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Percy Jackson and the Movie of Empty Effects~ |
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I'm a fan of the Percy Jackson series, as one might deduce. I only recently ran across it, having grown curious about the series thanks to a preview for the movie. Impatient as I am, I read the series, and enjoyed it. It's no Harry Potter killer, but it had it's own charm. Add to this my long time love of folklore, particularly Greek Mythology, it was a good fit. I may not be a bit fan of first person writing, but the author new his mythology, and managed to adapt and expand it into a modern setting quite nicely.
I was excited for the movie, obviously, as I'm a rather visually oriented person, and seeing sequential images form a story has always been a favorite past time of mine. So, off I ran, a couple times, to see this film, with high expectations.
-_-
I'm not certain where to begin, but it should probably be to warn that my 'reviews' are often spoilertastic, so read at your own risk.
To begin... One of the major points of the story was the rather abandoned nature and feelings of the Demigods at Camp Half Blood. It's the driving force of the main villain, it's a defining element in the nature of the God's themselves. To sum this up as the Gods being "selfish jerks" just doesn't really seem to do justice to importance of this.
Lukes desire is to overthrow the Gods, because of his sense of being abandoned, he uses this to recruit other demigods. This was more or less morphed to a simple desire for control and power. Cheaper, harder to relate to, and difficult to redeem.
I could go on this for hours, but I think my point might be made.
Second, and personally most important point... WHERE THE HELL IS CLARISSE?! The perpetually growly, grumpy, dragonslaying daughter of Ares is my personal favorite. That brat Annabeth stole her highlight in the Capture the Flag game. Zappy Spear of Doom rules all! *clears throat*
Yeah, ok, obviously a bit of personal preference there. Clarisse was a fascinating character to me, one who I ran the gauntlet of hating to adoring most of all. She has her notoriously inherent temper, drive for glory, and lust for senseless violence. Yet, as the story progresses she does display a sense of strategy, timing and certainly skill. Add this and her romance with a son of Hermes, and friendship to a daughter of Aphrodite, and she comes across as having as much depth as anyone can expect in a series. Not a VITAL character, i suppose, in a movie.. but I really wanted to see her.
She stabbed a flipping Drakan in the EYE!
Third thing I disliked was the Gods. In the books, the author took time to modernize the look of the Gods. As a reflection of Western Society, the looks worked well for the characteristics of the deities in question. Even their thrones reflected their persona. Poseidon was an older gent, and wore hawaiian shirts, shorts, and sat in a giant anglers chair. Other gods followed suit accordingly. IT WAS NICE. Hephaestus was a gruffy old man, bearing appropriate deformity as per myth, wearing grease stained overalls. I was displeased to see even the gruffiest of guys replaced with a good looking black man.
Not that I have anything against them.. it just.. ugh.
My final, and likely biggest beef (outside of the Clarisse thing), was the portrayal of Hades, both the god and the realm.
I was annoyed, incredibly annoyed, to see the classic underworld of Greek lore replaced with a rather stereotypical view of Hell. A burning landscape goverened by a cruel, flaming demonic damned god. Persephone was portrayed as an unwilling prisoner, hungry for the.. ahem.. attentions of outside men...
Do not mistake this as a dislike of flaming fallen gods, but this is not a correct portrayal of Hades. It's likely he was confused with a fallen entity from another mythos *cough*.
I could go on about this, but I've run out of steam, and I'm not a mythology major. I know enough to realize how they butchered the portrayal of the underworld, and it was enough to make me leave.
As one critic termed the whole movie...
When the movie slows down to catch its breath, there's very little of the heart and soul -- and wry wit -- that make the Riordan books so beloved.
And there it is. I'm gonna go to bed and hopefully get over my disgust.
 Twilakam · Sat Feb 13, 2010 @ 10:57pm · 0 Comments |
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Percy Jackson and the Movie of Empty Effects~ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm a fan of the Percy Jackson series, as one might deduce. I only recently ran across it, having grown curious about the series thanks to a preview for the movie. Impatient as I am, I read the series, and enjoyed it. It's no Harry Potter killer, but it had it's own charm. Add to this my long time love of folklore, particularly Greek Mythology, it was a good fit. I may not be a bit fan of first person writing, but the author new his mythology, and managed to adapt and expand it into a modern setting quite nicely.
I was excited for the movie, obviously, as I'm a rather visually oriented person, and seeing sequential images form a story has always been a favorite past time of mine. So, off I ran, a couple times, to see this film, with high expectations.
-_-
I'm not certain where to begin, but it should probably be to warn that my 'reviews' are often spoilertastic, so read at your own risk.
To begin... One of the major points of the story was the rather abandoned nature and feelings of the Demigods at Camp Half Blood. It's the driving force of the main villain, it's a defining element in the nature of the God's themselves. To sum this up as the Gods being "selfish jerks" just doesn't really seem to do justice to importance of this.
Lukes desire is to overthrow the Gods, because of his sense of being abandoned, he uses this to recruit other demigods. This was more or less morphed to a simple desire for control and power. Cheaper, harder to relate to, and difficult to redeem.
I could go on this for hours, but I think my point might be made.
Second, and personally most important point... WHERE THE HELL IS CLARISSE?! The perpetually growly, grumpy, dragonslaying daughter of Ares is my personal favorite. That brat Annabeth stole her highlight in the Capture the Flag game. Zappy Spear of Doom rules all! *clears throat*
Yeah, ok, obviously a bit of personal preference there. Clarisse was a fascinating character to me, one who I ran the gauntlet of hating to adoring most of all. She has her notoriously inherent temper, drive for glory, and lust for senseless violence. Yet, as the story progresses she does display a sense of strategy, timing and certainly skill. Add this and her romance with a son of Hermes, and friendship to a daughter of Aphrodite, and she comes across as having as much depth as anyone can expect in a series. Not a VITAL character, i suppose, in a movie.. but I really wanted to see her.
She stabbed a flipping Drakan in the EYE!
Third thing I disliked was the Gods. In the books, the author took time to modernize the look of the Gods. As a reflection of Western Society, the looks worked well for the characteristics of the deities in question. Even their thrones reflected their persona. Poseidon was an older gent, and wore hawaiian shirts, shorts, and sat in a giant anglers chair. Other gods followed suit accordingly. IT WAS NICE. Hephaestus was a gruffy old man, bearing appropriate deformity as per myth, wearing grease stained overalls. I was displeased to see even the gruffiest of guys replaced with a good looking black man.
Not that I have anything against them.. it just.. ugh.
My final, and likely biggest beef (outside of the Clarisse thing), was the portrayal of Hades, both the god and the realm.
I was annoyed, incredibly annoyed, to see the classic underworld of Greek lore replaced with a rather stereotypical view of Hell. A burning landscape goverened by a cruel, flaming demonic damned god. Persephone was portrayed as an unwilling prisoner, hungry for the.. ahem.. attentions of outside men...
Do not mistake this as a dislike of flaming fallen gods, but this is not a correct portrayal of Hades. It's likely he was confused with a fallen entity from another mythos *cough*.
I could go on about this, but I've run out of steam, and I'm not a mythology major. I know enough to realize how they butchered the portrayal of the underworld, and it was enough to make me leave.
As one critic termed the whole movie...
When the movie slows down to catch its breath, there's very little of the heart and soul -- and wry wit -- that make the Riordan books so beloved.
And there it is. I'm gonna go to bed and hopefully get over my disgust.
Twilakam · Sat Feb 13, 2010 @ 10:49pm · 0 Comments |
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