THE LEGEND OF HERCULES

Synopsis –A retelling of the story of Hercules as he fights to claim his rightful place Whenever I see a film based on Greek myths or other world legends I am always amazed at how the miracle and medium of cinema can be used to make these ancient stories so utterly boring. This film is a prime example of an exciting legend turned into mildly enjoyable mediocrity. Problems occur right from the start with the approach of reinventing or reimagining the story - just to be clear, reinventions can be exciting and breathe new life into a story - but not this time. Reinvention in this case consist of a plot that would have been a cliché back in the days these stories were first told - (“He fights for the love of a woman” - oh come now Hipricus that is so 500 BC). None of the interesting creatures from Greek myths turn up, except for a supernatural lion that is dispatched rather easily. Here’s a hint - when your main character is the son of Zeus and has Hulk- like strength, don’t put him up against men with swords – it’s not too difficult trying to work out who’s going to win. It’s not that the Legend of Hercules is a disastrously bad film, the action scenes are well put together (albeit heavily influenced by 300), and I can’t say I was particularly bored but could have been so much more, well, epic . Given that this was always going to be a spectacle-driven film, where’s the spectacle? Even the final battle consists of about fifty people on each side – that’s about the usual amount of people involved in a pub fight in Glasgow on Saturday night. In short, this film will entertain but just not half as much as it could have FINAL VERDICT 5/10