Movie: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
So far, 2010 has been a good year for movies (well, the cream of the crop, anyway). I just watched Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I was pleasantly surprised to find it actually hewed fairly close to the line of actual Greek mythology. So many movies with mythological themes that have come out over the last couple of decades haven't -- I am thinking in particular of Walt Disney's Hercules which, quite frankly, stunk on ice, especially when it came to the mythological roots of the story. Even Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus, bare as it was when it came to the complex, many-layered religious story cycles of the Greeks, was far better than Disney's Hercules, whose few good bits had to do with such things as a viciously nasty centaur (mythologically, that was right on the money), and whose treatment of Hades was unspeakable.
So I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. To my delight, in most respects its treatment of Greek mythology was accurate and beautifully done, much of it subtle and elegant. My only real disappointment in it might be seen as a quibble by most people: its use of the legends and mythology of Hades departed rather sharply at times from the mythology itself, representing Hades as being confined to Hades because He was "damned" by His brother Zeus, rather than because, as Greek mythology makes clear, after the Olympians triumphed over the Titans and took their place as the ruling Gods, Hades chose His kingdom and retired to it willingly. Hades (the place, the God's kingdom) was rich in mineral wealth and buried treasure, and an excellent place to establish as a home and a fort for one who knew the value of such places. And Hades rules outer space, the region beyond the sky, which is almost everything in the universe save this one little pale blue dot we live on. Zeus rules the sky and the region between it and the surface of the Earth, but Hades rules all beyond the sky and all of what's beneath the surface, physically, psychodynamically, geologically, and ecologically. Who wouldn't choose Hades' kingdom over Zeus's?
Hades also became one of the judges of the dead as well as ruler over the various places to which souls of the newly dead were assigned. These arenot the attributes of a fallen God Who has been damned and banished by other Gods. Hades, unlike our modern idea of Satan, the Devil, never was evil or ugly, just extremely powerful and more than a little strange. Unfortunately, this movie, like Disney's Hercules, made the error of equating Hades with the Devil. Not a good start to what might become a series with a number of sequels. But anyway.
I must say that in this movie, Hades' realm was rich and strange, a feast for the eye, though admittedly scary. In his own realm, Hades wasn't particularly ugly, either, though He was covetous of power -- something the Greeks would have found laughable, because, since Hades is the Lord of the Realm of the Dead, all things eventually come to Him and Persephone, which precludes Their coveting anything, power or otherwise, because Time has already dedicated it to them on the rolls of Eternity.
As for the marriage of Hades and Persephone, the presentation was likewise skewed, though to understand why takes a lot of reading between the historical, mythological, and psychodynamic lines. Persephone may actually have voluntarily eloped with Hades, the idea that she was "forced" to marry Hades a convenient cover for a fait accomplie by a nubile adolescent girl in love with her divine uncle and really needing to get away from the grabby hands of her overly amorous other uncle, the King of the Gods, Zeus.
Then there was the substitution of "hell-hounds" for mighty Cerberus, whom I rather like. That might have been done for technical reasons, and I must say that the three hell-hounds of the movie could be considered a visual metaphor for Cereberus, the Greatest Dog, the First Dog, man's loving, ever-faithful guardian and companion even in the dark, vasty chambers of Death. But that could be taken as a quibble, as well.
A few other liberties were taken with the Greek myths in the movie, too, but they were the sort of thing that could be explained as latter-day adaptations the Gods had to make to a world changing almost too fast to keep up with. Beyond that, the story was great, in most ways the movie did Greek mythology proud, and all in all, it was vastly entertaining.
Oh, and it had a very happy ending. If you like snakes, and seeing a bastard finally get his ultimate comeuppance, that is.
I give this one five thumbs up. If you haven't seen it yet, rent it, buy it, or borrow it, but see it right now.
So I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. To my delight, in most respects its treatment of Greek mythology was accurate and beautifully done, much of it subtle and elegant. My only real disappointment in it might be seen as a quibble by most people: its use of the legends and mythology of Hades departed rather sharply at times from the mythology itself, representing Hades as being confined to Hades because He was "damned" by His brother Zeus, rather than because, as Greek mythology makes clear, after the Olympians triumphed over the Titans and took their place as the ruling Gods, Hades chose His kingdom and retired to it willingly. Hades (the place, the God's kingdom) was rich in mineral wealth and buried treasure, and an excellent place to establish as a home and a fort for one who knew the value of such places. And Hades rules outer space, the region beyond the sky, which is almost everything in the universe save this one little pale blue dot we live on. Zeus rules the sky and the region between it and the surface of the Earth, but Hades rules all beyond the sky and all of what's beneath the surface, physically, psychodynamically, geologically, and ecologically. Who wouldn't choose Hades' kingdom over Zeus's?
Hades also became one of the judges of the dead as well as ruler over the various places to which souls of the newly dead were assigned. These arenot the attributes of a fallen God Who has been damned and banished by other Gods. Hades, unlike our modern idea of Satan, the Devil, never was evil or ugly, just extremely powerful and more than a little strange. Unfortunately, this movie, like Disney's Hercules, made the error of equating Hades with the Devil. Not a good start to what might become a series with a number of sequels. But anyway.
I must say that in this movie, Hades' realm was rich and strange, a feast for the eye, though admittedly scary. In his own realm, Hades wasn't particularly ugly, either, though He was covetous of power -- something the Greeks would have found laughable, because, since Hades is the Lord of the Realm of the Dead, all things eventually come to Him and Persephone, which precludes Their coveting anything, power or otherwise, because Time has already dedicated it to them on the rolls of Eternity.
As for the marriage of Hades and Persephone, the presentation was likewise skewed, though to understand why takes a lot of reading between the historical, mythological, and psychodynamic lines. Persephone may actually have voluntarily eloped with Hades, the idea that she was "forced" to marry Hades a convenient cover for a fait accomplie by a nubile adolescent girl in love with her divine uncle and really needing to get away from the grabby hands of her overly amorous other uncle, the King of the Gods, Zeus.
Then there was the substitution of "hell-hounds" for mighty Cerberus, whom I rather like. That might have been done for technical reasons, and I must say that the three hell-hounds of the movie could be considered a visual metaphor for Cereberus, the Greatest Dog, the First Dog, man's loving, ever-faithful guardian and companion even in the dark, vasty chambers of Death. But that could be taken as a quibble, as well.
A few other liberties were taken with the Greek myths in the movie, too, but they were the sort of thing that could be explained as latter-day adaptations the Gods had to make to a world changing almost too fast to keep up with. Beyond that, the story was great, in most ways the movie did Greek mythology proud, and all in all, it was vastly entertaining.
Oh, and it had a very happy ending. If you like snakes, and seeing a bastard finally get his ultimate comeuppance, that is.
I give this one five thumbs up. If you haven't seen it yet, rent it, buy it, or borrow it, but see it right now.