What will you do if you find out that you are not an ordinary teenager? That you are son of a God and you yourself has this power far more destructive than anything in the world you live in. That is exactly what happened to Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a film adaptation of the First book on Percy Jackson and the Olympians novel franchise written by Rick Riordan with the same title. It tells the tale of a teenager boy named Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) who after being attacked by a Fury discovered that he is a Demigod son of Poseidon (Kevin McKidd), God of Earthquakes and Sea. He also found out that Zeus (Sean Bean) is looking for him and accusing him for stealing The God's Master Bolt. Now together with his friend Grover (Brandon Jackson), Percy is enrolled in Camp Half-Blood under the tutelage of Chiron (Pierce Brosnan) to learn the way of the Heroes. On the camp, Percy met Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), daughter of Athena Goddess of Wisdom and War Strategist and they became friends and ally. Percy is getting along with his life in the camp not until the day Hades (Steve Coogan), brother of Zeus and Poseidon reveals himself to the boy asking to give him the Master Bolt or he will kill his mother. Now Percy is forced to look for the bolt to be able save her mother's life.

Personally I'm so excited to see this movie because I really have this interest on Greek Myth.  The fact that this is an alternate take on an ancient tale, it is just right to check it out.  Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is another attempt to create a fantasy Film franchise based on a book obviously  groomed to be the next big thing after Harry Potter.  But compared to Harry Potter, Percy Jackson could have the potential of a new box office hit among young audience and at the same time targets adults for the fact that it a story based on an existing literature that many people already know.  Unlike Harry Potter, Percy Jackson has a different flavor since it is written by an American author.  It utilizes natural language and set on a contemporary American setting.

The story is fast paced.  Too fast that the movie failed to give enough characterization to some of the characters.  Maybe because the fact that the writers assume people already know their basic Greek Mythology that they don't need to have a lot of time spending on the background of the characters.  Again just like Harry Potter, the movie suffers plot discrepancy because most of the events on the book are deleted.  A lot of plots are not explained on the movie which is carefully explained on the book, for example the reason why Zeus thinks Percy stole the Master Bolt and why there would be a war if it is not returned to Olympus before the summer solstice.  Some major events are also altered and a very important character duel is omitted.


Logan Lerman is indeed the next pretty boy that will grace Hollywood that will surely follow the footsteps of the likes of  Daniel Radcliffe and Robert Pattinson.  Brandon Jackson did a pretty good job on giving the laughs and Alexandra Daddario kicks ass as she show how tough she is on fight scenes.  Sean Bean, Kevin McKidd and Steve Coogan on the other hand also did a very good job portraying the God Brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades.

For a first installment, Lightning Thief is far more better that Sorcerer's stone because it features more creature battles and duel.  But I still think that writers should create a more tighter script that will give sense to the events other than just deleting events and altering some.

To sum it up, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a good movie.  Despite the poor adaptation of the book to film, I still find it very enjoyable to watch.  Chris Columbus is back again for another epic franchise to date.  And if you like the movie I highly recommend you to read the book because I think (based on my research), it is far more better and detailed.



“Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief” opened last February 12 (Friday) in theaters nationwide in the Phils. from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.