Hello everyone!
So last year (yes, for real), I noticed that there were two Hercules movies coming out within the span of a couple of months: The Legend of Hercules (starring Kellan Lutz) and Hercules (starring Dwayne Johnson). The Legend was the first one I sat down to watch, but then I had to wait a bit before I could get to Hercules, since I went to the seaside for a month during the summer period, and then sort of forgot about it. Oops. Anyway, I finally got around to watching the second one too! So this review will sort of be a comparison of the two movies, and also a general recap of them both. As you can probably tell, both of them obviously deal with the Greek hero who was rumoured to be the son of Zeus, named to please the goddess Hera, but she was generally pissed off that her hubby dear had another bastard brat on Earth, and decided she wanted to do away with him. How's that for family love? And we thought the Mikaelsons had it rough ...
So, let's start with Legend, since it came out first, and sadly it was a box office flop, since it grossed even less than its starting budget was. The general story there is one of love: Hercules is in love with the princess Hebe, but he can't have her because, you know, paternity issues - and an annoying other guy who we all agree to hate -, so he's shipped off into slavery, then comes back, kicks ass, and gets the girl and kingdom. (Wow, wouldn't my teachers be proud of me for being able to sum up a two-hour movie in one sentence? I remember that usually took me FOREVER to put together. Not this time.)
In contrast, the Rock's movie does things a little bit differently, the story being that the Twelve Labours of Hercules are heavily fictionalized, and that our hero has a group of mercenaries who help him against the odds; they come to Thrace where they're employed by its king - or would-be-King - to put down a civil war, which turns out to be a hoax, and so they switch tactics and dethrone the king instead (actually, Hercules squishes him under a marble Hera statue, but you get the idea). This movie was also a relative success at the box office, since it managed to double the initial budget they all started out with.
So what went wrong and what worked?
My personal opinion is that Legend wanted to be a big, serious movie, but fell short because of so many obstacles in its way (the acting was a bit wooden and not that realistic, the story was a little bit out there even for the demigod Hercules, and trying to be too serious just ... didn't work). In contrast, the second one never tried with the whole serious thing - it just sort of fell into place while the Rock was busy throwing horses around as fast as witty one-liners. The characters he portrays on screen are usually badass and funny (Hobbs or Roadblock, anyone?), and Hercules was no different.
That being said though, Kellan Lutz has his own value, because honestly, I would lie if I didn't admit I liked looking at him running around in a loincloth. I was actually frustrated when they covered him up in a wool tunic or whatever. Sue me, I'm still a woman!
But the Rock's performance was just better, sadly; if they could somehow combine that with Kellan's looks? Perfection.
Back to the second movie, I also enjoyed the female protagonist, but then again Rebecca Ferguson was amazing in The White Queen already, so I didn't expect any different from her. From all the hype they made about Barbara Palvin being in the movie too, I was afraid they'd try to force a romance with the main hero (which would be just ... no), but she only appears for a minute in flashbacks. Huh?
In other news, where Legend fell short with supporting characters, Hercules had it all with Rufus Sewell finally getting a role where he doesn't play the bad guy; rather, he was Captain Obvious in this one, an 'oh sh*t' master, and I think he secretly enjoyed hollering orders at stunt men who represented the troops. John Hurt nailed it as well, of course, and Ian McShane went all Blackbeard, I'm sorry, seer in this one, foretelling his own death time and time again and waking up to join the discussion when he was least expected.
Okay, yes, it's fairly obvious which of the two movies I preferred the most. Bottom line? I have to agree with the general consensus, and I hope Kellan's next movie is better than this one was.
As for the Rock?
Which of the two movies did you prefer, if you've seen either?
xx
*none of the images are mine
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