Hercules (2014) [Blu-ray]

Just finished watching this and it’s a great movie! Duane Johnson started out a really bad actor so I wouldn’t watch his movies especially the movie Walking Tall but he’s evolved into one of the best action figures I can remember watching in many years. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend watching because it doesn’t disappoint but maybe it should be longer. I’ve read the story of Hercules and understand this is an adaptation from the comics or graphic novel so I expected much less. However it’s actually really close to the epic story that has been told for more than 5000 years. I love the Iliad trilogy and how the gods of Greece became what they did which mirrors biblical heroes such as Samson or Achilles who was David.

good movie

I am not a Dwayne Johnson fan but in this film he is much better than average. Unfortunately the story picks up after the supposed 12 labors the Gods demanded of him. They show a bit of a couple of the labors but the story that follows to the best of my knowledge is totally made up; not from the tales of the GREAT ONE. By the way, the name is wrong: in Greek his name was Heracles; Hercules is the Roman name. A minor point since most Americans are probably unaware lf this. In this film the battle scenes are quite good, the sets seem to be faithful for that period and a pretty good cast surrounded Johnson. The battle styles seem to be relatively correct though the warriors swords were iron not steel. Greeks used 30 foot spears in their Phalanx military formations; sword fighting was secondary. Romans perfected the sword dueling and that is why they ruled Europe so long. The photography was fine, excellent scenery and some hot babes were the rule. Johnsons acting was rather good; convincing enough for a historical fuss budget like me to enjoy it. Good musical score tops the film but I would like to have seen ol' Herc, get the babe at the end. He actually looked better than Steve Reeves, but then a bigger budget helped. For those who like Greek or Roman mythical stories abeit somewhat off track from the classics, I think they will enjoy this. This is not SPARTACUS or TROY but it makes for enjoyable action entertainment in my opinion. Four Stars I think it deserves. I got my DVD from Amazon. Enjoy!

*NO SPOILERS ABOUT "THIS MOVIE" - NOTE: "Hercules Reborn" has absolutely nothing to do with this movie. Some people get into "cult of personality" as the expression goes; however Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. "The Rock" of WWE) has consistently proven himself to be multi-talented as an actor, a producer, and an artist in general. Brains and brawn, a rare combination, but Dwayne Johnson has both, and in Hercules, it really shows because after all, what better way to show off an eclectic artistic skill set than playing one of the greatest of the Greek Mythic Heroes and Demigods? There can't be many. Ok, a couple of things about this film that many people have probably seen articles about in various places; In summary, "The preview trailers lied." Hercules is a fairly tangible and realistic interpretation and portrayal of the story of Hercules based on one simple concept, "All myths have some sort of basis in reality," and as a concept, the writers, producers, and actors undoubtedly had a lot of fun making this film. With backstory and ACTUAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ( yes, they actually have more than decent character development for this film ), being such an important part of the viewing experience, "The Extended Cut" is essential because without the extended scenes, a lot of the elements that really drive the heart of the story home are otherwise missing. Essentially "The Extended Cut" should be regarded moreso as "The Whole Movie" when it comes to this film. The above being said, Hercules: Extended Cut , is more than just a heroic adventure, it also has a lot of heart, humor, depth, and even gets people to think more critically about any times in life where perhaps peoples' imaginations have either been captivated or simply having gotten the best of them because of a great story. The whole family loves this movie, and it is highly, highly, highly recommended that more people see it because it's great fun, and a great story from beginning to end.

This is a much better film than most of the movie critics rated it to be. It takes the myth of Hercules and grounds it in reality. Dwayne Johnson once again proves that he has flashes of depth in his acting that a lot of action movie stars do not, and he leads a very nice ensemble cast of characters. While Johnson and Ian McShane get to go a bit further with their characters than the rest, all are very good. And the main point of a movie like this is the action, which there is plenty of. But what a lot of the critics overlooked was the message the movie makes about heroes, how heroes are created, how they are perceived, and the potential in anyone to be one. This is an action sword and sandal that goes a little bit deeper. It is a fuller story than the old Steve Reeves movies. And, in a way, reminded me of the original "Magnificent Seven". On the technical side, the costumes and sets are beautiful, and the battle scenes are very well staged. The script has a few twists,but nothing that is overly surprising. But I found it a very enjoyable film, and so am writing one of the very few reviews I have written on Amazon. Would love to see this cast reunite for a sequel.

