandon T. Jackson and Alexandra Daddario as his Ron and Hermione-esq companions, Grover and Annabeth. The rest of the film is literally filled with A-listers. Of particular note, Kevin McKidd and Sean Bean do brilliantly as the warring brothers Poseidon and Zeus. I would have loved to have seen more of them onscreen but maybe future films in this series will bring them into play more.
Whilst the story and the characters may all seem familiar, what really sets this film apart are its major special effects. The monsters are wonderfully rendered and really make the action set-pieces look polished and feel exciting. Hades looks genuinely frightening in his fiery form and Medusa (played by a hammy but fun Uma Thurman) looks great as the devilish woman who can turn you into stone. This is in stark contrast to other parts of the film which feel quite cheap though - like the set used for Camp Half Blood. It feels like a theme park attraction and could have done with a little more imagination and money being thrown at it to make it fit in with the look and feel of the rest of the film.
The story manages a noble thing; it gets younger audiences involved in history and mythology. That’s no bad thing. Being the first movie in a (potential) franchise is always tough but if they get the opportunity to tell more stories, this could be a nice distraction from Harry Potter‘s inevitable end. The dialogue is ropey in parts and the story doesn’t flow as well as it should but there is still a lot to like here. Not nearly as good as the Harry Potter films but a definite step up from the likes of The Golden Compass and Narnia, Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief could be just what younger audiences want right now. Its all-star cast make sure that this an enjoyable adventure to take and with a strong leading threesome in Lerman, Jackson and Daddario, this could be a surprise hit.
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