Movie Review: Hercules

Finally the Rock has come back to corny action movies. He’s picked up the mythological action-movie gauntlet where he left it with The Scorpion King. But Dwayne Johnson's return to the loincloth bearing duties is far from his best. Hercules is too formulaic, too seeped in mythology clichés. It feels like we’re watching updated reruns of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan movies, minus the B-movie monster suits. It all used to be fun at one point and then we grew up to the likes of Peter Jackson and Gore Verbinski.

So in director Brett Ratner’s 2014 reiteration of the age old Greek saga we have a very Samoan looking lead man play a chap rampaging through Greece as the mighty Hercules, son of Zeus. Sinbad would’ve been acceptable but The Rock playing Hercules is pushing suspension of disbelief a bit too far. If you can look past the cultural disparity you'll find a run of the mill, the-world-needs-a-hero escapade. A fellow and his gang of merry men (and one very pretty Amazonian woman) form a band of mercenaries. The leader is Hercules and while the jury may be out on his actual lineage, his gang make sure tales of his legend are told over and over again.

The movie makes its big play on the concept of reputation. History as they say is written the way we remember it. Legends of course are a matter of good imagination. So we have the hulky and bulky protagonist being played out like a demi god. The legends are being fanned out by Hercules’ cousin who has his way with words. Perhaps that is supposed to explain why our Hero could have his roots in the Pacific. Anything in the name of cinematic liberty.

Keeping logic aside, the reason anyone would want to watch Hercules is for Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Seeing the big charismatic man pummel a few blokes around like props can be fun. He’s shown us he’s more than capable of dealing with heavy action in the Fast and Furious movies. But if its action entertainment you seek, there are mere flashes of brilliance here. A few seconds of glory in the midst of the more tedious 1 hour 39 minutes.

If you like a banal story with bad acting, Hercules should be right up your alley. If you have no such kinks, you might find actual entertainment, moving with the times at 22 Jump Street.