Percy Jackson is about to have a very bad day! Being kicked out of school is the least of his problems when the gods of Mount Olympus and a menagerie of monsters escape from his Greek mythology homework!
It's no secret that director Chris Columbus (notwithstanding his screenplay for 'Gremlins', of course) is the living, breathing embodiment of a Hollywood hack. But his films have made over a billon dollars at the box office, so that gives him a little leg room to snap up some of the more promising projects on the books. And so we have 'Percy Jackson & The Lightening Thief'; an innovative, modern take on Greek mythology based on the books by Rick Riordan. Mild mannered but ill at ease teen Percy (i.e. Perseus--see what they did there?) is, apparently, a demi-god; son of Poseidon himself. No wonder he, much like Sebastian the crab from 'The Little Mermaid', prefers life under the sea and is misdiagnosed as dyslexic when the only language that makes any sense to him is, quite literally, ancient Greek to the rest of us. The film sees Percy, wrongly accused of stealing Zeus's lighting bolt, master his powers in a bid to rescue his mother from Hades and clear his name with the gods or risk provoking all out war.
A breezy companion piece to its authentic, narrative counterpart 'Clash Of The Titans', 'Percy Jackson...' makes for a mildly amusing, if somewhat unsubstantial, film. Its well made with good production values, the story's quite interesting though they handle the actual metaphysical concept of theomachy, in a somewhat absurd and often unconvincing manner.
A young cast of unknowns are accompanied by some familiar faces including Sean Bean, Kevin McKidd and Steve Coogan as Zeus, Poseidon and Hades respectively, Pierce Brosnan as Chiron The Centaur, Catherine Keener as Percy's put upon mum, Rosario Dawson as Persephone and consummate scene stealer Uma Thurman, who walks away with the movie as Versace's Medusa. Newcomer Logan Lerman doesn't let the side down as Percy, Pierce Brosnan is clearly having a ball as Chiron whilst Uma Thurman looks as if she were born to play the glamorous gorgon Medusa. Alas, the film loses a lot of momentum once the snake haired seductress meets her fate, though at least those familiar with the story can expect to be reacquainted with the character in some way, shape or form.
Better than I thought it would be, reasonably entertaining fare, worth seeing for Uma Thurman.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Trouble-prone teen Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out school - but that's the least of his problems. The gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters seem to have walked out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology texts and into his life - and they're not happy. Zeus' lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now, Percy and his friends must embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true thief, save Percy's family, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves.
Chris Columbus directs this fantasy adventure based on the bestselling children's books by Rick Riordan. When 12-year-old New Yorker Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) discovers he is the descendant of a Greek god, he sets out on a cross-country adventure to settle an ongoing feud between the 'Big Three' - Zeus (Sean Bean), Hades (Steve Coogan) and Poseidon (Kevin McKidd) - and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves. Uma Thurman, Rosario Dawson and Pierce Brosnan co-star.
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