 | Watch Hercules (2014) online Run time: 98 min Rating: 6.5 Genres: Action | Adventure Stars: Dwayne Johnson, John Hurt, Ian McShane |
| Storyline Fourteen hundred years BCE, a tormented soul walked the earth that was neither man nor god. Hercules was the powerful son of the god king Zeus, for this he received nothing but suffering his entire life. After twelve arduous labours and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods finding his only solace in bloody battle. Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and presence of death. These men and women never question where they go to fight or why or whom, just how much they will be paid. Now the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to train his men to become the greatest army of all time. It is time for this bunch of lost souls to finally have their eyes opened to how far they have fallen when they must train an army to become as ruthless and blood thirsty as their reputation has become. Written by Radical Comics | |
| Plot Keywords: hercules, bare chested male bondage, bare chested male, sword and sandal, based on comic | |
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| Box Office Budget: $100,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend: $29,800,263 (USA) (25 July 2014) Gross: $69,936,092 (USA) (22 August 2014) | |
"Hercules" starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson absolutely delivers on its promise to be entertaining. I went into this film with half-hearted expectations, thinking that Dwayne Johnson wouldn't fit the part well, I fully expected this to be an entire film of blood and fighting. This is far from correct. The writers of this film are fantastic going for almost "A knight's tale" vibe to it with a ton of comedy. I honestly found myself laughing out loud much more than I found myself getting drilled with constant WWE style fighting like there was in "The legend of hercules", mind you this is a very good thing. The laid back style of this film is what makes it so great, sadly this film failed in the box office, hopefully folks can see the potential and eat it up on bluray/DVD.
ReplyDeleteHercules as human hero...war,politics,lies,myths,finally...legend. Don't waste your money if you want watch mythical, Semi-god stuff...but it is good movie with mind set on human who is portrayed as a legend....what it means to be hero and stuff... 8 points is because don't know what to expect but it turned out as a realist point of view of what Hercules is about. The question of what we believe or imagine to what reality truly is???....Don't be late for this movie as the start of this movie is good to watch. It is stitched with bravery, honor,strength, brutality and bits of humor. Watch the 3d version of the movie it structured for that. Acting, stage, costumes are good. The best part of this movie is the landscapes they show with 3d makes it super good. Watch it to believe it but in 3d theater.
ReplyDeleteI went to see Hercules with little to no expectations. The main reason was that I needed some cheesy summer flick to laugh at, and the movie's trailer did promise this kind of stuff. Well, the movie did not disappoint - indeed, it was cheesy, but in such a self-aware way, that it falls out of the "so bad that it's good" category and gets into the "simply good" one. Irony is dominant through the whole 98 minutes, and there are plenty of minor and major plot twists, albeit not a single forced one. And the story is delivered in an entertaining way without any unnecessary melodrama or heroism - a nice change from most of Hollywood big-budget action flicks.
ReplyDeleteThe movie opens directly with the story of Hercules and the twelve labours. We see him battle the Lernaean Hydra, slay the Erymanthian Boar, and kill the Nemean Lion with bare hands - and that's in the first two minutes. Just when you'd think this flick would be nothing but Dwayne Johnson, bare-chested and tough, slaughtering stuff, it's revealed that the narrator is actually the nephew of Hercules, exaggerating the story of his uncle, trying to convince a bunch of pirates not to execute him by putting a stake through his bottoms. There are plenty of similar absurd situations in the movie, and there's never a pun to fall flat.
Character-wise, "Hercules" offers more than a bunch of heroes with big muscles and tear-jerking back-stories. While Hercules' family being murdered plays somewhat big part in the movie, the drama never feels forced (if anything, it actually feels a bit underwhelming). Also, I do have problems with Atalanta being the typical strong female action character but this isn't as much of a drawback - just something that could've been improved. All actors, from the cheesy Johnson and Fiennes to veteran John Hurt, reprise their roles in a great, fleshed-out way. The main antagonist of "Hercules" is indeed portrayed a wee bit over-the-top, but after all this is a comic adaptation and that's the proper way to portray comic villains.
The story doesn't disappoint either, presenting Hercules as a man with incredible strength who enjoys the rumors of him being the son of Zeus while being self-aware that he's still a mercenary who is most likely born to a mortal father. The legend of Hercules itself plays a large part in the story, and serves for a source of great jokes and puns. There's a major plot twist that I honestly didn't see coming, and neither did any of my friends with whom I saw the movie. "Hercules" receives bonus points for NOT including the obligatory love interest, and there's actually a reason for the main character to return for the final act (other than "he's the hero and it's heroes' job to safe the day").
Unlike most fantasy action-adventures, "Hercules" uses special effects sparsely and mostly for the scenery. Apart from the opening sequence, Hercules never has to battle absurdly huge foes or mythical creatures. The only moment he's fighting a CGI enemy did actually leave me a bit disappointed, but it was still OK. The writers creatively decided to go against the "overpowered supernatural creatures" cliché and instead opted for a huge army of ordinary men. It does emphasize Hercules' superhuman strength a lot more when you see a horse being thrown into the air, instead of a harpy or the minotaur being slain.
All in all, "Hercules" is a great movie to spend ten bucks on this summer. It doesn't break the boundaries of modern fantasy adventure flicks, but it does go against a lot of the tropes and clichés. It delivers an entertaining story while being self-aware of its own cheesiness. While I'm not familiar with the source material, "Hercules" does remind a little bit of "Asterix and Obelix" and provides solid 98 minutes of pure Hollywood entertainment, comedy and carnage.
8/10
Firstly, the film has a slow start. We see almost motion comic footage of Hercules doing his 12 labours in slideshow form, with Hercules face hidden in silhouette. So I felt a little cheated. Then we have a scene which tries to set up what makes this version of the main character different than any other version we have seen before. I wont give it away, as its basically what the film is about. But it tries to play with our knowledge of him.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't ignore the back story of his wife and kids, but glosses over those parts until it becomes necessary to divulge that information. Again, i think it would have been better to see it, rather than be told what happened. I knew his history and so was wondering if they would portray this properly. Instead they do something to set-up a villain for the end which I wont give away. Just know that they do tie up all lose ends as needed, but a prior knowledge of who this character is and what he has done does help the viewer understand his motivations and his life up to this point.
Its when the big war starts that you really sit up and start paying attention. Somehow watching the Rock talk doesn't interest you, but when the fighting starts with the epic 200 people battle sequences, you suddenly see where the budget went, the fights are fantastic!
What is really great is how Hercules and his band of merry men (and woman) use smarts to outwit the enemy rather than simply use strength each time. That was clever. From the moment of that first fight the film moves up a notch and becomes excellent entertainment.
Its a historical film and tries to be serious about its overall message. Dwayne does a good job but he's not going to win any awards for this. The other cast members actions are predictable and sufficient. But don't really add much to the plot. They could have been written out and it would have changed nothing.
The running length is long enough to feel satisfied and not so long that it overstays its welcome. The plot twists you see coming a mile away but at least it tries to do them. Other than one characters actions near the end which was so obvious it was stupid to include.
In conclusion, its worth watching. It takes it times to grab you, but once it does it doesn't let go. There are a few stretches of how strong Hercules is, but not enough for you to hate it. The 3D has its moments, but like most films I would rather have watched it in 2D as I don't think it made a major difference and its more comfortable not having to wear those glasses with my head upright the entire time.