Hercules (2014)
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Critics Consensus: Hercules has Brett Ratner behind the cameras and Dwayne Johnson rocking the loincloth -- and delivers exactly what any reasonable person reading that description might expect.
Critics Consensus: Hercules has Brett Ratner behind the cameras and Dwayne Johnson rocking the loincloth -- and delivers exactly what any reasonable person reading that description might expect.
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Movie Info
Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures' film HERCULES, starring Dwayne Johnson, bows on July 25th. Based on Radical Comics' Hercules by Steve Moore, this ensemble-action film is a revisionist take on the classic myth, HERCULES. The epic action film also stars Golden Globe Winner Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Joseph Fiennes, Peter Mullan and Academy Award (R)-nominee John Hurt. (C) Paramount- Rating:
- PG-13 (for epic battle sequences, violence, suggestive comments, brief strong language and partial nudity)
- Genre:
- Action & Adventure , Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Directed By:
- Brett Ratner
- Written By:
- Ryan Condal , Evan Spiliotopoulos
- In Theaters:
- Jul 25, 2014 Wide
- On DVD:
- Nov 4, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $72.7M
Cast
-
Dwayne "The Rock" Jo...
as Hercules -
Ian McShane
as Amphiaraus -
John Hurt
as Lord Cotys -
Rufus Sewell
as Autolycus -
Aksel Hennie
as Tydeus -
Ingrid Bolsø Berdal
as Atalanta
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Dwayne Johnson Seems to Confirm Shazam
– Associated Press
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Critic Reviews for Hercules
All Critics (104) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (42)
Everything Guardians of the Galaxy gets right with its mix of action and comedy, Hercules botches.
The story is fairly straightforward, and, more importantly, so is much of the action.
The battle scenes, though rousing, fall short of epic. But it's reliably fun to watch - up until the brutish, smudgy conclusion ...
It simply fails to exploit its assets: an amusing, revisionist take on the mythological strongman, and the charisma of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
"Hercules" heaves and grunts along, interrupted by battle scenes that are visually impressive (when's the last time you saw someone pick up a horse and throw it?) but emotionally uninvolving.
The movie is plagued by a split identity: It's half-slog, half-Mel Brooks.
The movie could use more of its surprising if intermittent wit and less of its unsurprising if efficiently staged sword-and-sandal violence.
Prejudicado pela irregularidade do roteiro e por uma direção que transforma as sequências de ação em momentos de puro tédio.
This is mythmaking for dummies, a "Hercules" with no poetry, only incompetent brute strength. But Ian McShane had a good time.
It's Dwayne Johnson, the artist formerly known as "The Rock," playing Hercules, the strongman demigod of Greek legend. Movies don't come any more basic, and straight-forward, than that.
May be a more tongue in cheek approach to the legend and anti-hero, but it works well as a breezy action adventure with a slight comic bent.
Its incredible competence prevents it even from being ironic, campy fun.
Best to skip this arid endeavor and instead watch Joel and the Bots tackle Hercules Against the Moon Men on MST3K.
Predictable adventure has lots of violence, decent actors.
Color me "surprised" in regards to Brett Ratner's Hercules, an unexpectedly thrilling, smart and at times moving new take on everyone's favorite demigod.
The preposterously pumped Dwayne Johnson confidently steps into the reinforced sandals of the legendary ubermensch for a terrific swords-and-shields action spectacle.
The film absolutely delivers in the realm of Dwayne Johnson participating in massive fight scenes and epic battles.
The result is a film of which I can't exactly recommend one rush out and see right away, but when one does decide to give it a shot, I think you'll be surprised by how entertaining Hercules actually is.
Ratner has fashioned an adequate action-adventure around Johnson's horse-heaving he-man, a hero who's still larger than life even after the legend has supposedly been stripped away.
This movie has impressive production values and it looks great, especially in 3D. The battle scenes are well staged and there is excellent stunt work. The story is compelling and the characters are interesting.
