Dwayne Johnson eyes MGM's 'Hercules'

[green]

Looks like it's tracking behind Lucy for opening weekend.

 

[Lencho01]

Yeah, I just lost all interest I might have had in the movie.

Read this before seeing the movie, so you don't feel cheated, spoilers incoming.




First things first: Remember all those awesome Hercules trailers? All those fantastic shots of The Rock fighting the Nemean Lion, the Erymanthian Boar, and the Hydra? If they were what had you thinking about seeing Hercules, don't bother. They are lies.

In fact, not only are they are lies told to potential audiences, they are lies in the movie itself. See, this Hercules isn't a demi-god, a son of Zeus, or even inhumanly strong — he's a regular guy whose impressive but totally mundane feats have sprouted a legend, constantly retold and embellished by his storytelling nephew Iolaus. So all those shots of Hercules performing his Labors and kicking mythological monster ass shown in every single trailer and TV spot? They are part of a montage, as a captured Iolaus tries to intimidate a group of pirates, that ends within the film's first four minutes. I'm not exaggerating: All the monster fight footage is shown at the very beginning, and then is never seen again.

http://io9.com/brett....-it-1610881361

Well, that's disappointing.

 

[Donut]

Had to pick this or Lucy this weekend. It looks like Lucy was the good choice

 

[rogue trooper]

I'll check it out Sunday. The reviews got me intrigued.

 

[godisawesome]

Just saw it. There is a demystification theme for most of the movie. However, McShane's character implies a low level Olympian involvement, and the Herc himself is portrayed with super-strength, especially towards the end. McShane has a line like this: "Is he truly the son of Zeus or just a mortal? Hell if I know; the Gods are getting fickle recently." And the fact that Hercules did complete a series of trials is kept in, with the implication that at least a few were still incredibly heroic achievements, even if exaggerated in the telling.

I'd say its a fine swords and sandal movie. The ensemble cast grows on you, the Rock easily pulls his weight, McShane is always a treat, and Hurt has a very nice time playing with his usual type-casting. The film was kind of slow at the beginning, but the battle scenes were pretty good, and the actual climax had some actual emotional pull and power behind it.

 

[Wheels]

I was kind of hoping this would go the ridiculously cheesy and outlandish route since it was probably not going to be good with Ratner attached. Oh well.

 

[Warhammer]

Wow, I am utterly surprised that this is fresh on RT. This gets my hopes up a bit for it not being a waste of my money.

 

[Marvin]

So basically everything that makes Hercules interesting is gone?

Let's make Superman a non-alien hobo with no powers.

That's actually been the trend with just about every one of these demi god greek myth and sandal films as of late. I can't believe they did it with herc as well(I thought that would be impossible tbh). Powerless demi gods...I can't.
First Achilles. Where's Xena when I need her.

If you want creature fighting there is always those clash/wrath of titans films.

I didn't enjoy this film but I'm sure there are people who might. Would have really enjoyed a dramatization of the boy growing into a man and all that. Perhaps something with the scope of gladiator and as tragic(with all that family stuff). Instead it's something really different, not my preference. I miss when giant cities were in these sorts of things(see gladiator).

 

[enterthemadness]

Looks like 28.5M plus opening... Not bad, not great.

 

[the last son]

Terrible. I love misleading trailers but damn. To show all the epic shots in the trailer in the first 2 minutes is ridiculous. If I knew that I would've saved money and time.

 

[nocomics]

I would of walked out of this movie, if not for me dozing off!

 

[the last son]

Agreed. Couldn't wait for it to end and I'm a huge rock fan. Boring as hell.

 

[Wildcard]

Haven't seen it yet (although I still want to) but I think it is a bit of a bummer to hear there isn't a hell of a lot of creature fighting & it all takes place at the beginning of the film.

But going off of the reviews & everything I've been reading I didn't think this was a total demystification (which I still think) & that they were kind of stirring the pot a bit in maybe getting people to look at the Hercules myth from another perspective.

