Review of the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Fathers and Sons
The boy Percy, able to hold out for seven minutes under water, one day learns that he is a demigod, and his father who abandoned him in childhood is the Olympian Poseidon. Together with his satyr friend and curvy daughter Athena, Percy goes to Hades to save his mother and prevent the internecine war of the gods. Chris Columbus, who screened the first two "Harry Potters", has taken on a new book series - Rick Riordan's teenage fantasy "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" - an adaptation of the first novel. The new fantasy movie series clearly bears the features of a harrypotteriana: a teenager learns that by blood he is endowed with great power, goes to study in an institution for people like him, and then brings evil to clean water (in this case, almost literally) and saves everyone. The story is silent as to whether Rick Riordan tried to reproduce the success of J.K. Rowling's books with a story about a boy and the ancient Greek gods, but he invented a cool plot anyway. The Olympian gods with their intrigues and struggles and the motives of ancient Greek myths give Percy Jackson's adventures a touch of ancient aristocracy - taken from the history of selected plots. Viewers who are familiar with these plots quickly realize that Percy has combined the demigod Perseus and the wanderer Odysseus in his person. In The Lightning Thief, the events of the two characters are intertwined and re-enacted by Percy Jackson. He comes face to face with Medusa the Gorgon, rescues friends from lotophages and descends from the underworld of the dead. At the same time, attributes from myths about Perseus and Odysseus appear in the movie, helping these heroes in funny incarnations. Percy rushes through the air in winged sneakers, the shield presented to him folds like a fan, as if it were made in China, and the sword turns into a fountain pen and back with a flick of his thumb. Using these items in the movie is also quite fun to watch: you never know which gadget and how Percy will use it again. At the same time, instead of Logan Lerman in the role of Percy, you could just as well remove a piece of wood. The guy does well in scenes where you need to shout something or convince someone, but when you need to show emotion, he remains deaf. From the scene in which Percy speaks with a satyr about the death of his mother, Stanislavsky would probably shout “I don’t believe!”. The rest of the youth are also very mediocre. Better than others, perhaps, was played by Brandon T. Jackson, who sang a satire - a friend of Percy, longingly looking at every girl he met (nymph, goddess). The scenes with the satire are the main source of humor in "The Lightning Thief", in which, however, there are not very many direct jokes, but it is not the deadly serious, as usual, but the ironic and mocking tone of the narrative that pleases.Hollywood celebrities on the sidelines, invited to strengthen the artistic skeleton of the movie in support of the "green" youth, look like pure banter, for example. Playing all sorts of strange creatures from ancient Greek mythology, the "stars" seem to amuse themselves with might and main - especially Uma Thurman as Medusa the Gorgon and Pierce Brosnan, who played the teacher with a horse-ass. And Steve Coogan - Hades and Persephone - Rosario Dawson - a real break in the template: the god of the underworld came out as a colorful swanky metalhead, and his hot captive wife may well compete in Persephone's performance with the unsurpassed Monica Bellucci from the sequels of The Matrix.The mock "product placement" of the iPhone turned out to be excellent, which Percy found unexpected use, looking at the Gorgon through the reflection on his screen. In addition to irony and banter, "The Lightning Thief" surprises with unexpectedly bold for a teenage fantasy conversations on near-sexual topics: about the lustfulness of satyrs, about gods who come to Earth from time to time to "glue" people, etc. Such directness inspires respect and raises the movie in the audience sympathy charts. The general ironic tone of the movie evokes the desire to refer to the banter and the ears sticking out of the script of American propaganda, representing the States as the new Olympus of civilization. Moreover, well-known locations from ancient Greek myths, transferred to the USA in the movie, sometimes amaze with the accuracy and capacity of the decision about the location of each of these places in America. Hollywood is, of course, the entrance to A (s) d; I will not reveal the rest of the places - try to guess for yourself (let this be your homework). Everything is fine with the visuals in the movie - a union of several studios worked on the special effects and entourage of Percy's world, and the result did not make them blush. The main problem with The Lightning Thief is the mediocre scenario. Transferring elements of ancient Greek myths into teenage fantasy is a real godsend, but it is not enough to make an interesting movie. Not only do Logan Lerman and company play depressingly - they also turn out to be completely stilted characters according to the script, who seem to themselves do not understand why they are moving around the screen. Thoughts, emotions and, in general, the inner world inherent in real movie heroes, Percy Jackson and his team, alas, are absent. Ultimately, "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief" is a lot of adventure, graceful motives of ancient Greek legends and myths, ironic tone and attention-grabbing special effects. The scriptwriter's attempt to force girls and boys from the target audience, who grew up without a father or mother, to associate themselves with the heroes of the movie failed, because the fascinating characters themselves did not work out. On the other hand, a cautionary tale was a success, encouraging people to believe in themselves, surpass their mentors and never stop learning (unexpected final scene before the credits). If there are continuation, it is terribly interesting who will appear from the union of two demigods. The Topic of Article: Review of the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Fathers and Sons. |