It's the humanising of Hercules - demi-god, mercenary and legend - as he combats betrayal, treachery and revenge, that gives this big budget spectacular an appealing point of difference.
Often dumb as a box of rocks, but still likable and fun, "Hercules" is an entertaining frenzy of battle action and full-on comedy.
like Clash of the Titans without titans or much clashing going on
The surprise is that -- for what it is -- it's really not that bad. This is not a recommendation, but neither is it a condemnation.
We still haven't gotten the Hercules film we fully deserve, but this version is entertaining enough.
Audience Reviews for Hercules
not quite dull, but certainly not good. stripping away the mythology was a really bad move. the opening sequence would have made a much better film than what we got. brett ratner strikes again.
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Super Reviewer
The classic strongman of myth gets a makeover in this, as he is the leader of a band of do-gooder mercenaries (wrap your mind around that ... do-gooder mercenaries, a hoot!) who use the old legends to bamboozle the yokels and not merely the solitary Superman archetype of prehistory we've grown to love. This twist broadens the cast base and so a team of reliable character actors hold the film up when sweaty muscles prove dull. No surprises, but not a total waste either, with more soap opera plotline than the legend usually carries.
MoreSuper Reviewer
What happens if you make a Hercules movie but take out all the unique things that make the classic hero who he is? Would he still be Hercules? This question is at the heart of director Brett Ratner's newest film, and it's better than expected, which is a nicer way of also saying it's not as bad as it looked like in its terrible cheesy advertising. It might be the most entertaining Brett Ratner film yet for what that statement is worth.
So, who is this Hercules? Besides looking like The Rock, he's a mercenary who leads a band of warriors that are carefully left out of those widespread tales of his heroics and derring-do. Hercules' nephew (Reece Ritchie) is the mouthpiece for the group, spinning the tales into epic poetry. There's also a female archer, a sarcastic second-in-command good with throwing knives, an animalistic swordsman, and an older spearman (Ian McShane) who is given fleeting prophetic images, mostly about his own death. There's a reason these people aren't described much beyond their character-defining weaponry. This gang is hired by Lord Cotys (John Hurt) to protect his people from a Thracian warlord who rumor has it is a centaur. Could he be? Have you been paying attention?
Depending upon your tastes, you may either find this new approach refreshing or feel completely ripped off. It does seem that all of those cool glimpses of Hercules going through his grueling trials, fighting giant beasts, doing generally Herculean acts, well it was all comprised to the opening two minutes, which is why I feel no spoiler guilt over revealing the true nature of the movie. It's not really a Hercules film. Yeah, The Rock is just about the closest living example of a modern Hercules (he shouldn't have the hobo beard, though), but it's in name only. Whether this is a stopping point is up to the viewer. It does seem like a disappointing bait-and-switch to tease out what promises to be an epic with giant mythological beasts, and I feel like the audience has every right to be irritable they have been denied this. But if you move beyond this legitimate gripe, the resulting movie is actually serviceably entertaining, which again sounds like a backhanded compliment unless you remember how truly lousy it looked from its initial goofy trailer.
The plot is predictable at every step of the way, except one character I swore was going to be a backstabber due to pigeonhole casting surprised me when they turned out to just be another underdeveloped yet loyal sidekick. Other than that, and I apologize for the vagueness of that sentence, this is a movie you can accurately predict without having to even watch it. The mercenaries are hired for a cause, perhaps they'll start feeling differently about what they've been called in to do, get more involved, and then oh no, perhaps the heroes and villains were all mixed up after all. The plot structure is at its most simplistic (mild spoilers, but really, come on): Act 1 break - they take the mission. Act 2 break - oh no, the guy was bad all along and they've been working for the wrong side. Act 3 is then essentially battle and vengeance against the true villains. There's almost an admirable efficiency to its formula plot mechanics, including the tortured hero back-story over his slain family and the forced reveal of who was behind said slain family being slain. If you don't want to overwhelm your brain, then Hercules will do.
