Hercules (Cinema Screening)

(Spoilers)

So here we have the second Hercules film of 2014, following Kellan Lutz’s portrayal of the character in The Legend of Hercules, this time we see Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson take on the role. The previous film did not impress so can this effort directed by Brett Ratner fare any better?

If I am honest I wasn’t expecting much at all from this film, the trailers had done little to inspire me but this was sort of a blessing in disguise. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this film, it was easily better than The Legend of Hercules despite the fact that I thought Lutz looked more like Hercules. The trailers featured a lot of clips of Hercules facing off against different creatures, there was a lot of these clips and I worried that Ratner was trying to cram too much into the film. I had no need to worry as this material was dealt with well and instead of having a sequence for each creature it was more of a montage/flashback sequence that featured, capturing all of them at once which worked. This film took a very different approach to the character of Hercules than The Legend of Hercules. Here the film makers tried to distance him from his half god status and built different plot points around his character, this was an interesting change and offered another interesting element for viewers to engage with.

As well as The Rock, Hercules had some well known names attached to it such as Ian McShane, John Hurt and Rufus Sewell. These actors presence helped the movie, for me, especially John Hurt as he always adds class to the proceedings. Hercules was full of twists and turns, some being more predictable than others but in the end we get a really well put together finale which really did satisfy. The Rock impressed me as Hercules, he performed well and was convincing for the most part.  Although this film is nothing groundbreaking it would be a great addition to anyone’s Saturday night and most should be able to enjoy it. It certainly wins the fight between the Hercules films this year and it has entertained me a considerable amount more than other films I expected to really enjoy this year.

BIGGEST FLAW – Predictable in parts

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT – The different slant that the film took on Hercules character

Rating – 8/10