You may not recognise the name, but director Chris Columbus has reasons to be cheerful: “I’m very happy with the film, very happy with the visual effects, and very happy to say it’s nothing like Harry Potter!”. Coming from the man behind the Goonies, Gremlins, and most importantly the first three Potter films, these statements ring extra heavy. The film in question is Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and the film’s proximity to the ever present Potter franchise is a clear cause for concern.
Following a young social outcast, living in a hellish domestic environment, our hero discovers he’s of significant ancestry, and destined to great things in an alternate society of magic and make-belief. You’d be forgiven for mistaking that for the synopsis to Philosopher’s Stone, but for all its initial similarities The Lightning Thief sets off in a bolder direction by leaving Potter’s wands and wizards for the infinitely more awesome Pantheon of Greek mythology.
Based on the best-selling books by Rick Riordan, Percy is a hyperactive, dyslexic school kid stuggling to find his way in the world. While on a school trip to the museum, Percy’s substitute maths teacher turns into a supernatural winged fury and attacks him. His best friend Grover and his teacher Mr Brunner step in at the last minute, revealing their true forms as a satyr and a centaur respectively, leaping to Percy’s help. Which is to say that one turns into a half goat, and the other into a half horse.
Ex-Bond, and recent Abba warbler Pierce Brosnan took on the unenviable role as the teacher with a horse’s arse. High-end visual effects were key to bringing this spectacle to the big screen, which is not to say that Brosnan didn’t find it a challenge.
“Come the reality of the day I had to get onto fluorescent green painted stilts and put on the blue tights. You have to be a bold man to do this, especially when you’re on set amongst 200 young people who are very buffed and eager to strut their stuff!”
Newcomer Logan Lerman is cast in the role of the plucky but bewildered Percy, struggling to come to terms with the fact that his long-gone father is the Greek god Poseidon, played by Kevin McKidd of Trainspotting and Rome fame. Being the demigod son of the Lord of the Seas makes him a prime target for those with a grudge to bear against Poseidon. Add to this a shady conspiracy to steal Zeus’ lightning, and the burden of blame for the crime is what rudely awakens Percy to the mythological world around him. His biggest foe is Hades, witheringly played by Steve Coogan in the role of aging rock god-cum-Lord of the Underworld. He kidnaps Percy’s mortal mother and drags her to the afterlife, promising to release her only in exchange for the lightning.
His refuge in the fantastical Camp Half-Blood is short-lived, and Percy is eager to find the lightning to help bring his mother back to the mortal realm. On his journey he’s accompanied by his satyr and guardian Grover, as well as by the headstrong Annabeth, daughter of the powerfully goddess Athena. The young trio’s adventure sees them confront a phalanx of Hollywood stars filling the roles of the Gods and the Gorgons. Alongside Coogan and McKidd, the weighty role of Zeus is played by Sheffield’s own Sean Bean, giving a heavy British representation to the lords of the Greek Pantheon. Each actor brought their own little regional twist to their roles, with McKidd reflecting that “I suppose I have that Scottish/Celtic fieriness – Poseidon might be aquatic but he’s quite fiery in the film.” English Coogan was, perhaps unsurprisingly, self-deprecating about his turn in the film noting that “I played Hades as a neurotic, self-obsessed, narcissistic character. If that makes me British, so be it!”
Along the way we get Rosario Dawson popping up as the sultry Persephone, living with Hades in an underworld beneath, where else but Hollywood, and Uma Thurman gives a brilliant turn as the snake-haired and pertifying Medusa, stuck in a decaying garden centre in southern state USA. The stars flash by in a flurry of parts, interspliced with some impressive digital monsters which harass Percy and his crew every step of the way.
Columbus came to The Lightning Thief with the full knowledge of how precarious working in full CGI environments could be, and his experiences with the Potter films were instrumental to this.
“The first film was a little creaky but as we went to picture number two and picture number three, it got better. I learned a lot. There was a certain method in being a little obsessive with the visual effect, to the point they became seamless with the actor’s performances.”
The film lives up to his ambitions, with the impressive melding of man and monster working to great effect. While the overexcited acting of the young cast clashes with the hammy character performances from the veterans, the thick and fast nature of the action keeps the film gliding along. A light-hearted sense of humour, and sly references to Greek mythology’s darkest chapter give the film a nuance lacking in the early Potter films.
For all his protestations at the parallels viewers will draw from The Lightning Thief’s closeness to the Potter series, the film benefits from being free of the baggage of expectation bestowed on the bespectacled one. The story’s basis on the brilliance of Greek myth gives the film a solid foundation, and for it’s unsure moments, Percy Jackson’s filmic debut remains more sure-footed than Potter’s first foray onto the big screen. Hopefully the start of what could be a very promising franchise.