The Legend of Hercules (2014)

Oh boy. What a ride, so much greatness. Ed Wood would be proud.

The Legend of Hercules. This caustic comedy doesn't start at the minute 0 of the movie. The movie in itself is just the tip of the iceberg, to fully understand all the implications and subtlety of this story you have to be familiar with the background. This is NOT an easy movie. Just like Citizen Kane it's a movie you need to DESERVE, as it will not give itself to you too easily.

It all starts in a rocking chair next to a swimming-pool. Summer is shining, life is good, whiskey's on the rocks. Some old guy with sun glasses is on the phone, talking while playing Candy Crush.

"I'm telling you, people want a gladiator movie. Just like Gladiator, something like that! (Sweet.) Just freaking do something like the series Spartacus, or Rome, I don't (Tasty!) give a damn. I want the script in one week. (Sugar crush.)"

One week later 10 screenwriters come up with 10 different scripts. For a movie 10 times better, the guy in the rocking chair decides the movie will be a blend of the 10 scripts.

He puts 70 million dollars on the table.

The movie is now shot and it's kind of very bad, just how it was supposed to be. It doesn't matter anyway because people just have to go to the cinema once, it's alright if they don't like it and don't come a second time! HA!

Worried, some guy calls the money-guy in the rocking chair.

"-Hey, I've been thinking, we should use a famous name from the mythology in the title! It will bring more people!

-Asklepios?

-Eeeehhh, well to be honest I was thinking Hercules...

-Oh, alright then."

And so The Legend Of Hercules was born. This movie is not a story, it's money invested and hope for a return. If you make a bad movie but you hit some landmarks: Hercules, mythology, gladiators, somewhat-famous actors, then you'll probably make money.

You have to understand the true, deep nature of this movie. The Legend of Hercules is a cry for help, a poetry, a game-changer. The actual purpose of this movie is to impact the global industry, to make producers realize that, no, bad movies actually DON'T WORK, and they are not easy money.

A simple, honest, gladiator movie with no fake big name like Hercules, with no fake romance, with just a guy fighting and living in the roman empire would have made more money. It is time to leave the path of using the same recipe over and over again. This is the one and only message this movie conveys, successfully.

I hope you'll appreciate The Legend of Hercules as fully as I did.

Fmovies: Hercules is not entirely a disaster, as one might expect. A low-budget PG-13 adaptation of 300-style movies made in Bulgaria, this movie is in line with the expectations on what Renny Harlin is capable of.

While not being a disaster on a whole, it's a disaster in parts. The special effects, while being descent 3D images at times, are badly connected with live shots. There are many moments when perspective of such sequences is distorted in really obvious (and unintentionally funny) ways. There are numerous anachronisms. Characters use costumes and jewelry that could not be available in ancient Greece. Screenplay, while not being completely absurd, has some rather awkward dialog lines and unexplainable plot moments.

Unfortunately, the movie is not a Hercules legend but rather a shallow love story and family drama. There's even a bathing scene in a romantic- looking pond with flowers under a waterfall (the water in the pond is so dirty though that one can only feel pity for the actors). There are no heroic deeds of Hercules depicted in this movie.

One last blow for Hercules is PG-13 rating. There's no blood at all. When swords pierce bodies, they re-appear absolutely clean. When one of the characters was struck in the neck, the next shot showed his neck without a sign of a would or even a drop of blood. One of the few things the movie managed to deliver were some dynamic battle sequences; but PG- 13 made them look fake. In the age of 300 and Spartacus TV show, this is not something you want to waste your time on.

Unless you wish to add to a surprising $8 mln box office success after its first weekend, which will probably make this movie more profitable than most other current releases.

This is probably why we do not see many quality swords and sandals flicks, most Hollywood producers are worried about the "badassness" of the film rather than a quality experience. Unfortunately, the drawing rooms are most likely filled with ideas about actors in costume jumping in slow motion to attack the bad guy and other senseless special effects a la Transformers.

I guess what I am saying is that newer technology and more special effects are not always a good thing, specially with a swords and sandals movie, Hollywood will continue losing money on movie tickets because they are missing the point, sometimes less is more.

This movie really was awful, I hope The Rock's Thracian Wars will give us a more realistic feel of what a Hercules movie should be.

The Legend of Hercules fmovies. The Legend of Hercules is a film directed by Renny Harlin, and stars Kellan Lutz, Scott Adkins and Gaia Weiss, and revolves around the character of Hercules, son of Zeus, who was born solely to end the life of the King of his people, and unite the lands in peace, or something like that. I didn't pay too much attention, to be honest!

This movie is horrible. It's clichéd to pieces, poorly directed, horribly acted and disastrously written. All the dialogue feels so god damned forced, and makes it incredibly difficult to latch onto any of the characters. Whenever they speak... It's like someone saw Spartacus or Game of Thrones and went "Well, now I certainly know how people of that era spoke!" and wrote a screenplay, full of fancy words and shallow speeches. You don't feel like a single word here is sincere; from Hercules speaking to his clichéd, forbidden love Hebe (Yeah, that's right; his forbidden love's name is Princess Hebe), and from the King to his son... It's all atrocious! The screenwriter also saw the speeches in Braveheart and LOTR: Return of The King and went "Well, we obviously need a battle speech!" and wrote a bunch of big speeches that were emotionless, and couldn't have been more forced. I'll move on, cause I could go on about the dialogue for days!

