Since starting his movie career as The Scorpion King back in 2001, Dwayne Johnson has gone from strength to strength to become the 2nd highest grossing actor of 2013 (according to Forbes), and now, in 2014, The Rock has become Hercules; embodying the legendary demi-God in body and spirit, and delivering not only the surprise hit of the summer, but ensuring Hercules is the best swords-and-sandals movie we’ve seen in years.
Yes, it’s actually far better than expected, and much better than the trailers suggested, as this version of Hercules; which places Herc at the head of a band of mercenaries (rather than the lone wanderer we’re used to) who’re hired by the King of Thrace (John Hurt, the Alien star who last donned sandals for Immortals), in order to stop a warlord (Kon-Tiki’s Tobias Santelman) from ransacking his land; is nothing if not fun.
In a wise decision by the writers, who’ve done a fantastic job of delivering a script which straddles the comedy line perfectly without going too cheesy or stupid (an easy trap for this type of film), and delivers just the right amount of action and story, and feels very reminiscent of the action films and TV shows we used to love so well. We’re not simply given a re-hash of a Hercules tale we know, but treated to a whole new Herculean legend; which actually suggests the legends may not be true at all; often playing on the mythical elements of the stories we know (Hercules Vs the Hydra, centaurs, Herc’s own indestructible-ness), and showing how they could’ve been exaggerated and embellished by those telling the tales, and used by Grecian heroes such as Herc to not only terrify his enemies, but rally his own men.
And while we’re used to seeing a lone Hercules, here he has a number of men at his command, not just the five main friends in his own band of merry men; prophet Amphiaraus (Ian McShane, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), knife-wielding sellsword Autolycus (Rufus Sewell, A Knight’s Tale), ferocious fighter Tydeus (Aksel Hennie, Headhunters), story-teller Iolaus (Reece Ritchie, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), and Amazon warrior Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Chernobyl Diaries); but entire armies, who fight in battles far more enjoyable than they should be for a 12A (or PG-13).
Given the family friendly 12A/PG-13 rating you’d expect there to be no violence or gore, and to have all the action sequences cut down to bare bare minimum, but oddly enough we never feel cheated by Hercules; as while there’s little to no blood, the battle scenes are a special kind of awesome, they all seem epic in their own way, and there are actually a handful of amazingly cool deaths/takedowns.
The Rock (or Dwayne Johnson as he’s perhaps better known, and credited, now) also perfectly embodies the physique of the legendary demi-God (certainly looking the part), and manages to deliver the best PG-13 F-bomb you’ve ever heard. There’s no denying he can handle his fair share of action with ease, and although it’s not his best ‘acting’ role he’s perfectly cast as Herc, and the best mythical, skirt-wearing, one-man-army we’ve seen since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan; in fact Hercules is the Conan-remake we wish we’d gotten instead of the lacklustre 2011 effort (admittedly not the fault of it’s awesome star Jason Momoa).
Every member of the supporting cast also delivers the goods, even though each and every role in the rather predictable script remains rather cliched and obvious; Ian McShane steals the show as comedy sidekick/prophet Amphiaraus, Sewell and Hennie aren’t spectacular but remain enjoyable and memorable enough, and while she may look like a cheap, skinny, version of RoboCop‘s Abbie Cornish Ingrid Bolsø’s actually really watchable as the Amazon heroine Atalanta, and John Hurt delivers another standard (so, well above average) John Hurt performance, although Joseph Fiennes’ (Enemy At The Gates) turn as the King of Athens is just a little too over-the-top compared to the rest of the cast.
Undoubtedly there are problems with a film of this nature; an overly predictable plot, cliched characters, one stand-out moment of poor CGI (thankfully only one in an otherwise excellent looking movie), the fact weapons and battle tactics look just a little too Roman (not fitting with the Ancient Greek legends), and the general low-brow nature of the whole project; but at the end of the day they’re all negligible, and no-one watching is going to care in the slightest, because you expect a predictable plot in this genre, even though the characters maybe cliched every one of The Rock’s gang are likeable in their own way, and generally Hercules looks fantastic. It’s mindless escapism at its finest.
Granted, it has the feel of a suped-up version of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and Xena: Warrior Princess (the classic shows we used to watch on Channel 5 or NBC), but just like those shows its enjoyable fluff; simple, honest, good clean fun that’s easy to get behind, and although it can’t completely wash away the taint of Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand, it’s a step in the right direction, and the best film he’s directed in years.
So it may have its problems, but when you boil it all down, this Hercules is a real achievement; a true action/fantasy powerhouse you’ll be dying to watch again. Low-brow, mindless, predictable, and cliched, but undeniably fun; it’s got the feel of an old family-friendly TV show, and it’s only a 12A/PG-13, but with awesome action, capable comedy, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson at the head of it all, Hercules is fantastically fun. It’s no wonder Dwayne has become such a big Box Office draw; go for The Rock, and come out having seen the best swords-and-sandals movie for years. Better than 300, and the Conan we wished we’d seen in 2011, Hercules is superb.
Matt Wheeldon – @TheMattWheeldon.