Free of the rigors of being original or complex, the movie is open to accomplish its minimal goals of entertainment, and to this end I would call the movie a mild success. The action is involved just enough to keep things interesting, especially when Hercules and his battalion are beset on all sides by green-skinned guys who, for whatever reason, hid in holes in the ground. There's a primal joy watching The Rock carry around a giant Captain Caveman-style club and gleefully beat people with it, especially when the recipients fly like 30 feet in the air. There's a pleasure to be had with a stripped down and somewhat dumb action flick where everyone is running around in leather or loincloths. The action is more Hercules by way of Conan the Barbarian but without the monsters and sorcery. There's a fun running gag where McShane's character keeps thinking he's come to his final moment, the death that has been prophesized, only to be denied it time and again, causing some slight frustration on his part. The pacing is also swift enough that you won't be bored for long periods of time.
But at its heart, this is still a rather block-headed action film with questionable choices. While scrubbing the supernatural elements from the story, this still exists in the unbelievable world of Movie Land where the good guys can do anything. The archer never runs out of arrows. The good guys never miss. At one point, Hercules topples a 100-foot tall marble statue like he's Samson. So even though it wants to be a more grounded take on the legend, it's still filled with all that silly impossible action movie stuff we see all the time. Then there are just small impractical things that exist only for the fact that someone thought it looked cool. There's a secondary villain (Peter Mullan!) who prefers to use a whip made of a spinal cord. This can work in one-on-one confrontations but in the open field of battle, with men churning all around, it seems like a rather poorly ineffective weapon. Lastly, there's a trite message about the power of believing yourself. See, Hercules needs to believe he's a worthy hero and he'll rise to the occasion. All you have to do is believe in yourself and anything can happen... if you happen to be The Rock or look approximately like him.
This new spin on one of the oldest heroes is generally entertaining, that is, if you can accept the bait and switch of its premise, robbing Hercules of his godlike abilities. It's like doing an action movie about Greek mythology but taking out all the mythology and just having a bunch of dudes poking each other with spears and swords. Actually, it's exactly like that. With Ratner at the helm, you know there's going to be a ceiling, but the film is so unabashedly clear with its simple intentions that I found it hard to grumble, and so just soaked up an average action adventure with one of the genre's best leading men. As far as summer action vehicles go, it's got just enough going for it, but see all the other good films first. Make a list. Check it twice.
Nate's Grade: B-
Super Reviewer
Here is a perfect example of a movie that is much better than it should have been. Based on the trailers I expected this to be cheesy and a real eye roller. Heck, the only reason I saw this in the theater is because my Dad is a big Hercules fan. But, I am so glad he is, because this movie is awesome! The previews make it seem like Hercules is battling all these creatures in a CGI fest. But that is all flashbacks, and this is about the man behind the legend. It's much more grounded than I expected, and it works amazingly well! The film has some great humor, especially from Ian Shane, whom is no comedian at all. The Rock(ain't no one callin him Dwayne Johnson), IS Hercules. He is the perfect choice, and so very believable in everything he does. Of all the summer movies I've seen so far in 2014, this is by far the biggest surprise. There's a big scene that even gave me goosebumps and made me damn near cheer in the theater. Great story, great cast, and phenomenal action. Don't let this movie pass you by because of it's weak trailers. "Hercules" is what Summer movies is all about.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Hercules Quotes
- Amphiaraus:
- Excuse me, that was my moment.
- Hercules:
- You're welcome.
- Lord Cotys:
- Excuse me, that was my moment.
- Hercules:
- You're welcome.
- Hercules:
- You have it within you to write your own legacy.
- Hercules:
- The king of this land has offered me gold to dispose of you. You can leave or die. I get paid either way.
- Autolycus:
- I hope the enemy has a sense of humor.
- Autolycus:
- Don't just stand there. Kill someone!
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