For some reason, Hollywood thinks the world needs two movies based on the Greek hero Hercules, with two movies about the mythical demi-god hitting the big screen this year. While all eyes are on a lion pelt Dwayne Johnson swinging a sword (Hercules, hitting cinemas in the Summer), this effort, with Twilight's Kellan Lutz in the title role (which will key you to the audience the movie is looking for), sneaks its way into cinemas. Now, we get this kind of 'battle' every year, two movies with a very similar plot or concept duking it out at the box office. But Johnson and director Brett Ratner can rest easy, because with The Legend of Hercules been this dull and generally awful, its going to be a pretty one sided fight.
What bugs me the most about The Legend of Hercules is, that with the rich source material at director Renny Harlin's (responsible for dumb but fun acton movies like Deep Blue Sea, Cliffhanger and Die Hard 2) disposal, much of it is thrown out in favour of cribbing from other sword and sandal movies. It feels that this was a script floating around, with the name and vague references to the greek legend tacked on to play on audiences familiarity with the mythology, or the name at the very least. The plot, which sees Hercules sold exiled and sold into slavery, only to be become the figurehead of a rebellion against a tyrant king, is ripped kicking and screaming from Gladiator, and is not helped by atrociously dull and wooden acting. The cast is of a B-level caliber, with the likes of Scott Adkins (who is a fantastic martial artist, last seen in The Expendables 2, and is so much better than this), Liam McIntyre, and Roxanne McKee, and they do try, but a bad script is a bad script, and there is only so much you can do with it. Not content with taking the plot of Gladiator, The Legend of Hercules takes visual cues from 300 and Spartacus: Blood and Sand, overdosing us on slow motion and bad CGI. The action sequences, which should inject a little fun into proceedings, only serve to hammer home how cheap this is, and can be a slog to get through, littered with cringe worthy moments.
This is clearly aimed at pre-teens, and maybe with that demographic it will find some traction, but for everyone else? Avoid! Avoid! Avoid!
What bugs me the most about The Legend of Hercules is, that with the rich source material at director Renny Harlin's (responsible for dumb but fun acton movies like Deep Blue Sea, Cliffhanger and Die Hard 2) disposal, much of it is thrown out in favour of cribbing from other sword and sandal movies. It feels that this was a script floating around, with the name and vague references to the greek legend tacked on to play on audiences familiarity with the mythology, or the name at the very least. The plot, which sees Hercules sold exiled and sold into slavery, only to be become the figurehead of a rebellion against a tyrant king, is ripped kicking and screaming from Gladiator, and is not helped by atrociously dull and wooden acting. The cast is of a B-level caliber, with the likes of Scott Adkins (who is a fantastic martial artist, last seen in The Expendables 2, and is so much better than this), Liam McIntyre, and Roxanne McKee, and they do try, but a bad script is a bad script, and there is only so much you can do with it. Not content with taking the plot of Gladiator, The Legend of Hercules takes visual cues from 300 and Spartacus: Blood and Sand, overdosing us on slow motion and bad CGI. The action sequences, which should inject a little fun into proceedings, only serve to hammer home how cheap this is, and can be a slog to get through, littered with cringe worthy moments.
This is clearly aimed at pre-teens, and maybe with that demographic it will find some traction, but for everyone else? Avoid! Avoid! Avoid!