One of the most interesting thing about mythology is considering: what people or events might have inspired legends of gods, heroes and monsters? That question seems to have inspired "Hercules," the second movie about the Grecian strongman in less than a year... and thankfully, it involves no bleached-haired "Twilight" actors. Instead, this simple and cheesy yet action-packed story depicts a "realistic" Hercules played by the charismatic Dwayne Johnson, who is one of the few men alive who actually LOOKS like Hercules. In this movie, Hercules (Johnson) is the leader of a band of mercenaries -- including an Amazon warrior, a thief, a feral berserker and a seer who is waiting for his death to turn up -- who take on ridiculously difficult tasks. Hercules' nephew Iolaus (Reece Ritchie) works PR for them, spreading stories of how Hercules is supposedly the offspring of Zeus, explaining his ridiculously awesome strength. The reality is a bit more tragic, as indicated in flashbacks to his pre-merc days to a wife and children who have just two days until retirement. Then Hercules is approached by Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson), a Thracian princess whose dad Cotys (John Hurt) wants him to train his army to resist the warlord Rheseus (Tobias Santelmann). Hercules and his compatriots successfully fix up the rather pathetic army into a successful fighting force, and even lead them into battle... but soon Hercules begins to suspect that he and his followers have been tricked into being on the wrong side. "Hercules" is a pure popcorn movie -- it has no pretensions of being deep or artistic, and while it's not a great movie, it's not a bad one either. It's basically a movie devoted to big smashy-shooty battles full of fire and Hercules hitting things with a club. And it doesn't take itself seriously, giving the characters a lot of funny moments ("Excuse me, that was my fate!") until things go dark at the climax. And it is an interesting exercise in whatiffery: what if the legends of Hercules were based on a real man with abnormal strength? Fortunately, Brett Ratner doesn't try to make it TOO realistic, mainly by giving everything an over-the-top atmosphere -- sort of a lighter, less stylized "300" feel. It's handled in a manner cheesy enough to make it amusing, but not so cheesy that it becomes ridiculous. And Dwayne Johnson... well, is there any other actor better suited to playing Hercules? He's huge, he has big muscles, he's good at one-liners, and he has buckets of charisma that just make him darn likable. But he's also able to handle the tragedy of Hercules' past nicely, and conveys his grief despite us seeing almost nothing of Herc's wife and kids. That said, Johnson is the only main character who gets a lot of development -- out of his whole posse, only McShane's character gets more than a single character trait (Autolycus = greedy, Tydeus = animalistic, Atalanta = female), and they have some nice bonding moments. The other actors are quite good, but not given much, though Ferguson has a decent role as a sorta-kinda-maybe love interest, whose young son adores Hercules. As for the villains... well, they're so cartoonishly evil that it becomes ridiculous. Joseph Fiennes is almost comically bad here, campily snickering and smarming until you wish he had a Snidely Whiplash mustache just so he could twirl it. Not since the "Twilight" movies have I been so... AMUSED by a villain. "Hercules" isn't a great movie, but it's probably the best Hercules movie in decades -- wry, action-packed and with a clever meta-mythic twist. It's definitely worth a watch when you want some fiery, over-the-top action.

Last summer saw a rebirth of the Hercules legend with its genesis in Hollywood with Mr. America/Pro. Universe, Steve Reeves (the muscle man who was featured in comic books that created a generation of bullied youths who took up the sport with the view of payback) which later featured Arnold Schwarzenegger's role model as an aspiring bodybuilder in Austria, the next major champion to defeat Steve Reeves as Mr. Pro. Universe, U.K.'s Reg Park (who was given first class travel arrangements and accommodations for his role), which will later be played by Lou Ferrigno (who had the most successful run of Hercules movies and whom most cinema audiences associate with the Hercules franchise), a role which Arnold will later assume in the box office flop Hercules in New York; given the fact that the last Hercules movie featuring Arnold was in the seventies, Renny Harlin figured it was time to reboot the entire franchise with a box office flop entitled, The Legend of Hercules, in the same manner that Rupert Wyatt deemed necessary to reboot the critically acclaimed Planet of the Apes franchise that was based on Pierre Boulle's Ape Planet, which had a successful run in the seventies as a box office trilogy and was serialized for TV - given its unsuccessful reboot as a franchise by Tim Burton, resulting in a similar reboot to the Hercules franchise this summer in a phenomenal box office hit by Brett Ratner, featuring awesome CGI by Double Negative, and the most awesome physique since Arnold and Lou - with Dwayne Johnson, playing Hercules and the handsome Ingrid Bolso Berdal playing Atalanta, the only female heroine, with Hercules being commissioned by King Eurystheus to serve as protector of Rome to defeat twelve mythical creatures that was threatening the empire, which was supposedly sent by his father, Zeus' wife, Hera, to task Hercules owing to jealousy over her husband having mated with a mortal woman, Hercules' mother, Alcmene, following which he butchered Hercules's family and spread rumors to the effect that Hercules had butchered his wife, Megara, and their children, and, having done so, banished Hercules from Rome, following which Hercules transforms into a mercenary for hire and finds himself being commissioned by Lord Coty to train an army of peasant to rise against Rhesus (which gave birth to Obama and John Kerry's strategy in Syria and Iraq) - who was the only one who rose in protest against Lord Cotys after he has poisoned Ergenia's husband to claim the throne, with Hercules, eventually, uncovering the truth from Ergenia and turning against Lord Cotys, who was colluding with King Eurystheus in an attempt at world conquest, and, having done so, discovering Hercules defying him, and unearthing the truth about what King Eurystheus did to his family, and, thereby, turning against the invincible army he had trained and successfully defeating them, defying the prediction of his oracle, Amphiaraus - who had prophesized Hercules' and his own death, thereby, claiming his rightful place as the legend of a true hero, which resides in each and everyone one of us as Mariah Carey implied in her song, Hero.

Excellent movie. Tons of action. Makes the legend believable. A great human touch.