Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. By Rick O'Riordan

Not the cover I read (thanks, Pirate Bay!)

If you’ve seen the movie first before reading the book, I suggest you go read the second book. If, however, you’ve read the book first, and have not seen the movie yet, I suggest you don’t. See the movie, that is. Hollywood will just be messing with your imagination.

Okay, bravo, Rick O’Riordan. You’ve managed to make Greek mythology more interesting, and more palatable to the youngest generation of the human race, the one with the shortest attention span in history. But if you have more patience, and a more vivid imagination, you can go check out Edith Hamilton. But if you’d rather be reading mythology on your iPad while listening to Hillary Duff, then by all means read O’Riordan.

Yeah, O’Riordan is a good writer, but not on the caliber of J.K. Rowling. He writes for kids; not just any kids, mind, but kids of the modern age. And that is why he makes Greek gods go, “duh” and “whatever”, which is totally distracting (at least to me). Can’t you just make the kids talk modern, and keep the gods old school?

But hey, what do I know? I’m just an unpublished writer, while this guy has a bestselling series, and a movie deal to boot.


*pic from SciFiNow


Rating: Six out of ten.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

That's a mouthful for a movie title that's not even a sequel. I didn't read the book so I wouldn't know if it's a faithful adaptation or not. I was excited to see this movie for the Greek Mythology element, nothing else.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief revolves around looking for The Almighty Zeus' (Sean Bean) lightning bolt, believed to be stolen by Percy (Logan Lerman), an ADHD and dyslexic teenager who is actually a demigod, the son of Poseidon. Percy was conceived at a time when hooking up with mortals was already a no-no for the gods (Bad Poseidon, bad! Hehe), thus making him Zeus' primary suspect (Oh, come on!). Now, Percy has two weeks to find the bolt─which everyone else thinks Hades (Steve Coogan) has─and return it to Zeus before he throws a tantrum and makes Earth his battleground.

Relative newcomers grace this big screen flick but familiar faces are also on board, only with too little screen time. Catherine Keener as Percy's mother is heart. Uma Thurman is perfect as the seductress snake-head Medusa. And Steve Coogan, well, I would have wanted to see more of the has-been-rockstar-slash-god-of-all-evil Hades. Even Pierce Brosnan didn't have much screen time to flaunt his "horse for an ass."

The Greek mythology's gods and goddesses in the modern world is a worthy premise for a film. Story and direction-wise, it's good, but things could be way, way better. And compared to other Harry Potter-wannabes that I have seen, I think Percy Jackson deserves another shot at the big screen.


Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief gets six out of ten, to serve as an inspiration for the people behind this movie to do better.


*photo from allmoviephoto.com