New To Blu: The Legend of Hercules

The Legend of Hercules: Trash, Treasure, or used Toilet Tissue?


"Constipation!!!!!"


It's a good thing they called this The LEGEND of Hercules, because it doesn't have much to do with the stories found in Greek mythology. New to Blu Ray and DVD today, most of the names are the same as the classic literature, but they took a lot of liberties in making this a B-movie popcorn affair.
The laughably bad parts were, surprisingly, few and far between. There's a fight between Hercules and a CGI Lion that has worse graphics than most Xbox 360 games. During an arena fight, Hercules' enemy jumps up on a tall railing, draws two swords, and jumps at our hero. In the next cut, where he jumps down toward Hercules, the swords are missing from his hands!
There are a few scenes where it looks like the actors are standing in front of backdrops donated by the local public school's fifth grade art class. I also cracked up at the presence of modern WWE wrestling moves in Greece circa 1200 B.C., including the choke slam, suplex, and back body drop.
To be fair, the movie flows competently. Director Renny Harlin knew exactly what he wanted to make: A generic popcorn movie that would appeal to teenagers who can't get into R-rated movies yet. He uses 3D effects pretty well, but not in any ways you haven't seen before.
"Enough of this violence!
Can we just get to
the gladiator sex already?"
The actors chew through the dialogue with proper British accents, fortunately never taking their parts too seriously (well, except for Scott Adkins, who does a pretty bad Gerard Butler impersonation for most of the movie). The hardest thing about describing this movie is trying to put it into a specific genre. I think it's the first time I've ever seen a movie with so much action that still qualifies as a chick flick. That's it! It's an action chick flick.
Ladies and some men will go gaga over Kellan Lutz as Hercules, who doesn't wear a shirt in the movie at all, at least to my recollection. Hercules never waivers in his good hearted nature, existing only to be reunited with the love of his life, Hebe, who's (naturally) been designated to marry Hercules' half brother, Iphicles, who's basically the "Loki" to Hercules' "Thor" from The Avengers.The half-brothers did a good enough job of playing their roles to have me cheering for Hercules at the end. There was enough action to keep me interested, and the movie never really bogs down in pointless dialogue.  Definitely worth a look on rental, but buyers beware of mediocraty.  


-Tom McDaniel