“IT’S A ‘STROKE’ OF LIGHTNING “
Starring: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan Rosario Dawson and Uma Thurman
Director: Chris Columbus
MPAA Rating: PG for action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material, and mild language.
Genre: Adventure – Fantasy
Release Date: February 12, 2010
By John Delia
There’s a new teen feature in town and it has some very cool special effects, a good adolescent storyline and continuous action that should keep the young males enthralled. The film is called Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief and it was scripted from a book by Rick Riordan who has captured the male teen market with his boundless series of novels. If your youngster needs to fill his mind with adventure, then this film will do the trick.
The movie centers on Percy (Lerman) the demigod son of Poseidon, god of the sea who discovers his heritage when he’s visited by the Greek gods after suspecting him of stealing Zeus’s lightning bolt. Following an attack during which he finds out his best friend Grover is a satyr; Percy becomes bewildered as to what is happening to him. When his human mother Sally finds out about the attack she confirms his demigod existence. The two take him to a special camp of demigods where he learns how to defend himself. When things start getting dicey Percy, a fellow demigod Annabeth and Grover embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true thief, save Percy’s family, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves.
I liked the way Chris Columbus (Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets) spins his magic in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief providing some very good entertainment for teens and pre-teens. His depiction of the storyline is adventurous and filled with fantasy, which is right up the alley of most young folks. Much like his approach to Harry Potter, Columbus challenges the audience to keep up with his ‘lightning’ speed of storytelling as he moves quickly from scene to scene on his way to a never-ending ending.
The acting by the young thespians is extremely good and reminded me of how the friendships in the Harry Potter series developed as they grew in their roles during the franchise. I can see from the ending of this film that the cast may be in for the long haul as it has sequels written all over it. Some of the standout performances include Lehrman in the title role, Jackson as Grover Percy’s sidekick and Daddario playing Annabeth, Percy’s love interest and the daughter of Athena. Much like Harry, Ron and Hermione of Harry Potter the three have that kind of chemistry that may lead to great things.
The film is rated PG for action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material, and mild language, but nothing that should elicit nightmares in pre-teens and teens.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A good start to a possibly entertaining series. (3.5 of 5 Palm Trees)
FEATURED BIO FROM THE FILM
Logan Lehrman has come a long way since appearing in 2000 as one of the Martin children in The Patriot opposite Mel Gibson who plays his dad. He followed that up with 15 appearances in film and TV including What Women Want as the young Nick Marshall with Mel Gibson again, The Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher, Number 23 as Robin Sparrow opposite Jim Carry, appearing with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale as the character William Evans in 3:10 to Yuma in 2007, most recently in 2009 as George Devereaux in My One and Only the son of Renee Zellweger and the part of Simon Silverton in Gamer opposite Gerard Butler. Lehrman is surly a rising star in front of the camera and will certainly be a player in the young men’s acting pool. Why? Do you ask? He won the Young Artist Award three times, in 2004 for his performance in the TV production ‘A Painted House‘, for 2005 TV movie ‘Jack and Bobby’ and in 2007 for the film Hoot.