I know I haven't been on here in a while, and I figured since Sea of Monsters is out, I might as well do lightning thief first. So, here you go.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Boy, that's a mouthful. So the Lightning thief is the first of five books written by Rick Riordan. I enjoy his works, and I really enjoyed the Percy Jackson series. When I saw the movie on opening day, I loved it. But now that I'm older, looking back at it made me realize that there are several problems with it. But before I get to bitching and moaning, what's the story of these books?
Well, the main story centers around Percy Jackson (who else?). He is a demigod. And after learning about that, his whole world goes upside down. His mission is to help protect the world from threats like Furies, Hades, and the big bad: Kronos, just like in the books. The first movie, didn't hold up to the book's glory. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the movie itself.
It opens with Poseidon and Zeus (played by Boromir from Lord of the Rings) threatening war on each other because Zeus accused Poseidon's son (Percy) of stealing his ultimate weapon: the Lightning Bolt. Hench the title of the first book, The Lightning thief. Percy is played by Logan Lermen, and he brings all he can to the table on this role. I thought he was pretty good in his role. In fact, he was one of the possible candidates as Spiderman in the Amazing Spiderman, before we got that awesome performance by Andrew Garfield. Percy's best friend, Grover, is a Satyr like in the book. Percy is now a wanted man because every magical creature you can imagine thinks he has the bolt and they want it. Grover escorts Percy to Camp Half-Blood, where they meet the third member of the well known trio, Annebeth. After Hades abducts Percy's mom, he contacts Percy and offers an exchange, the Bolt for his mother. But Percy doesn't have the bolt. Nevertheless, he, Grover and Annebeth head off to the underworld to rescue Percy's mom. Another demigod named Luke helps them by giving them gear, weapons, and a map to pearls that provide a quick escape from the underworld. It's a race against time for Percy and company to reach the underworld and prove his innocence before the Gods wage war on each other. The story resembles that of the book very well, and the action was pretty good for its time. But there's a lot missing from the movie that was in the book. For example, Clarisse isn't in the movie when she was in the book, and the final battle between Luke and Percy doesn't take place at Camp Half-Blood like it did in the book. The rest of the actors are pretty good, but the dialogue feels forced and some points. But for what we got, it wasn't the worst thing Hollywood put on the big screen. I bought it on DVD because I remember it being better the first time I saw it. But for what it is, I'd say it's a 3 out of 5: a good time, and you can stay sober while watching it.
So what did you think of the Lightning Thief movie? What'd you think of the book? Did you see Sea of Monsters? Comment below, let me know. And I'll be sure to get a Sea of Monsters review up as soon as I see it. Bye-bye.