Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Note: This review contains spoilers for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

Whether or not you’re familiar with middle grade fiction, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Percy Jackson & the Olympians, a novel series by Rick Riordan about a young demigod named Percy Jackson. The series proved popular enough that a film based on the first book, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (The Lightning Thief), was released in 2010. The film, directed by Chris Columbus, did well at the box office, but was criticized, even by the author, for the way it deviated from the source material. It was actually around when the film released that I first became aware of Percy Jackson, although I didn’t do anything with that knowledge at the time because both the Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events series had reached their end around that time and I thought I had outgrown middle grade fiction. As an adult, however, when I rediscovered the joy of reading middle grade fiction, I finally dipped my toe into Percy Jackson and read the first book in time for the Disney+ adaptation, which I enjoyed. Afterwards, I decided to try watching the film just to see how badly it had apparently handled the same material. By the end, I realized that my past self was right in not watching it.

Zeus (Sean Bean), the ruler of the Greek pantheon, accuses his brother Poseidon’s (Kevin McKidd) demigod son, Percy Jackson, of stealing his master lightning bolt. Although Poseidon doubts his brother, he is told that unless Percy returns the master bolt to Mount Olympus before the Summer Solstice in two weeks’ time, a war will erupt between all the gods. Shortly after, a 16-year-old Percy (Logan Lerman), who struggles with dyslexia and ADHD, is attacked by a Fury during a school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This starts a chain reaction of events that lead him to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp that trains demigods, with the aid of his best friend Grover Underwood (Brandon T. Jackson), who is actually a satyr, but at the loss of his mother Sally (Catherine Keener) at the hands of a minotaur. After Percy learns that he’s the son of Poseidon, he comes into his unique abilities and learns of his role in stopping the oncoming war.

With Grover (Brandon T. Jackson, right) at his side,
Percy's (Logan Lerman, left) life changes forever.

Reviewing an adaptation that deviates so significantly from the original work is a little challenging, as your exact opinion on it may depend on your familiarity with the source material, in this case the first Percy Jackson book. As such, I’ll look at it on two fronts.

As far as adaptations go, The Lightning Thief is pretty bad, mainly due to how so many changes are made that it barely resembles the original story. Opening with a meeting between Zeus and Poseidon may have been a way to help fit the plot of the book within two hours, but this opening changes the tone of the story and de-emphasizes the sense of discovery the audience would normally feel alongside Percy. While the first act at least somewhat follows what happened in the book, the cracks start showing once they reach Camp Half-Blood, as it gets increasingly obvious from there that the script made other changes in the name of efficiency. Just to name a few, Percy learns almost immediately that he’s the son of Poseidon, anything even remotely related to Ares is cut and the main trio of Percy, Annabeth Chase (Alexandra Daddario) and Grover don’t go to the St. Louis Arch or meet certain mythological figures. While, again, these changes get the film’s runtime slightly under two hours, it results in a rather breakneck pace that feels like the script is speedrunning the book. While the film does still hit many of the same major story beats from the outset, the rushed pacing means that hardly anything feels earned.

The script noticeably takes its own creative liberties with whatever material did make it in. An updated setting firmly places the film within the late 2000s, particularly through the technology of the time and certain cultural references, which differs from the more timeless quality of the book. The scenes at Camp Half-Blood are condensed, shortening Percy’s demigod training to the capture the flag game. Due to the relative ease at which the main trio travel across the country, not to mention the presence of a map telling them exactly where to go, their quest feels less like an adventure and more like a road trip. Without going too much into spoilers, their encounter with Medusa is relatively more action-packed and, afterwards, they travel to a location that wasn’t in the original book, although I’ve learned through research that their second stop is a set piece from a later book. The final battle is also not only in a different location, but is more action-packed.

The quest feels more like a road trip;
L-R: Percy, Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), Grover

Even the characters undergo major changes to suit the altered story and more young adult tone. Percy comes off as more of a brooding teenager and has no trouble controlling his demigod powers. Annabeth is written like a more obvious love interest for Percy and her personality is an odd composite of the book version of Annabeth and Clarise, a character that got cut along with her father Ares. Of the main trio, Grover has undergone the most radical change, as the film version is oddly horny and comes off as more of a confident ladies’ man, even though some aspects of his original characterization still remain. With the change in the opening, Poseidon is more obviously guiding Percy, even speaking to him, rather than play with the ambiguity of whether or not he’s only acknowledging his son because he needs him. Of the various mythological figures that appear, Hades’ personality is almost a complete 180 from the book, replacing his jerkish, but reasonable characterization with a generic evil one, complete with a desire to obtain the master bolt for his own nefarious purposes.

While the book is also pretty accurate in its portrayal of Greek mythology while putting its own urban fantasy spin on it, the film plays fast and loose with it at times, mostly around Persephone. In this version, the main trio are supposed to obtain three of Persephone’s pearls on their way to the underworld so that they can escape, but the idea that she had pearls to begin with has no basis in Greek mythology. Additionally, although the trio could escape the underworld with the aid of special pearls, a water nymph provided them in the original story. When they do reach the underworld in the film, the trio encounter Persephone, who should actually be in Olympus at the time according the original myths. On top of that, Persephone is faithful to Hades in the myths, in spite of the circumstances of how they got together, but here in the film, she has no qualms about cheating on him, even hitting on Grover, who has no issue with the arrangement.

Although The Lightning Thief is a bad adaptation, I do have to give credit where it’s due, as there are moments where it’s accurate to the source, even if it appears accidental. Grover gives Percy an accurate explanation of Percy’s ADHD and Dyslexia, that the ADHD made him ready for battle and that the Dyslexia wired his brain for reading ancient Greek, and there is actually an attack on the camp before Percy sets off on his quest, although it was a hellhound in the book and not Hades like in the film. While the Lotus Casino scene still takes some liberties, like emphasizing Grover’s hornier personality, it’s the most faithful scene in the film and also the one thing more accurate than the Disney+ series. There’s also one very minor detail kept from the book where Percy’s stepfather, Gabe Ugliano (Joe Pantoliano), is depicted playing poker with other guys right before Percy leaves for Camp Half-Blood.

The Lotus Casino scene is actually pretty accurate.

While I did just spend a few paragraphs calling The Lightning Thief a bad adaptation, I would also say that if you completely divorce it from the original context, it’s just okay. The film doesn’t drag, the acting is solid, including from the bigger name actors and Logan Lerman, and the special effects hold up fine for the most part. Plus, Christophe Beck’s score does a decent job setting and complementing the mood of each scene. These qualities still don’t save the film, but it did at least have some solid construction.

If you’re already a fan of Percy Jackson & the Olympians, you’re better off watching the Disney+ adaptation instead unless you have some morbid curiosity. If you aren’t already a fan, there’s no harm in giving The Lightning Thief a try, though I would still encourage reading the original book or watching the Disney+ series regardless of how you feel afterwards.