Idk, just doesn't seem like he's meant to be totally "powerless" & that he actually lives up to the Legend bit, even if some elements to his stories are a little exaggerated.

 

[CoherentChaos]

I actually really dug the demystification angle. I was expecting a stereotypical fantasy romp of an action film, but instead got something of a social commentary. Basically if a story has elements of "people will believe anything, no matter how absurd, and thus they'll be manipulated", than I'm all for it.

Action wise, the 3 big scenes (all of which involving Hercules's little gang facing an army of some kind, and decimating them against all odds) were very satisfying. The gang of misfits were very entertaining and well characterized, even if archetypical.

Hercules, while not Hulk level as many people were probably hoping based off the trailers, had very impressive feats that remained somewhat plausible. A person who's strong enough, and pushing themselves to the absolute limit, could probably pull off what Hercules did... but would need weeks to recover between each feat, so really the most god like thing this Hercules was capable of was enduring a lot of crap (like the wounds from good ole 'Cerberus') and performing incredible strength feats moments after the last.

Oh, and that last line was brilliant. Nearly the whole audience burst out laughing.

 

[godisawesome]

I appreciated the fine line they walked with his demi-godhood. There's something up with Herc, and there's something up with McShane's character, and their scene together at the climax "Who are you!?!" Was worth it in my opinion.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Wow. Glad I didn't waste my money on this.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

I appreciated the fine line they walked with his demi-godhood. There's something up with Herc, and there's something up with McShane's character, and their scene together at the climax "Who are you!?!" Was worth it in my opinion.

Spoiler

Pretty clear they were saying, "Yeah... he really is a demigod after all" after the feats he pulls in the last 10 minutes. Though I'm not a fan of the "Have Your Cake & Eat It Too" way of thinking.

Had a blast myself. Perfect B-movie entertainment and the "I AM HERCULES!" scene (as stupid as it was in the trailer) is the best scene in the film. Absolute fist-pumping moment.

 

[marcvader]

Caught this for free yesterday after watching Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It's redbox worthy if you want to get a swords and sandals fix. Not completely awful but it is falsely marketed, he is a demigod in my opinion and proves it at the end. It's just not his fault the creatures of legend don't exist in this world apparently.

 

[Wildcard]

Yeah, I think by the end of everything he's meant to really be a demi-God. I don't really think the movie is falsely advertised...they just didn't go the COTT route & incorporate creatures throughout the entire thing. But yeah, Hercules definitely isn't just a mere mortal, I'd say.

 

[spiderguy252000]

I honeslty never read the comic, but I also think there is nothing wrong with giving a version that we have never seen before, which I think is what the goal was. The question of what Myths are made out of is a fascinating one, and it was really fun to see the movie reveal what "really" happened.

I understand the Ratner hate, but I think people just need to give the movie a chance, he actually did really well with this movie. It is so much fun, the action is great, and watching Dwayne kick butt is just awesome. Watching the "I am Hercules" line in the trailers looked painful, but it was arguably one of the better parts of the movie when it was put in context with editing.

See it for yourselves, I really don't think you will be disappointing, ESPECIALLY if your expectations are low.

 

[Liam_H]

I still find the "I am Hercules" line to be hilarious, its like Dwayne Johnson is trying to bench with McShane spotting him.

 

[Donut]

I honeslty never read the comic, but I also think there is nothing wrong with giving a version that we have never seen before, which I think is what the goal was

& apparently that failed. I wonder how many more of these Hercules movies we will get. How did the one earlier this year do ?

 

[nocomics]

I think they should of focused on his 12 tests and dealt with more of his demi-god side than the cliché unhappy anti-hero routine.

 

[spiderguy252000]

The other Hercules has a 3% rating on rotten tomatoes... Compared to the fresh and full of good reviews for Dwayne's movie.... clearly it was successful. It did exactly what it wanted to accomplish, it not fitting the stereotypical Hercules( which all the recent movies have tried and failed at mind you) doesn't make it a bad movie

 

[enterthemadness]

I enjoyed this movie and am considering either seeing it again in theaters or a buy on dvd/blu.