2012 was an unusual time for film in that there were two films release that year that were both based on the same source material: Snow White. The first of these movies, Mirror Mirror, was a light-hearted adventure story aimed for younger audiences (and directed by Tarsem of all people), while the second, Snow White and the Huntsman, was a darker re-imagining of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale that was a far cry from the innocence of the Walt Disney adaptation. It was particularly strange not only to have two Snow White films in the same year – two radically different ones at that – but also how competitive the two studios behind these films were to come out with the best Snow White film of the year. Strangely enough, 2014 seems to repeating this turn of events with Hercules – ironically another character that inspired an animated Disney movie – which began with the release of the critical and financial flop The Legend of Hercules in early January. And thus with the summer season coming to a close, audiences are presented (again) with the simply-titled Hercules, an action-driven blockbuster directed by Brett Ratner and starring The Rock in the lead role – two admittedly concerning choices that do not sound promising on paper. Hercules is almost exactly what it looks and sounds like in the advertisements: it is a straightforward action/adventure movie that has occasional moment of fun but is ultimately too shallow and unoriginal to leave much of a lasting impression.
As the son of the god Zeus and the human Alcmene, Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) possesses incredible strength and fighting skills, but he has lived a troubled mortal existence. After being driven by Zeus’s wife, Hera, resulting in the deaths of his children and wife, Megara, Hercules endured 12 Labors to atone for the gods. With visions of the death of his family still haunting him, Hercules only finds solace in combat, which he finds through mercenary work alongside a group of fellow warriors: Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and Iolaus (Reece Ritchie). With their many successful adventures, the group has amassed an impressive reputation for Hercules and his strength that has become spread across Greece. One day, this leads to the ruler of Thrace, Lord Cotys (John Hurt) to seek the assistance of Hercules and his fellow mercenaries to defeat a bloodthirsty army intent on taking over their kingdom. In order to succeed in this battle, Hercules has to train the armies of Thrace to become proper soldiers to stand a chance against this terrible foe, which will put Hercules and his demigod reputation to the test.
While it is not surprising to see a Hollywood adaptation not fully explore the mythology behind this character more deeply, it is still disappointing how many wasted opportunities there are in this film’s story. The marketing is horribly misleading; the impressive battles against the Nemean Lion, Lernaean Hydra and Erymanthian Boar – three of Hercules’s 12 Labors – that were frequently advertised are all glossed over in a 3-minute montage in the opening, and the entirety of the fights have already been showcased in the trailers. Instead of focusing more on that – which could not only lead to more impressive set-pieces and a better view on Hercules’s inner torment – Ratner instead opts for a more underwhelming and familiar battle against a hungry warlord, which also borrows heavily from the likes of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai when Hercules is training the armies of Thrace. In fact, the stakes in the film feel remarkably low for a story featuring a demigod fighting an army of bloodthirsty warriors, and much of that is due to how uninspired and small the plot seems in the grand scheme of things. Hercules is a god who fought against giant creatures and endured harsh ordeals to atone for his past, and in comparison, this struggle does not seem as important or as impressive as anything else that could have been brought to the screen.
The characters fare little better than the story. Sure, while Hercules has a band of mercenaries that assist him throughout much of the story, he is still an impressive warrior to behold due to his immense stature and calm, determined demeanor. Much of Hercules’s strengths as a character come through Johnson’s performance that – once you shrug off the odd decision of casting The Rock as a Greek mythology character – completely embodies the role and owns it through his own incredible physical strength and charisma. Unfortunately, most of the side-characters are forgettable caricatures. Ratner spends little time trying to develop these archetypes of characters, and unfortunately they all stick to stereotypical conventions. The only aspect worse than Hercules’s male companions’ painfully-bad innuendos are the female characters; Megara mostly serves to show 1 second of nudity and Atlanta – the most blatant Katniss Everdeen/Lady Sif/Tauriel copycat ever put into film – mostly serves to cram a forced feminist message in an otherwise male-dominated movie. Thankfully not all of the side characters are bad; Amphiaraus is an enjoyable companion whose slightly prophetic powers makes him almost nonchalant to the silliness around him – thanks in no small part to McShane who injects the perfect amount of self-aware humor to his role – and Cotys, while a very simple and straightforward character, is given much-needed dignity and gravitas by Hurt’s performance.
Ultimately, though, Ratner’s eyes were set on epic set-pieces and large-scale battles rather than an interesting re-telling of a legend or fleshed-out characters. And sure enough, while the plot lacks the size and scope needed to create enough stakes to draw investment into the story, the scale is decent enough for a film that has a decent budget but not one big enough to create something truly massive. To Ratner’s credit, despite some moments of CGI littered in the fights, there is a fairly strong emphasis on practical effects during the battle sequences, along with solid stunt work and some occasionally impressive moments that keep the proceedings entertaining enough. Are they the best action sequences you will see all year, the most original or the best-produced? Not necessarily; the CGI is decent but still obvious, and while the battles are well done, they are still almost as uninspired as the thin story they are tied to. And as mentioned before, it is a massive disappointment how quickly the 12 Labors are glanced over; what little that was shown is actually more impressive than most of the action in the movie, and it is a frustrating shortcoming on the director’s part for not taking further advantage of it. Nevertheless, Ratner is clearly at home staging these action scenes, and sure enough, they serve their purpose just well enough for those looking for mindless entertainment.
Aside from the false advertising of the 12 Labors in the trailers, Hercules is one of those movies where you know exactly what you are going to get from watching the trailers. Greek mythology has a vast wealth of possibilities for storytelling, but Ratner is less interested in exploring more of Hercules’s legend and more so on using the myth as a means to stage epic battles and the occasional fight against a CGI monster. Some of it does manage to elicit a bit of fun, but for a legend this big and a movie with this size and scale, it is remarkably familiar and generic to the point of feeling “been there, done that.” To the filmmakers’ credit, there is one interesting plot device in which the mercenaries try to find ways of building Hercules’s reputation to shape the warriors and culture of their time – both to their advantage and detriment – that does offer a fairly original look at the character. Aside from that, though, Hercules is mostly mindless entertainment colossal in its ambitions but mostly underwhelming in its execution. It is neither the best nor worst of summer blockbusters this year – just really, really average. Unfortunately, average is far from extraordinary, in which case Hercules simply fails to live up to the legend that inspired it.
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The Good:
Features some entertaining set-piece battles that are occasionally impressive
Dwayne Johnson’s incredible strength and composure makes for a solid Hercules, and Ian McShane and John Hurt make the most out of their relatively simple supporting roles
The focus of the legend of Hercules and how it is used to shape the warriors and culture – both positively and negatively – is an intriguing new perspective on the character that is fairly original and interesting
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The Bad:
Extremely basic plot that is thinly directed by Brett Ratner who is more interested in big action sequences than a well-developed story or characters
Does not take much advantage of the wealth of Greek mythology to create a more interesting story, instead opting to briefly glance over Hercules’s past and the 12 Labors to focus on a familiar and dull struggle against a warlord that feels like a side-story in the grand scheme of things
The battles between Hercules and the mythological creatures in the advertisements is misleading; almost all of them are showcased in a brief 3-minute montage, and the entirety of their battles have already been shown in the trailers
The sets, costumes and visual effects – while passable – are slightly mixed in quality, with some sets and costumes coming across as fake or historically inaccurate and the CGI a bit too obvious in places
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Overall: 5/10 (Mixed/Average)