The Legend of Hercules (2014): Movie Review

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What I could say overall for this film was,

Really? Is that how the great story of Hercules was supposed to be?

The more I watched, the less the story has become.

I have to say, I have to write this review before I could even finish the film. There's only one word I could generalize it: mediocre. I was just bored. I almost couldn't tolerate watching by the first half hour. It doesn't make me feel for it like what I had felt for movies of the mythology genre like Troy or historical action like The Gladiator, and The Last of the Mohicans or historical action brimming with romance like Braveheart.

The reason why I don't compare it to 21st century mythological movies like Wrath of the Titans and The Immortals is because I think that the filmmakers try to imbue the feels that the aforementioned movies were able to generate. And I have to say, they failed just at that.

I could see how they try to achieve vainly the romance that Achilles and Briseis of Troy perfectly executed (like straight from the books), the brotherly love Achilles had for Patroclus, the wrath Achilles felt for Patroclus' death (in comparison with that part where Hercules finally embraced his destiny). Or even the call of duty and nationalism Wallace of Braveheart (even though it was driven by the loss of his love) and General Maximus of The Gladiator had. They even failed to replicate the atmosphere for the fight to the death as a slave warrior like what The Gladiator did. Gerard Butler's tv movie, Atilla was even better than this huge release.

I just hate it that Kellan Lutz just about killed Hercules (no, not that idiom). It's as if Hercules' fame is tainted. Not that I could blame the actor, I'd point my finger to the filmmakers or the director in particular. But I had to say, Kellan Lutz going husky or dropping more his already baritone voice with some romantic scenes totally ruined the romance for me. He sounded too lame. On the other hand, the girl or Hercules' princess [Gaia Weiss] has the looks and even her acting is fine. The problem is, the storyline and sceenplay are just terrible that her acting is wasted. One exception, her awe-inspiring speech (or maybe that was just the book):

I declare to you that I love another.
He's the reason I want to wake up in the morning and embrace the day.
If you so wound him that his face were unrecognizable to me,
I would love him.
If his tongue is cut from his throat and I hadn't his voice to delight me,
I would love him.
And if you make only a memory of him,
I would love him even more eternally.
That is what you have to look forward to.

As to where that comparison with Achilles and Patroclus was drawn from, that would be from Sotiris [Liam McIntyre]. Ever since he was introduced in the film, he was the only character I was rooting for. Well, I find him really shady at the beginning. So I was taken by surprise at how he turned out to be, that all throughout the film what I felt was fear of "losing him". Or maybe it's because I find this "new" movie actor handsome. That and his acting is good (I can't say it's great).

So yeah, Sotiris is the only reason I am grateful for this movie simply because I find the rest ridiculous. I hope I'll be seeing more of Liam McIntyre in the big screen in the future, just like Luke Evans ever since Fast Furious 6 and Eva Green since The Shadows.

Fight sequence (a la Gladiator) rate: Trying too hard

Romance: Girl is pretty but there's no chemistry

Battle Manuever (a la 300) rate: Lame

I just hope that if this mythological genre is going mainstream again, filmmakers will do their best to nail it. I already mentioned some films to draw the inspiration from, they should learn from them. This film just fell on the good example of a bad one.