There have been many takes on the story of Hercules in book and film, but this year we have had 2 different takes; The Legend of Hercules and this one. "Which one was better?" is the question but this review will provide the answer in satisfying reasons why Hercules triumphs better.
Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a The Rock from the WWE) has played a fair amount of action heroes in his career in film, but seeing him portray the mythological half-man/half-god hero was no surprise since he was Mathayus in the 2002 action flick The Scorpion King (seeing it now makes the film look so dated and cheesy) but seeing him now in another similar role has improved him over the years and overthrows TSK. His body though is pretty much bulked up for the role, undergoing a massive training routine at the gym (you would see in his Instagram/ Facebook posts) and the final result does truly represent Hercules's apperance as told in the mythological fables. The supporting cast includes the wonderful talents of Ian McShane (Deadwood), John Hurt (Hellboy and V For Vendetta), Aksel Hennie (Danish action-thriller Headhunters and making his debut in American film), Joesph Fiennes (American Horror Story: Asylum), Ingrid Boslo Berdal (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Rufus Sewell (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter). They all get a decent amount of screen time and provide the story with some great performances, none of them go over-the-top (besides the action on screen) but it looks as though they had fun during the filming production.
Speaking of production, the production of this adaptation is truly close on terms of detail and realism and the cinematography of it plays a big role. The direction of Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) is pretty much better than expected, he does give an eye for detail on action, character, story and even set pieces. The locations used in the film are much like the impact that Game of Thrones uses on audiences, they make us want to see the real beauty of it through our own eyes and again cinematography helps this. Storyline itself is well written and composed by the writing talents of Ryan J. Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos, but it loosely follows the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars by the late Steve Moore but the fault is that the plot is short (for an 98 minute film) and it could have possibly gone longer by adding some more character development, action scenes or even a deeper back story to the hero.
The action sequences themselves are very entertaining and come up frequently when needed, so there's no sight of stopping to keep the audience glued to the screen. There's plenty of swords, shields, chariots, sandals, fire, arrows, sharp spears and CGI assistance to accompany the action, but another fault with it that it lacks the bloody imagery (as violence in Mythology was pretty brutal at times) but I think they aimed the film at a younger audience to keep box-office sales up. Maybe in the Blu Ray release we could get an extended cut featuring more scenes and shots of the action, but I still find it entertaining.
Overall, it's probably the best take on the Mythology muscular hero in sometime and shines a light on the character that can be told right. Unlike the dreadful The Legend of Hercules (with featured a wooden acting hero, too much CGI imagery and a plot that's all over the place), Bret Ratner's Hercules is a definite popcorn action flick that ticks the right boxes for how Hercules should be seen to modern-day audiences. Fingers crossed if a sequel will come in the future.
Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a The Rock from the WWE) has played a fair amount of action heroes in his career in film, but seeing him portray the mythological half-man/half-god hero was no surprise since he was Mathayus in the 2002 action flick The Scorpion King (seeing it now makes the film look so dated and cheesy) but seeing him now in another similar role has improved him over the years and overthrows TSK. His body though is pretty much bulked up for the role, undergoing a massive training routine at the gym (you would see in his Instagram/ Facebook posts) and the final result does truly represent Hercules's apperance as told in the mythological fables. The supporting cast includes the wonderful talents of Ian McShane (Deadwood), John Hurt (Hellboy and V For Vendetta), Aksel Hennie (Danish action-thriller Headhunters and making his debut in American film), Joesph Fiennes (American Horror Story: Asylum), Ingrid Boslo Berdal (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Rufus Sewell (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter). They all get a decent amount of screen time and provide the story with some great performances, none of them go over-the-top (besides the action on screen) but it looks as though they had fun during the filming production.
Speaking of production, the production of this adaptation is truly close on terms of detail and realism and the cinematography of it plays a big role. The direction of Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) is pretty much better than expected, he does give an eye for detail on action, character, story and even set pieces. The locations used in the film are much like the impact that Game of Thrones uses on audiences, they make us want to see the real beauty of it through our own eyes and again cinematography helps this. Storyline itself is well written and composed by the writing talents of Ryan J. Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos, but it loosely follows the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars by the late Steve Moore but the fault is that the plot is short (for an 98 minute film) and it could have possibly gone longer by adding some more character development, action scenes or even a deeper back story to the hero.
The action sequences themselves are very entertaining and come up frequently when needed, so there's no sight of stopping to keep the audience glued to the screen. There's plenty of swords, shields, chariots, sandals, fire, arrows, sharp spears and CGI assistance to accompany the action, but another fault with it that it lacks the bloody imagery (as violence in Mythology was pretty brutal at times) but I think they aimed the film at a younger audience to keep box-office sales up. Maybe in the Blu Ray release we could get an extended cut featuring more scenes and shots of the action, but I still find it entertaining.
Overall, it's probably the best take on the Mythology muscular hero in sometime and shines a light on the character that can be told right. Unlike the dreadful The Legend of Hercules (with featured a wooden acting hero, too much CGI imagery and a plot that's all over the place), Bret Ratner's Hercules is a definite popcorn action flick that ticks the right boxes for how Hercules should be seen to modern-day audiences. Fingers crossed if a sequel will come in the future.
The film has been classified M for the following;
Violence, blood and infrequent coarse language
Violence, blood and infrequent coarse language