Hercules is a myth, a legend, the son of Zeus, a great warrior who defeated old creatures, daemons and the most dangerous animals. Hercules has traveled all around the country, he has helped and supported his king, Eurystheus the beloved king of Athens, till the day something obscure and tragic changed the course of events.
With a past unknown and a group of loyal comrade-in-arms under his command, Hercules nowadays can be recruited for a bag of gold, and together with his fellows he can beat your worse enemies or chase away your hidden fears. Hercules is a legend so no one is surprised when Lord Cotys asks his help to protect his own kingdom: he needs to build a new army, to hunt a man who is a ghost, a killer who leaves death behind him for an unknown reason.
Photo credit: Kerry Brown © 2014 Paramount Pictures Corporation and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Picture Inc. All Rights Reserved
“Hercules” is the new film starring Dwayne Johnson as the semi-god popular in many stories and legends, in books and in graphic novels. And from a graphic novel (Radical Comics’ “Hercules” by Steve Moore) it draws its plot. The result is a sumptuous, amusing and deeply entertaining movie, that cleverly keeps itself miles away from peplum stories in favor of a war movie with a lot of action and a couple of turning points that accelerate the rhythm dragging the audience into the battlefield side by side with its new heroes.
Dwayne Johnson is also known as The Rock, at his performance in this film will tear down any doubt you might still have about the reason for that nickname. He is solid, his muscles are gigantic, his figure is impressive, and in some passages he looks so unreal to perfectly suit the role of a myth, the idea we all have, he embodies our dreams. Not many actors have such a mix of humanity and supernatural look as Johnson has. And the light sarcasm every now and then gives an extra nice allure to the whole picture, embellishing it.
Photo credit: Kerry Brown © 2014 Paramount Pictures Corporation and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Picture Inc. All Rights Reserved
In “Hercules” there is a great equilibrium between the fictional characters and the performers: the cast is impressive (e.g. John Hurt and Joseph Fiennes play two ruthless Lords with passion and care as only great actors can do) and everyone does his/ her best to become a mythological figure. We forget the men, the actors, in favor of their characters. Indeed, the graphic novel comes out of its pages (in IMAX 3D!) and turns into a total experience.
This film is exactly what you expect, what you are looking for on those Friday nights out with friends and what you want to see when Dwayne Johnson, his oiled muscles and veins triumph on a poster. This movie has got a great chance to win the “battle“ of the box-office (nowadays the most important one) and to offer a great charged-up parenthesis from reality. It is high quality entertainment for a wide audience.
Vissia Menza
Special thanks to my friend and great translation supervisor Seth D.
