Watching Movies

This time, it's two movies filled with fantasy and myth. Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief was the first movie. The second is The Wolfman.

Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief was at the top of my list after I saw the trailer. Looks cool. I did a little digging around and found out a lot of info. It turns out Percy Jackson is a book. A series of books to be exact.

So this would be another entry in the world of fantasy movies that are aimed at the younger crowds such as Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Spiderwick, The Golden Compass and Twilight.

The difference between Percy Jackson and the rest of the movies is that Percy Jackson is more about the Greek Gods and myths. This already piqued my interest, mostly because I play Magic: The Gathering, or used to anyway and there were plenty of fantasy Greek creatures in play. Plus, I am a sucker for the fantasy stuff anyway.

So there story goes like this... Percy Jackson, a Demi-God (offspring of a God and mortal human), has been accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt. Percy has no idea of this and of his heritage. He was not aware of his mother's sacrifices to keep him safe and that his best friend is actually his protector.

It was until a Fury attacked him that all was revealed to him. Oh, wait, all was revealed to him after the minotaur attack.

See, Percy is the son of Poseidon, the God of the Sea, and Zeus' and Hades' brother. However, the power struggle in Olympia is quite bad that the Gods are almost always at each other's throats. Zeus declares Percy as the thief and will war with his brothers unless the bolt's returned to him.

Hades kidnaps Percy's mother in a bid to take the bolt for himself. So Percy, along with Grover, his satyr/protector and Annabeth, Demi-God daughter of Athena, travels across the country in search of the pearls that would allow them safe passage out of the underworld, along the way, encountering fascinating creatures such as Medusa (Uma Thurman, channeling Poison Ivy) and Hydras.

Percy has a tall order. He has to save the world from ending via the War of the Gods. He has to save his mother from the clutches of Hades in the Underworld. He also has to prove his innocence and return the bolt.

This movie has the right amount of action, drama, comedy, suspense and thrill to make it one smooth movie-going experience. Especially for me. Every time a creature comes up on the screen, I'd say its name first, then Annabeth would say it. :)

Guess Part II isn't far away eh? This is a cool poster! :)

Next is The Wolfman... I must admit I did not really wanna catch this movie at first. But then again, Emily Blunt's in it. I loved her in The Devil Wears Prada. :)

This movie started out slow, despite the opening scene... or maybe I was just too tired from the week's activities... but it slowly starts to pick up the pace and before you know it, you're feeling the suspense, the thrill and the scare...

The story goes like this... Benicio Del Toro's brother got killed in the opening scene and Emily Blunt wrote to him to give him the news. He returns to the home town to investigate but got attacked by the creature. Soon after, he himself started to transform into the werewolf.

I'm gonna say this... Hollywood casting sometimes give away the plot... case in point: Hancock. The leading actor was Will Smith, supporting was Jason Bateman. But why is Jason Bateman's wife played by Charlize Theron. Her star power was bigger than Bateman. Half way through the movie, you get to know the reason why. Her small part is actually bigger. If they had cast an unknown actress or some other lesser actress, then we, or rather I, would probably be surprised by the twist or red herring.

In this case, it was Sir Anthony Hopkins. His clout is bigger than all of the actors combined. Enough said.

All in all, an enjoyable entry in the fantasy genre and a good werewolf movie to boot.