Hercules

Starring the man who will ever be known to men as The Rock. True story, my girlfriend was saying this starred Dwayne Johnson and I replied 'no, it's stars the Rock'. "But Dwayne Johnson is his real name" she claims, but we men all know it's really The Rock.

Hercules is the story of...Hercules but in a totally non-epic way. Which was strange because I went in expecting something epic, much like Clash of the Titans etc, and what I got was more like the A-Team. Except set in Ancient Greece. 

If that sounds weird, it's probably because it is a bit weird. The premise of the film is that Hercules is just a really strong human mercenary whose nephew spread tales of his demigodness around so that he has an easier job at his mercenary work. After all, who wants to fight a demigod? So in the film, Hercules is human even if he is capable of insane feats of strength, which leave his parentage in doubt as well. 

Also in the film, he's got a team of fellow mercenaries. In fact, you might say it's his A-team. Together, they helped complete all the tasks he was famed for and they've been through thick and thin. Together, they get hired to help a king protect his kingdom from a bunch of rampaging bandits. Along the way, intrigue abounds as they discover that not everything is as it seems.

And this is where I hit the crux of the problem I have with the film. At no point in this film does it really feel like it needs Hercules to be the main character and not just a really strong random character. At no point does the main character feel like he's Hercules and not just a strong dude in ancient Greece. Maybe because they want to play up his whole 'mortal' part where the myths aren't necessarily true but then again, they could have easily picked one of the more famous parts of his legend to portray in the film. They even mention his 12 labours in the very beginning and I can't help but feel that MAYBE that would have made for a more exciting film than the current one we got. 

Sure it does have its action parts but it lacks the epic feel of what I would expect from any film that would use the name Hercules. Overall, it's a decent film, if very predictable and filled with archetypes than actual characters, but it's probably something I would only watch once and then forget because it just wasn't that memorable or enjoyable.