Hercules (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) the legendary strongman, warrior and demi-god has completed his trials and is free to do as he pleases.
Accepting one more mercenary job to pad their retirement fund, Herc and his small band of loyal fighters are chosen to rescue a kingdom from marauding centaurs. But not all is as it seems in ancient Greece and by the time Hercules has found his way through to doing the right thing, he will have become a true hero to the people and earned his legendary status.
We say, “It’s comic book Hercules on the big screen.”
TAYLOR: This film surprised me. I was expecting a serious tone, epic and ancient melodrama, perhaps along the lines of Gladiator or the recently rebooted Clash of the Titans franchise. Instead, what I saw was 300 for kids.
This really felt like a restricted movie that was toned down in editing. Every time you were about to see gruesome violence or sexy skin exposure, they cut away. There’s still plenty of violence and a bit of sensuality, but it’s been made PG-13 and rightfully so. After all, this is a eye-rolling, self-deprecating, smart ass of a Hercules.
HOWE: I agree, there is probably about as much violence in this as say Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit or The Avengers to some extent. The storyline coupled along with some really good battle scenes had me entertained but there was one moment about half way through that changed all that. Why did he have to drop the F-bomb? There was no need for it; nothing in the movie warranted it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude in any way but certain films need certain dialogue and this didn’t need to be in there. It was nice to see a film that made good use of 3D effects. Although some of the special effects at the end of the film seemed a little ropey. I have seen better effects on regular TV shows, but I can let little things like that slide if the film keeps me entertained.
TAYLOR: I too enjoyed the effective use of 3D. It was fun to see swords sticking in my face and arrows flying at me. The film itself, although light and disposable, did entertain me and didn’t annoy me, too much.
I also agree that the swearing tacked on was meant to be a comical moment. It just came across as stupid. All in all though, Hercules is an acceptable sword and sandal movie.
– Taylor gives Hercules 2.5 missing goat boys out of 5.
– Howe gives it 2.5 battle speeches that we have heard numerous times before out of 5.
Brian Taylor and Peter Howe are film reviewers based in Vernon, B.C.
