Hercules

Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Ian Mc Shane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell, Aksel Hennie, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Tobias Santelmann, Reece Ritchie, Joseph Fiennes, Peter Mullan, Rebecca Ferguson, Isaac Andrews, Joe Anderson.
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Runtime: 98 mins. Reviewed in Jul 2014

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Rating notes: Violence, blood and infrequent coarse language

Another Hercules film. He was a popular character in the sand and sandals costume dramas of 50 years ago. He has been impersonated by Lou Ferigno, the original Hulk. And then there was the bizarre Disney film of the mid-1990s. Is enough enough?

Actually, there are many reasons for enjoying this version of Hercules. He is embodied by Dwayne Johnson, formerly the wrestler known as The Rock, more latterly quite an interesting actor, doing serious roles, but not afraid to do tongue-in-cheek spoofs. Another reason is the solid British cast of veteran actors, notably John Hurt as the King of Thrace, Ian McShane as a veteran seer, Joseph Fiennes as the King of Athens, Rufus Sewell as one of Hercules warriors, Peter Mullan as the King of Thrace’s implacable deputy. They all have their big moments, most especially John Hurt in his conspiracies, taunts and comeuppance.

But the main interest in the film is not something you would expect in this kind of high-budget matinee material. It is demythologising.

Demythologising?

The film opens with Hercules’ nephews telling the tales of some of his 12 labours. They have their graphic and special effects moments. But then there is an interruption questioning whether the 12 labours ever actually happened and whether Hercules really was (again despite our seeing some of the scenes of his birth) a son of Zeus and a mortal mother, detested by Zeus’s wife, Hera, and banished to fight the 12 labours and return to become a god. Hercules agrees with the debunking, thinking that legends have been spun about himself, his origins and his feats, turning him into something of a superhero, which he declares he is not.

And this theme continues throughout the film, sometimes seriously, sometimes with a sense of humour.

The main action concerns Hercules being persuaded by the daughter of the King of Thrace to come with his band of followers to resist enemies and consolidate the kingdom. Most of the men are farmers, no idea of military strategy and tactics. Hercules and his band, which include his nephew and the seer as well as a mutant warrior whom he had rescued and the Amazon, Atalanta.

They do a very good job, in fact, of training the men after some initial failures, so that when the two huge battle sequences turn up, that Thracians are a very disciplined military force, able to resist all kinds of attacks.

For those who like a good stoush, they will be more than satisfied with two as well as a climactic finale when Hercules is betrayed, is about to die, but fate steps in (or at least, the warrior, who decided to quit the band and taken the gold reward from the King of Thrace’s) turns up and it is open slather. And it is quite some slather, Hercules overturning huge bowls of flames which descend on the dissenting troops and destabilising the basis of the huge statue of Hera which falls down on Hercules’ foes.

The film was directed by Brett Ratner, whose films include the three Rush Hour films as well as an X-Men film, The Last Stand.

Even critics came out of the screening more satisfied that they expected to be!