Movie day: Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief

I had wanted to watch Avatar in 3D but most unfortunately, all tickets were sold out for the afternoon show.  Grrrrrrr!



Left: movie poster; right: book cover

The only other watchable movie, for me, was Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief (title in the UK and Australia).  All I knew was that it's based on a book, The Lightning Thief, which is the first in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, written by Rick Riordan.  While waiting to enter the movie hall, I just loitered in the waiting area and looked at the various posters displayed.  I studied the above movie's poster and was pleasantly surprised to see that Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean and Uma Thurman would be acting in it.

All right, I'll just list out some of my favourite parts of the show:

1. The appearance of Pierce Brosnan as Mr. Brunner who's confined in a wheelchair.  Quite unlike other Brosnan's macho, manly and sophisticated acting roles.  Well, he did appear in a better form later in the movie.
   Uma Thurman as Medusa
2. The appearance of another famous star that I know: Uma Thurman.  She makes a grand entrance, looking ultra-cool in sunglasses and a 'turban' round her head.  Okay, it's not really a turban but I don't know what it's called.  Its main function is to conceal her head full of hissing snakes!  Whoever looks at her will turn into stone.  Forever.  Yup, she's Medusa.
3. The moment Lady Gaga's Poker Face starts playing.  It's when the three youngsters were enticed to consume the delicious but addictive lotus flower that'll make them forget their entire quest.  They were in Las Vegas, which makes it all the more befitting.
4. The ending where Percy's stepfather meets his 'match'.  This scene appears after some of the credits have rolled.

Of course, there were a lot of clichés in the movie.  First, it's about a teenage boy who performs poorly in school but later discovers that he is actually different from the others.  In this story, Percy finds out that he's a demigod or half god (how cool is that???) and that his father is Poseidon, god of the sea.  Therefore, he has special powers that can really help him in battle with the evil ones.

Next, the 'love' interest.  At the camp for special kids, Percy finds himself drawn to Annabeth, the daughter of Athena who's the goddess of civilisation, wisdom, strength, strategy, craft, justice and skill.  The good thing is that Annabeth is great in sword fighting and that she always aims to win, which means she's terribly competitive.  Plus, they don't kiss at the end of the show which was a relief.  I roll my eyes at kissing endings.  Besides, it's also an indication that there'll be sequels after this.  More lovey-dovey scenes to watch out then.

I had to smirk when Percy emerges triumphant in his first 'battle' with his campmates.  He looked so annoyingly smug.  He was initially defeated by Annabeth but found out that touching water could heal his wounds and give him strength to fight skillfully.  How appropriate.

Another cliché: the sidekick, Grover who makes a sacrifice.  Okay, Percy offered himself first but Grover insisted to stay on in the underworld.  Well, it was obvious that he would enjoy himself there with the lovely and flirtatious Persephone!

Despite all its flaws (it'd be amazing if there were none), the movie is definitely worth a watch.  Some laughs here and there, brief appearances by movie stars (Uma rocks!) and the exposure to Greek mythology!  I'm so gonna read the Percy Jackson books.