Opening at theaters this past weekend was the movie “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thiefâ€. This was the first installment of a series of movies being made from the popular Percy Jackson books. In this one, Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) a normal kid in high school discovers that he has been accused of a crime. To make matters worse, this was a crime that was done to the Greek god, Zeus. Someone has stolen his lightning bolt and he believes it was the son of Poseidon who took it. Percy knows nothing about his father being Poseidon, but that soon changes when he is attacked by a mythical creature while on a school trip. Now with the help of his best friend, Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) he discovers that he is a demi-god, and he must learn to wield the strengths and powers that have been passed on to him from his father.
Zeus has given Percy only a couple of days, for his lightning bolt to be returned to him, or there will be an all out war between the gods. With the help of another demi-god named Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), the three teens must take a cross country trip to unravel the mystery of who the real thief is before it’s too late.
Now I know a lot of people are looking at this movie like it’s another “Harry Potter†type of series. Believe me it’s not. These stories start as Percy is already a teenager, and very much capable of fighting his own battles. Once he discovers that he is the son of Poseidon, it doesn’t take any time for him to learn his abilities and battle the creatures that are sent after him. Harry Potter kind of dragged out, while he learned his skills and is just now in the past couple of movies really fighting on his own. This story starts with action, and great battles against mythological creatures right from the beginning. The only similarity that I see in the two stories is that it’s two guys and one girl. Other than that these stories share nothing else. This movie has a lot of fantastic visual effects, from the new “modern†look of Medusa (Uma Thurman) to the final battle with the lightning thief. It is worth the price of admission. There was never a lull in the action, and it keeps you wanting to see even more. I feel this is going to be a good series of movies. The only thing that kind of seemed out of place was Pierce Brosnan. His acting wasn’t the problem; it was just seeing him as the character he plays was a bit weird. I give this movie 3 ½ lightning bolts. It was very entertaining, and I can’t wait to see what’s next in the series. The movie ran 2 hours. It’s rated PG for action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material, and mild language. It was written by Craig Titley and Joe Stillman from source material from the book: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. It was directed by Chris Columbus. It was produced by 1492 Pictures, Sunswept Entertainment. It was distributed by Fox 2000.
Next week’s review: TBD