The acting... It's too much! The main actor, Kellan Lutz, came from Twilight... So you knew from the beginning you were in for a bad ride. He's completely emotionless, stale and you not for one second care for his character. His forbidden love, played by Gaia Weiss, is equally horrible! The only reason she was cast, obviously, is because she's pretty damned hot! Scott Adkins, though, leads the way in crappy performances! His entire performance revolves around him yelling every single word. He could be speaking to his wife in private, and still find the need to yell every word to her. It was dreadful to watch! The only decent performance was delivered by Liam McIntyre, who plays Hercules's friend and comrade. He could actually deliver the lines with a bit of power, emotion! Despite his decent performance though, the rest of the cast deserves Razzie's. I'm calling it people; every single actor and actress here will get nominated at the Golden Raspberries this year! That is not good!

The action is horrendous. Remember 300; that badass film about Spartan's kicking a bunch of Persian's asses? And remember how it used to go into awesome slow motion every once in a while during the fighting, when a sword was plunged deep into a body, or someone hit another over the head? Well, they do it here! And is it good? Hell no! They overuse it to pieces, and by the end of the film, you can't help but cringe every time it occurs. The action in general feels weak. There is never a moment in this film in which you worry for Hercules. You always know that he's going to beat his opponents, and that makes for fights that have you bored and uninterested! When the great hero Hercules lacks peril in his fight scenes, you have a problem.

The CGI here is again, horrible! All the green screen looks like it could have fit right into a 1980's action flick. For a film coming out in 2014, that's not a good sign! All the CGI aspects of this film look incredibly fake, and mixed in with the terrible live sets, it makes for a difficult experience. I'm so thankful I did not see this in 3D, I certainly wouldn't have been able to stand it all. And the extra admissio

The Legend of Hercules spoiler free review

This movie is HORRIBLE. Where do i start. The acting is just laughable and bad. Kellan Lutz is bad as Hercules (Hopefully Dwayne Johnson will do better in the next Hercules movie). Every line is said horribly. Did i mention the dialogue is BAD.

The script is horrible. It has nothing to do with the original mythology. It tries to be like 300 and Gladiator but fails horribly. The romance is so cheesy with the worst romance dialogue i have ever heard.

Are the action scenes good?....No....Far from good. It always uses slow motion just like 300 (which was used better) but it was obnoxious and gets old and annoying.

The visual effects and green screen is horrible and this movie has a budget of over 70 million dollars!!! What?! Movies with lower budgets look more convincing then this.

Overall rating 1/10 One of the worst movies i have seen all year and we're still in January!!! Hopefully the Brett Ratner version is better and obviously it will be. You can't get lower than this.

Step aside, Kevin Sorbo, we have a new man for the role of Hercules and his name is Kellan Lutz. If you have no idea who Mr Lutz is, check out his appearances in the Twilight instalments.

Anyway back to The Legend of Hercules. As the title suggests, this is an origin story that sets up the demigod character. Despised by his father King Amphitryon (Scott Adkins) since the day he was born, Hercules - the son of Zeus and Queen Alcmene (Roxanne McKee) - is sent to war after failing to elope with his true love, Princess Hebe (Gaia Weiss). King Amphitryon favors his elder son, Iphicles (Liam Garrigan); unfortunately he is not warrior material let alone lead a kingdom and winning the heart of Princess Hebe. As fate would have it, Hercules survived the war and returns to reclaim his love and kingdom from the wrath of King Amphitryon.

The poster reads From the director of Cliffhanger and Die Hard 2 - it's unfortunate they forgot to add in the fact that both were movies from more than twenty years ago, and Renny Harlin's directing career has long been sunk by a certain Cutthroat Island. Let's face it; The Legend of Hercules isn't going to resurrect Harlin's status in Hollywood anytime soon.

While similarly themed movies such as 300, Immortals and Clash of the Titans are known more for their visual aesthetics than storytelling, The Legend of Hercules failed miserably on both accounts. Filmed entirely in Eastern Europe because of cheaper costs and taxes, Harlin's movie mimics the feel and look of its predecessors while pretending to strip down to the grittiness of that era. However every single set piece looks like a cheap knock-off, right down to the CG extensions - case in point, one seriously fake looking puppeteer lion looks even worse than that in cable series Spartacus and Rome.

Written by at least four credited writers (one of them from the terrible Conan the Barbarian remake and Harlin himself), it is such a shame that the supposedly mythology-inspired story instead resembles Ridley Scott's Gladiator more than anything - if you recall, Maximus, was also betrayed and sold to slavery but made a comeback for revenge. We didn't realize that the legendary Greek hero Hercules actually ventures on the same path until now.

Unimaginative plotting aside, the movie suffers from incredible clunky, modernized dialogue peppered with a variety of British and American accents and awful delivery from the actors. With the exception of McKee and Adkins (surprisingly turning in a solid performance), most of the cast members - especially Lutz - needs to sign up for advanced acting classes. Minus off all the disemboweling, limb and head severing and bloodshed you normally would have expect from such a theme (an obvious attempt to lure in younger audiences), The Legend of Hercules quickly dissolves into a predictable yawn fest.

It's a tad disappointing that a movie about a demigod with incredible strength fares without emotion and plays like generally a mere paint-by- number adventure. Comparing to the 1997 animated feature by Disney, this one is hardly worth the time.