'Hercules': Critics like the Dwayne Johnson film more than January's 'Legend of Hercules'
If you feel as if you just heard about a Hercules movie hitting theaters, you鈥檙e not imagining things.
The movie 鈥淗ercules,鈥� starring Dwayne Johnson as the mythological hero, hits theaters today, and it鈥檚 the second time this year that a movie about the Greek half-god has been released. The film 鈥淭he Legend of Hercules鈥� starred 鈥淭wilight鈥� actor Kellan Lutz and was released this past January. 鈥淟egend鈥� was directed by Renny Harlin of 鈥淭he Long Kiss Goodnight,鈥� while 鈥淗ercules鈥� is helmed by 鈥淭ower Heist鈥� director Brett Ratner.
Interestingly, beyond their title hero, the movie鈥檚 characters don鈥檛 seem to overlap too much. 鈥淟egend鈥� features Hebe (portrayed by actress Gaia Weiss) as the romantic heroine 鈥� Hebe is traditionally Zeus and Hera鈥檚 daughter, who performed tasks on Mount Olympus like helping her mother and serving as a cupbearer before becoming Hercules鈥� wife. Meanwhile, one character in Johnson鈥檚 鈥淗ercules鈥� is Megara (played by actress Irina Shayk), with whom Hercules traditionally has two children. In addition, according to reviews of Johnson鈥檚 鈥淗ercules,鈥� the hero seems to be more mundane in the new film, with the movie suggesting that perhaps Hercules鈥� divine parentage was no more than a story to impress friends and enemies alike.
鈥淟egend鈥� was not well-received critically and currently holds a score of 22 out of 100 on . So is 鈥淗ercules鈥� doing any better? So far, many reviews say that the movie is an entertaining and fun experience. writer Scott Bowles awarded the movie three stars out of four, writing that 鈥淸Johnson and Ratner have] made a sword-and-sandal spectacle that entertains鈥� this聽Hercules聽proves surprisingly knowing of the legend 鈥� and surprisingly willing to tweak it鈥� The sets are spectacular, and the 3-D battle scenes, particularly an ambush early in the film, avoid devolving into a morass of blood, swords, and severed limbs鈥� 鈥楬ercules鈥欌�� stands miles above this year's 鈥楾he Legend of Hercules.鈥欌��
writer Scott Foundas found the movie 鈥渁 grandly staged, solidly entertaining, old-fashioned adventure movie that does something no other Hercules movie has quite done before: It cuts the mythical son of Zeus down to human size鈥� for all the handsome craftsmanship, [Ratner] never tries to deny the Hercules story鈥檚 intrinsic schlock value.鈥�
critic Peter Bradshaw also found that the movie reveled in its cheesiness, calling it 鈥渃heerfully ridiculous and entertaining.鈥�
