The past few years have seen an endless string of movies based on classical Greek mythology. In fact, just in January, The Legend of Hercules told the love story of the greatest Greek hero, which the majority of the world agreed was awful. That certainly didn’t discourage Brett Ratner (Prison Break) from producing Hercules, which is adapted from the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars by the late Steve Moore rather than the original myth. We expected it to be just as bad, but we’ve never been gladder to be proven wrong.
According to the Greek myth, Hercules (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) is a demigod—son of Zeus and a mortal—hence his godlike strength. Thrown into a fit of insanity by Zeus’s jealous wife Hera, Hercules kills his wife and children. To repent for his wrongs, Hercules has to perform the 12 Labors, all impossible tasks involving deadly mythological creatures like the Nimean Lion, the Eight-headed Hydra and the Erymanthian Boar. His completion of the tasks renders him Greece’s greatest hero. In the myth, Hercules is helped by deities. And this is one of the differences between the myth and the film. Instead of deities, Hercules has six companions. They travel around as mercenaries, fighting not for glory but gold. King Cotys of Thrace (John Hurt) hires them to train his troops and fight those of the warlord Rhesus (Tobias Santelmann), who is believed to be attacking Thrace.
Johnson and his rock-solid muscles take center stage as strongest-man-ever Hercules, and he doesn’t disappoint. He shines in battle scenes, roaring orders majestically and fighting ferociously. His six companions, though underdeveloped, have awesome skills (both in fighting and mythmaking) and personalities that kick the film up a few notches. The film keeps exciting and not-too-predictable plot twists coming one after another. It also features grand-scale action scenes with decent CG and slow motion in the right places. Battles are great and gory, with chariot chases, arrows flying and brutal beasts. Action-wise, it’s hugely entertaining.
But what we appreciate more is the approach to the re-telling of the myth. Tag-lined, “Before he was a legend, he was a man,” the film is given a human spin that deconstructs the demigod myth and questions what it takes to be a hero. On the one hand, there’s the usual warrant that only with divine blood can one be a hero, which the film initially exemplifies by having Hercules dubbed “son of Zeus” whenever his heroism needs illustration. On the other, there’s a focus on the human aspects of Hercules who reassesses his values and rises up to his own myth, becoming a hero on his own terms. The absence of gods in this movie speaks volumes.
The deconstruction is nicely done with neat attention to detail. It does feel good when a film expected to flop actually flips and exceeds expectations (that aren’t too high to begin with). Believe it or not, enjoying Hercules isn’t such a herculean task.
