Directed By Chris Columbus
Starring Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson and Alexandra Daddario
Percy Jackson’s marketing department sure didn’t do it any favours when rushing to point out the Harry Potter connections and similarities; it’s the rare kids’ property that doesn’t crumble and look increasingly inferior when cast in the shadow of J.K. Rowling’s beloved franchise. The comparisons are, of course undeniable and impossible to miss, from shared director Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone/The Chamber of Secrets), to the plot correlations and the ‘Cecil Guyface and the Mysterious Noun’ titles. For people to dismiss Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief as simply another Potter clone would be unfortunate though, as Chris Columbus’ new fantasy outing is a fast-paced, action-packed and incredibly fun adventure.
Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is a high school kid struggling through school with an abhorrent stepfather, ADHD and dyslexia. When he’s attacked during a field trip by a Fury – a winged mythological monster – he’s quickly shuffled off to the secretive Camp Half-Blood, where he learns that he’s the son of Greek god Poseidon, blessed with the water-channelling powers of his father. Not only that, but he’s been accused of stealing Zeus’ master lightning bolt and his best friend Grover is really a satyr (half man, half goat – it’s really best not to ponder the icky specifics of how that particular conception came about). His mother kidnapped by Hades (a delightfully evil Steve Coogan) and with the gods ready to unleash war over the pilfered bolt, Percy, Grover and feisty Annabeth (the daughter of Athena), have mere days in which to find Zeus’ lightning, prevent the destruction of humanity and find mystical pearls to gain entrance to hell and rescue Jackson’s mother, all while fending off Greek monsters like Medusa, minotaurs and the fire-spewing hydra.
It’s a film not without its hefty flaws. Primarily, the tone tilts wildly and Columbus and the cast are never quite sure if they’re aiming for a serious fantasy film or a tongue-in-cheek comedy adventure. Coogan leans towards the latter, while Lerman delivers and reacts to the film’s overwhelming goofiness with straight-faced conviction, like the revelation that his mother only stayed with his abusive stepfather so the musk of his B.O. would cloak Percy’s whereabouts to the enemies of the gods. I’m really not kidding. The ‘collect the three pearls’ roadtrip structure gives the film an oddly-paced episodic feel, a little like three episodes of a TV series with incredibly high production values crammed together, with a sojourn to Las Vegas – complete with a Grover the satyr dance sequence and some thinly-veiled drug trip imagery – feeling strangely out of place amongst the stone-faced fantasy peril. The plot is rather rushed, too, which helps with a breezy pace, but sacrifices any sense of character development; there’s no learning curve or progression for Percy in his origin movie, he ditches training camp after being there 17 seconds and seemingly has complete control of his powers instantly, despite other characters noting that he’ll require practice to acclimate to them.
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The barrelling pace makes it hard to ponder the film’s flaws and failings for too long though. Rocketing from lively action set piece to the next, Percy Jackson is relentlessly fun and engaging, without a slow moment to be found before the credits roll. Between the fun use of naturally fascinating Greek myth foundations, well-staged, exhilarating kids-versus-monster battles and the grandiose spectacle of the Underworld, with the aid of some excellent CGI, Columbus creates an interesting world that manages to be unique, involving, and infinitely more interesting than the rapidly-multiplying swarm of tepid vampire romance fantasies plaguing multiplexes. Refreshingly for a PG children’s film, it’s not afraid to have its kids throw punches and get knocked around either.
The cast acquit themselves wonderfully too, with a trio of remarkably likeable leads and an immensely fun supporting cast. Logan Lerman’s incredibly charismatic and a step above the usual Disney Channel alum teen leads who would usually get the gig. Brandon T. Jackson’s role is an unfortunate bundle of racial stereotyped clichés on paper, but he brings enough charm and natural ability to make Grover an effortless scene-stealer. Annabeth (the painfully gorgeous Alexandra Daddario) fares best as a character though; a cliché-subverting combination of beauty, intelligence and cocky, ass-kicking assertiveness, she’s a refreshing change from the bookish damsel-in-distress love interests that usually crop up in the teen fantasy genre. Uma Thurman is woefully wretched as Medusa, conjuring traumatic flashbacks to her stint as Poison Ivy, but the rest of the supporting actors amongst the cast are a joy to watch, with Pierce Brosnan and Steve Coogan clearly having fun, while Sean Bean and Kevin McKidd bring bags of gravitas as gods Zeus and Poseidon.
While the Potter movies have increasingly and admirably steered down the route of depth and darkness, Percy Jackson provides a wonderfully fun counterpoint to the gloom of that franchise, embracing a lot of the light-hearted, kid-friendly adventure that Harry left behind after his first couple of movies. Its numerous flaws are evident, but easy to overlook in the face of a relentless pace, a handful of energetic action sequences and a wealth of eye candy spectacle. Combining instantly likeable characters with an abundance of action, a unique and well-realised world and the occasional giggle here and there, Percy Jackson is a light, breezy and incredibly fun slice of fantasy adventure sure to keep kids enthralled.
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On the Blu-ray:
First up, the Blu-ray looks and sounds as fantastic as you’d expect a recent blockbuster to, with a loud, lively and immersive 5.1 DTS track and crystal clear visuals that display everything from the spectacle of the Underworld to Alexandra Daddario’s mesmerizing blue eyes in perfect, stunning clarity.
There’s certainly a lot to be found on the disc extras-wise, including a selection of deleted scenes. They’re mostly alternate and extended versions of scenes in the film, though there’s an alternate (and less effective) introduction for Annabeth; rather than first meet her while she’s beating the bejesus out of a group of sword-wielding demi-gods before knocking Percy on his ass, in the alternate intro, she merely brings the water-loving hero a drink while he’s resting up in bed. How thoughtful! Naturally, it’s not hard to fathom why it was chopped. Also worth a look is a teary, emotional scene from Grover where he offers some backstory about his last (failed) mission as someone’s protector. Unfortunately it only would’ve made the tonal changes more jarring, so it’s better left excised, but like the others, it’s interesting to see.
There’s a handful of collectively extensive behind-the-scenes featurettes, exploring Camp Half-Blood, its visual conception and the cast’s sword training, a segment on the demi-gods of the film with cast interviews, while the most entertaining is ‘On Set With Brandon T. Jackson’, with an ever-so-slightly more candid look at the making of the film as Brandon gives a tour of the set and talks to his co-stars. The disc is BD-Live enabled too, with another behind-the-scenes look at the casino set and an interesting interview with Percy Jackson & The Olympians author Rick Riordan.
Also found on the disc are a couple of kid-focused extras – a ‘Discover Your Powers’ game (a short quiz which decides which god’s powers you’ll inherit based on some simple questions) and ‘Secrets of the Gods’ (an interactive educational extra that offers background on the characters and greek legends of the film). Unfortunately they’re very brief, with the ‘Secrets of the Gods’ feature well-presented but not offering any information not found in the film, and it’s a shame there’s nothing more in-depth there considering the sheer wealth of Greek myth only barely touched on during the film that could’ve been offered up to kids in the extras.
While lastly, 20th Century Fox have released the film as one of their great Triple Play Edition sets, with the Blu-ray, an additional DVD copy of the movie included and a digital copy, too, so all bases are covered for the same price.
Rating:
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD from 5th July 2010.
(Note: The images above were captured and saved at a reduced quality, and though they give an idea of how the film looks, they aren’t intended to reflect the true quality of the Blu-ray image itself.)