As you can no doubt tell from the title of this review, I like to call this Hercules movie the ‘Dwayne Johnson Edition’. That’s so it’s easier for people to differentiate it from the other Hercules movie that came out back in January, which was horrendous. Believe it or not, people do have a hard time telling the two apart. But anyway, it’s time to review this. Just a couple months late.
Now, when I say it’s good, I don’t mean that it’s necessarily worth renting right at this very moment. Maybe at the end of next week if you’re having a movie night, or something.
I think the main problem that I had going in was that I know almost nothing about Hercules. I know he’s the son of Zeus and he’s really strong, but that’s all I know. I don’t know his story. Not even the exposition in the beginning really enlightened me. He went through 12 labors? Okay, what were they? Is the movie about them? Do we get to see them? Well, the movie only tells what a couple of them were, the movie takes place long after he completed them, which means they aren’t shown, which also means the audience is just thrown into the movie with little information (depending on who you are). If you’re uninformed about Greek mythology like I am, or any mythology, for that matter, you’re not going to get engrossed in the movie as quickly. Maybe not at all. I had to push my questions aside multiple times just so I could pay attention to the story we do get.
So, as I’m watching this, the main question I had was: who are these companions working with Hercules? The movie tells the backstories of maybe one or two of them… and I don’t remember their names. The actors playing them were decent, they all had their comedic moments, but that doesn’t make them good characters. Or memorable.
The only real memorable characters were Hercules himself and…. whoever it is that Ian McShane plays. He was pretty cool.
Anyway, one thing I have to give this movie credit for is the casting choice for Hercules. Dayne Johnson is fan-freaking-tastic in the role. Unlike the guy from The Legend of Hercules, who was just a pretty boy model from the Twilight movies (look it up, I’m not kidding), Dwayne Johnson actually looks like the character he’s supposed to be! It’s the Rock, for crying out loud! He’s the modern day Hercules! On top of that, he’s a good actor, so we get the best of both worlds!
One thing I didn’t expect was how lighthearted the tone was. There were comedic parts, parts that really made me laugh, and even an F-Bomb. Dwayne Johnson used it in the best way possible. It makes the film more entertaining, but doesn’t help with engrossing people into it.
I’ve established that I’m not a fan of how the story is done, but there is one element of it that I did find quite interesting. It has its upsides and downsides, and is full of spoilers, so if you really care enough to not want spoilers, then I’d advise you to simply scroll down and look at my final consensus of the movie.
The interesting part of the film is that it’s more grounded in reality than expected. How can that be? This is Hercules, son of Zeus, with all the monsters and Olympian gods and epic quests and battles… how could it be grounded in reality? Well, it may be that the stories are just… stories. It becomes obvious that Hercules and his team have been embellishing on their stories of battle and labors. They didn’t all happen the way the myths tell us.
Now that I’m thinking about it, it reminds me of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. They’re superhero movies, but they’re more in the realms of reality than, let’s say, The Avengers. Instead of going full on comicbook style, it goes the direction of a semi-realistic crime drama. Of course in The Dark Knight Rises, the Tumbler can fly. That’s as close to a comicbook it gets.
This is pretty much the deal with this Hercules movie. Not entirely mythical, but there are some parts that do go a bit ‘out there’. I like how the ‘centaurs’ are turn out to be soldiers on horseback that people mistook for real centaurs. Or, and perhaps my favorite twist, how Cerberus isn’t real either. Instead, it’s 3 savage wolf-dog-thingies that, while in a dizzy state, may look like a 3 headed dog.
Also, Ian McShane’s character inhales the smoke from some herbs that ‘tell him’ what will happen in the future. What further conflicts with the mythical element is that sometimes he’s right. So, the movie does kinda make the audience think. Were all the stories simply embellished? Maybe. We’ll never know.
As much as I like that neat twist, I do think it could have been pulled off really effectively if it had a better script, had a better director, longer run time. I think that would have made this film more remarkable. I wouldn’t mind seeing this twist done in another movie of this kind. For some people, this could really disappoint if they’re expecting a completely fantasy mythical adventure with monsters and stuff. I could understand why.
The last two things I have to comment on are the music and special effects. The score is alright. Nothing too special, nothing too bad, just… alright. The special effects are pretty darn impressive, to be honest. Of course the filmmakers wouldn’t let it look bad. If it looked cheap, no one would bother checking it out. However, there isn’t a ton of CGI in the film. The only CG parts are some of the backgrounds, the wolf-dog-things, the monsters in the intro, and a few other bits. The rest seems like practical effects. It looked to me as though all the fighters in the background were real extras in front of a camera instead of CGI generics. I thought that was cool.
So in conclusion, Hercules: Dwayne Johnson Edition isn’t a necessarily bad movie. It could have been better, but what was made was enjoyable. Good action provided by the Rock, good CGI, but unfortunately weak in the story department.
FINAL RATING: 25 / 50
STORY: 2 / 5
ACTING: 3 / 5
CHARACTERS: 2 / 5
CGI/EFFECTS: 5 / 5
ACTION: 4 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 2 / 5
TONE: 3 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 3 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 1 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 0 / 5
Huh. The score is divided into perfect halves. Neat. But the score doesn’t matter. Not much, anyway. what always matters is the final thought on it. Keep that in mind.
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