Hercules Directed by: - Brett Ratner When the movie was announced with Dwayne “Rock” Johnson in the lead and Brett Ratner (Rush Hour series, X-Men Last Stand) at its helm, every movie buff looked up with anticipation. But alas, the movie isn’t worth that much. Rock has really beefed up for this role and this 6ft 5inch ex-WWE star is indeed a treat to watch. The movie provides entertainment on lines of brute action, hand to hand combat and warfront strategies of yesteryear. Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Ingrid Berdal, Aksel Hennie and Reece Ritchie provide able allies to Hercules throughout the story’s length. Ratner scales down the “legend” to a mere mortal and this is the main driving force behind this film. Reece’s character Iolaus, nephew to Hercules, does the motivational job and creates stories turning his uncle into the then urban legend. The film tides well with dialogues equally shared among the supporting cast, who narrate the story along the way, but the cheesiest one-liners are reserved to Amphiaraus (deftly played by Ian McShane) and are a real treat! The plot revolves around the “demi-god” Hercules (son of Zeus), who is actually a mercenary for rent. Lord Cotys sends his daughter Ergenia to bring Hercules to their kingdom, Thrace, to save their villages from extinction, plagued by warlord Rhesus, rumored to be a centaur, aided by demons. The movie then revolves around Hercules attempts to save the war ravaged land. CGI is not top notch, but sure does give some jitters during the war scenes and especially during the “legend” stories with mythical creatures (from the real legend envisioned beautifully) Erymanthian Boar, the nine-headed serpent Hydra & of course the Nemean Lion (whose head Hercules wears as helmet). The movie moves forward with a mysterious flash back which haunts our hero. Goddess Hera also plays a part in the storyline without presenting herself in flesh & blood. The war scenes may not entice everyone much and comparisons to Greek history (300) and Roman as well (Gladiator) have already set the standards pretty high. But still the movie works to an extent solely because of Dwayne “Rock” Johnson. He may not necessarily emote that well, but makes it up with his well sculpted body and mean action sequences. The highlight of the movie is however the legend being stripped down to a mere mortal. Dwayne smiles his way on such occasions and eases his way towards the dastardly climax which forces the audience to believe heroes are not born but made out of circumstances. His humane side is exploited repeatedly to showcase off the war-zone heroism and Ratner infuses the film with overprotective nature of Hercules over Iolaus. The movie not a complete let down, it gives you the kind of entertainment if you like period action movies. Dwayne Johnson is indeed the saving grace of this movie. The amount of hard work he has put in has definitely not gone unnoticed. But the movie is itself not on that grand scale you expected it to be. Thanks to Ian McShane the audience is kept entertained throughout and Ratner delivers the perfect Tropical punch with this movie, but not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea!
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 06:23:17 +0000
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