Hercules (2014)

I was galvanized by this movie! I remember the trailer. I was eagerly licking my chops in anticipation of viewing it soon. Unfortunately, life gets in the way, and it is only now that I can report finally viewing it in its entirety. Regardless of the liberties taken with the Mythos of the Son of Zeus, I thoroughly enjoyed this version of the Hercules tale.The beginning was great and called to mind the paintings done by the great Frank Frazetta for the Conan and Tarzan covers. The visual appeal of the opening sequence is so exhilarating that afterwards you are ready for the holes being inevitably poked into the fabric of the Hercules legend. This is for the adults, who, unlike children, cannot take things at face value and must bring logic and 'facts' into the fun. Compared to the graphic novel, by Steve Moore, the look and the feel of the film is a decided improvement. When Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson makes his first appearance in the opening scene wearing a lion's head as a helmet, he looks just like the character I read about in a children's book when I was seven years old. Face it, in Hollywood, looks are everything. This explains the enduring appeal of Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman. The fact that she actually looked like the comic book character come to life at times towered over such trivialities as character and plot development. Here Dwayne Johnson embodies the character in his own way much as did the late great Steve Reeves. You believe he is the real Hercules no matter what is said about him and his adventures.I remember watching 'ZENA: THE WARRIOR PRINCESS' and reading later in TV GUIDE how it took half a dozen ladies of similar appearance to Lucy Lawless to create the Warrior Princess myth. Lucy did all the acting; especially in the tight closeups; but there was an alternate Lucy for the swimming scenes, a Lucy for the jousting and sword fighting scenes, even a Lucy for the bareback riding and crucifixion scenes. The point being it took a whole team of people to create the legend of 'ZENA: THE WARRIOR PRINCESS'! This is the point with this version of 'Hercules', I believe. Here we have a warrior of unusual strength who goes around with his own myth-making machine. The sundry details of his labors and adventures are dubious and moot. But the hyperbolic way in which he is 'presented' to his 'public' is Hollywood merchandising mocking itself with a knowing wink. This is a Hollywood Hercules before there even was a Hollywood; and as Kirk Douglas used to chide John Wayne, yes, it may be true that he did not really kill all those Indians, but still, he sure packs a hell of a wallop in a bar fight.Let me not mislead you. I'm not writing this to convince you there is something profound or philosophical going on here in this movie. Quite the contrary. What I do like about it is the light play between fact and public relations. We are told at the end of the story that this is the 'truth' about Hercules. But you get the feeling that even this is to be taken with a grain of salt, because somebody may be carefully parking their tongue in their cheek for popcorn and ticket sales.

I saw HERCULES! Now, this new sword and sandal film might as well be a sequel to Scorpion King because it's pretty much the exact same movie. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays Hercules in this movie and unlike a lot of other films, this version is more of a man than demi-god with the legend of his exploits far exceeding his reality. With his team of mercenaries, which includes Ian McShane, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, and Rufus Sewell, he travels the world in search of gold and glory. However, Hercules' true metal has yet to be tested as he fights against a new enemy which holds mysteries of his past. Now that's all I can tell you without giving anything away. This movie is trying really hard to recapture the magic of Gladiator and mix in a little bit of that mystic Troy flavor and it might have done that if it were handled better. First off, The Rock is not a very good actor...like at all. He's like Stallone, as long as he doesn't talk, a la Rocky & First Blood, he's great. This movie doesn't get it, and it ends up giving Johnson too many opportunities to put his foot in his mouth (shined up and turned sideways of course). The second thing is that the movie is rated PG-13 and I'm sorry but if you're going to try do this right, it's simply got to be an R-rated film. Without the brutality it comes off as like a tiny bit better version of Hercules the 1990s TV show which MAYBE they were going for but ehh... I highly doubt it. Overall I'd say this is a good Redbox movie but with so many other choices this summer, save your money. It's not bad, it's just passable. Put it on the shelf as better than Alexander but not quite as good as Troy and just BARELY under Scorpion King. Hercules gets a 2.5...out of 5.

Right, well given the background of the movie, being Hercules and all, and it starring Dwayne Johnson, then I must admit that I didn't have the highest of hopes or expectations to this 2014 version of the legendary Hercules.I did find myself very surprised throughout the course of this movie, because it turned out to be a very entertaining and enjoyable movie. And hats off to the writers for coming up with a more plausible and realistic approach to the tale of mighty Hercules. And also a hats off to Dwayne Johnson, because he really impressed with this movie, as he carried the role quite well.I am not going to go into details about the storyline, because I assume you already are more than familiar with tale and myth of Hercules. But this movie differs, because director Brett Ratner took a very hands-on and pragmatic approach to the story, keeping it quite real, though with a hint of fantasy.There was a good continuous flow to the storyline and the various events that took place along the way. There was a very visible red line throughout the entire movie, without any confusing detours or distracting sub-plots.The effects in the movie were quite good, but the fight scenes were particularly impressive. And there were lots and lots of fight scenes. And the CGI creatures in the movie looked realistic and quite nice, as did the rest of the CGI that was added to many scenes.One thing that did sit like a thorn in my side was when Hercules used the f-word. Yeah, he did that, which was very periodic inappropriate. He said "f-ing centaurs", and at that point I was fearing that the movie would take a turn for the worse. But luckily it was just a single slip.The cast in "Hercules" were doing good jobs, and they had some very good talents on the cast list. And these actors and actresses were portraying some richly detailed characters that were quite impressively brought to life on the screen. Dwayne Johnson carried the movie quite nicely, although it was somewhat of an acquired taste to see him with that set of hair and that beard. But also Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell and Aksel Hennie really brought something very distinct to the movie with their on-screen charisma and ways of portraying their respective characters."Hercules" is a very enjoyable and entertaining movie, especially if you enjoy the fantasy genre. Just keep in mind that this is not a full-blown fantasy movie. I was genuinely surprised and entertained by "Hercules" and I am rating it a very solid seven out of ten stars.

This is the Rock in a hero flic. Lots of bad guys, lots of different ways to bleed em out. Were you looking for serious drama? Did you expect some kind of lasting metaphysical enlightenment? See this work as pure entertainment, as it should be and is. There is that element of involving us us in who we want to see get sliced and diced. There are those great effects that make gore so gooey and delicious. The film has quality limited to it's content. Beyond that, there is nothing, but that doesn't make for a bad couple of hours if you like action period films. If there is anything to criticize specific to content, it is perhaps in the final shots we might see a poorly scripted, overplayed, and hastily wrapped film. "Get the dirty bastard!"?? Yikes. Sad last line for a legendary actor in a two dimensional action film. So, except for pissing on itself at the finale, a fun little trip to take. As always, it is with sincerity to say that it is so easy to review and critique what so many worked to achieve. Especially now with spell checkers, Google, and instant what else. Wow.