By: Robert Murphy
I know that many of you are already looking at the title for this article and wondering just why I even bothered with the latest attempt for Hollywood to tell the story of an ancient legend like Hercules. Well it certainly wasn't because I love the Rock, no not at all. Whatever the case I took a crack at Hercules to see if I made the right decision on trusting an already questionable movie.
The story spends most of it's time making you question whether the movie you're seeing is truly about the demigod Hercules, son of Zues and a living legend or was he just a man of great skill who had just as skilled warriors fighting beside him in his legendary battles. From the way Hercules (Dwayne "quite literally a rock" Johnson) stands though you can see why most people would question the claim to his being a God on Earth. But you really need to pick one way or the other to go in your storytelling because through most of the movie you do realize that everything is just bluster being said about him but at the end of the movie you see that completely flipped on it's head and you're left with a big what the @#!$ expression on your face. It's a split personality issue that just doesn't work, I know what the movie was going for but it didn't pan out in the end.
Hercule's mercenary partners feature some welcomed additions to the cast who really make me question my overall feeling behind the movie itself. Autolycus (Rufus Sewell) plays Hercules oldest friend and partner from when the two were orphan children on the streets trying to survive. His sarcastic outlook and cool temperament works well with Johnson's Hercules as he never seems to change his facial expression and baritone speech patterns. On the other end of things we meet the groups oracle character, Amphiaraus (Ian McShane) who brings a level of humor that I didn't expect to see. Amphiaraus spends parts of the movie talking about his predicted death soon to come and his readiness to accept it leads to some hilarious scenarios, one leaves him standing on a battlefield arms wide open with hundreds of fire arrows surrounding him. The rest of the group doesn't leave much lasting appeal, we have the standard Amazon warrior hotty Atalanta (Ingrid Berdal), a crazy spartan Tydeus (Aksel Hennie) and the scrawny nephew to Hercules, Iolaus (Reece Ritchie).
The group travels all across Greece, they take jobs wherever they can and deal with the scum that plague the land for the Lords of the area and a hefty sum of gold to go along with it of course. This later glimpses into Hercules's past life as a warrior for King Eurystheus (Joseph Fiennes) and his 12 trials, which further prove to confuse you on whether Hercules is a God or not. The groups latest attempt for riches leads them to the land ruled by a man named Cotys (John Hurt) who is fighting an un-winnable war and needs the help of Hercules to save his land. The battles further try to add a bit more mystical touches to the story with the warriors of the land talking about centaurs and men who have become bewitched by magic spells but these also become debunked later on and you know at a certain point you just want to yell out "cut the crap already" because it gets to be ridiculous after awhile.
In conclusion, I much prefer this Hercules over The Legend of Hercules that came out a few months prior and was quickly forgotten by most. The movie would have been a more enjoyable experience if it decided to make up it's mind on whether or not it was going to be a mystical storytelling or not. There were some great names that I enjoyed seeing on screen, The Rock is a hit or miss at times but Ian McShane and his antics as a oracle waiting for his predicted end was spot on along with Rufus Sewell and John Hurt as the man with large aspirations in mind. It is a bit of a toss up in my mind on how to feel about Hercules, if a few things were done differently it could have been a more appealing movie but what we're left with is something in the middle.
The story spends most of it's time making you question whether the movie you're seeing is truly about the demigod Hercules, son of Zues and a living legend or was he just a man of great skill who had just as skilled warriors fighting beside him in his legendary battles. From the way Hercules (Dwayne "quite literally a rock" Johnson) stands though you can see why most people would question the claim to his being a God on Earth. But you really need to pick one way or the other to go in your storytelling because through most of the movie you do realize that everything is just bluster being said about him but at the end of the movie you see that completely flipped on it's head and you're left with a big what the @#!$ expression on your face. It's a split personality issue that just doesn't work, I know what the movie was going for but it didn't pan out in the end.
The group travels all across Greece, they take jobs wherever they can and deal with the scum that plague the land for the Lords of the area and a hefty sum of gold to go along with it of course. This later glimpses into Hercules's past life as a warrior for King Eurystheus (Joseph Fiennes) and his 12 trials, which further prove to confuse you on whether Hercules is a God or not. The groups latest attempt for riches leads them to the land ruled by a man named Cotys (John Hurt) who is fighting an un-winnable war and needs the help of Hercules to save his land. The battles further try to add a bit more mystical touches to the story with the warriors of the land talking about centaurs and men who have become bewitched by magic spells but these also become debunked later on and you know at a certain point you just want to yell out "cut the crap already" because it gets to be ridiculous after awhile.
In conclusion, I much prefer this Hercules over The Legend of Hercules that came out a few months prior and was quickly forgotten by most. The movie would have been a more enjoyable experience if it decided to make up it's mind on whether or not it was going to be a mystical storytelling or not. There were some great names that I enjoyed seeing on screen, The Rock is a hit or miss at times but Ian McShane and his antics as a oracle waiting for his predicted end was spot on along with Rufus Sewell and John Hurt as the man with large aspirations in mind. It is a bit of a toss up in my mind on how to feel about Hercules, if a few things were done differently it could have been a more appealing movie but what we're left with is something in the middle.
Good:
- Some very solid action scenes as well as the unexpected comedy
- A stellar cast of characters such as John Hurt, Ian McShane and The Rock
Bad:
- The movie needed to make up it's mind on whether it was based in reality or fiction
- Not all of Hercules's mercenary were well developed and only show their worth in the action scenes
Scully Rating: 5.0 out of 10
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