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EDITOR'S PICK
Fast-paced
`...Hercules` leaves viewers gasping for meaningful cinema (IANS Movie Review)
Rating:
***
`The Legend of Hercules` is a perfect example of how too many cooks spoil the
broth! With four writers credited with the script, one would expect a perfect
piece of entertainment. But instead, what you get is a cauldron of insipid,
generic and lacklustre entertainment!
Apart from the sheer opulence of a period drama, director Renny Harlin's
"The Legend of Hercules" is a shallow re-imaging of the mythological
Greek hero Hercules, the son of Zeus.
The film begins on the outskirts of Argos in circa 1200 BC, where two warring
commanders indulge in a one-to-one battle in order to avoid bloodshed, a
voiceover reveals: "A victorious war is a chronicle of grief," and
indeed it is.
The inciting moment of the tale is when, Queen Alcmene realises that her
husband, King Amphitryon, "the slayer of kings", blinded with greed,
is not only ambitious, but also dangerous. She appeals to goddess Hera for a
solution to stop the king's madness.
The goddess appears before her and grants her a boon. A child of Zeus born
through her would save the land from the hands of the evil king. He would be
named Hercules.
Amphitryon, who is aware that Hercules is not his son, ill-treats him.
Twenty years later, Amphitryon plots to kill Hercules when he is on an
expedition to Egypt after he realises that Hercules is in love with Princess
Hebe, who is already promised to his son Iphicles, the heir apparent.
Hercules along with Sotiris the commander of the mission, survive and are sold
off as slaves. They end up as gladiators before returning to Greece to start a
revolt against Amphitryon.
Kellan Lutz makes a charming Hercules. Apart from him being macho and fearless,
the script does not permit him to display much of an emotional graph. He
oscillates from being a timid brother and obedient son to a caring and
understanding friend and leader.
Scott Adkins as Amphitryon matches Lutz in performance and stature.
Roxanne McKee as Queen Alcmene, Liam McIntyre as the brave commander and loving
father Sotiris along with Liam Garrigan as the devious and conniving Iphicles
are strikingly impressive in their roles.
Gaia Weiss as Princess Hebe is pretty stiff whereas Rade Serbedzija as Chiron,
the priest, is wasted.
The sets are massive and recreate an authentic look and feel of the era. The
costumes designed by Sonu Mishra are imposing and remarkably striking. It is the
best thing in the film, which gets an extra star in the ratings.
On the surface, Renny Harlin's "The Legend of Hercules" has all the
ingredients to be a mega blockbuster, but unfortunately, the film is formulaic
and lacks consistency in texture and tonal qualities. That's because the
director has made generous use of scenes and situations from famous films
especially, "Ben- Hur", "Gladiator", "Spartacus",
"Iron Man 2" and "300".
Also, the performance of every actor is perfect individually, but there is no
synergy between the main actors and stock characters making the film look absurd
at times.
Similarly visual compositions are uneven and erratic. The computer-generated
images, particularly the animated Lion and the often shown full moon, are
substandard.
Likewise, the well-choreographed fight sequences are poorly edited making the
entire experience look ridiculous, clumsy and lumbered.
Overall this 99 minutes saga is fast paced that never pauses for a breather, but
leaves you gasping for some meaningful cinema.