Director: Brett Ratner
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Joseph Fiennes, Rufus Sewell
Running Time: 98minutes
Certification:12A
Synopsis: Both man and myth, Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) leads a band of mercenaries to help end a bloody civil war in the land of Thrace and return the rightful king to his throne. A tormented soul from birth, Hercules has the strength of a God and a reputation that precedes him, but is his legend everything it appears?
Let’s be honest, Hollywood’s recent attempts to revive the glorious sword & sandal epics of yesteryear have been uninspired, style over substance, CG puff pieces that (bar a few exceptions) have failed to impress. We’ve had far more stinkers than stonkers and THN is sad to say that HERCULES does nothing to boost the numbers in the latter’s favour. HERCULES takes the best elements of films like BEOWULF and 300 and the very worst of Sam Worthington’s abysmal TITAN films, mixes them all together and slaps it on the screen with a listless grunt.
The film’s strongest card is a question posed from the very first scene; Is Hercules the demi-god hero that the legends have made out? This core theme drives HERCULES and is a rather clever hook that will keep you guessing right up until the final scene, however the emotive clout of ‘can a man live up to his own legend?’ is somewhat lost due to the film’s tonal identity crisis. As the central theme and a mystery concerning Hercules’ past stabs at ‘proper’ drama, wise-cracking dialogue bantered around by a seemingly super-human team lends a more comic book feel, (owing to the film’s development from Steve Moore’s graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars) meaning we’re never quite sure how seriously to take it.
But let’s not be too critical HERCULES is all about one rock shaped thing, Dwayne Johnson. Putting aside THN’s mega-biased man love, Johnson is, in all ways, pretty strong. The man is a mountain and it’s easy to believe he can batter armies single handedly and though the film’s dramatic intentions are muddled, Johnson does a good job of playing the tormented hero even if his every utterance is meaningless dialogue dripping with testosterone. Ian McShane shines as the ass-kicking soothsayer of the group whose continuous quips about his impending death build towards the film’s strongest gag. As for the rest of the unfortunate supporting cast, they do their best with a basic and expositional script, going through the motions of characters we’ve seen all too many times before. No-one fairs particularly well, not least of all as you won’t remember a single one of their names (seriously we bet you wont).
Rather surprising considering Johnsons’ wrestling pedigree HERCULES is missing another vital ingredient, top notch action. Perhaps it’s the 12A rating or the 98minute duration that whilst we do see Hercules body slam a few guys here and clobber a few more there the film lacks impact or a really intense set piece to get us on board and ends just as the climactic battle gets our juices going. Not only this but it turns out that, much to the disappointment of mythical monster fans, ALL the beasties flaunted in the trailer are relegated to minuscule segments that are hyperbolic stories or dream sequences. Yawn!
It’s little wonder that HERCULES falls short considering Director Brett Ratner’s questionable track record (X-MEN:LAST STAND anyone?). Ultimately falling foul to poor scripting and muddled intentions that make it feel like a high budget pantomime. What we really wanted to see here was a no holds barred action epic with Dwayne Johnson off the leash as a bludgeoning barbarian. Fun at times but pedestrian action and a predictable narrative destines HERCULES for a bargain bin near you.
[usr=2] HERCULES is released Friday 25th July
