We all know the Disney story of Hercules; He was the son of Zeus and Hades sent him to earth in order to kill him and as a result Hercules became a demigod and defeated Hades. However, this movie is clearly much different than that story. I must also say that this movie has no connections to the previous Hercules movie that came out earlier this year. This is a completely different Hercules for a completely different audience.
The story begins when Hercules was born and instead of Hades wanting the boy dead, it's Zeus's wife Hera who wants him gone. Yet the boy proved too strong, so she sends him on 12 great trials, promising that if he completed these tasks he would be left alone. However, that's not where the true story begins...
The true story begins some time after the 12 trials, with Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) and his band of mercenaries saving his nephew and driving out pirates for the king of Athens. Unlike the superhuman-like character that is depicted in legends Hercules uses the aid of his group to defeat the pirates. After the battle is won the group seer, Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), receives a vision that lion and crow would walk a field of corpses.
Our heroes return home where we learn that Hercules' family had been murdered three years earlier. While they enjoy their rewards the group is sought out by Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson), daughter of Lord Cotys (John Hurt), who seeks Hercules' help in stopping the civil war of the kingdom Thrace. Hercules goes to the king and, after learning that a man named Rhesus (Tobias Santelmann) wants to take over the kingdom, proceeds to train the soldiers of Thrace for battle.
After finally capturing Rhesus, Hercules discovers, through Ergenia, that Lord Cotys was in reality the actual person who wanted to take over the kingdom. Rhesus only wanted to defend it and give it to thee rightful ruler, Arius (Issac Andrews), Ergenia's son. So confronting Cotys about the betrayal Hercules is taken prisoner where he is forced to accept who the legends say about him and discovers who murdered his family. He frees Ergenia and Arius from Cotys, kills his family's murderer and battles the Thracian army. In the end Hercules defeats the mad king and the army, recognizing the error of their ways, bows before Hercules, chanting his name.
This is definitely a different take on the Hercules character than we have ever gotten before. Sometimes it worked for me, sometimes it didn't. But now whenever I think of Hercules, instead of thinking about the 1997 animated Disney movie, I'll be thinking of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's portrayal and the impact it had throughout the film. Don't get me wrong, this movie is great, but it's far from perfect. For example, how did the head of a lion, which looks massive, shrink so much as to fit perfectly on Hercules' head? All throughout the movie the graphics were very noticeable and the action was great for the short amount of time the movie runs.
The movie has some foul language, yet it's mostly expected from that era, the action scenes are very violent and somewhat gruesome and there are a few scenes of nudity throughout the film. Even though the movie is rated PG-13 it really likes to dance on the edge of the "R" rating, so unless you're perfectly comfortable with taking your kids and younger teenagers to this sort of movie I would highly recommend this movie for people 16 and over.
On a scale of 1 to 10 I will have to give Hercules a 7. It's not the best movie to see during the summer, but it has decent action and a good story. Dwayne Johnson truly does put in all his heart into making a character we can all enjoy.
Thanks for reading this movie review. Be sure to come back each week for new movie reviews or for nerd/movie talk. Until the next movie, Josh Williamson.
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