Hercules(2014) movie review

I am always fascinated with mythology especially Greek myths and one reason was because of Hercules. Of all the demigods and heroes, Hercules was the most used in the popular culture. The reason was obvious because of his twelve labors.

Photo courtesy of UIP

In Greek, he was originally names Heracles. But when the ancient Romans adopted the Greek religion, the Olympians including demigods, and Titans etc. were given Roman names. The name Hercules was the most used in popular culture than in original Greek ever since.

There were lots of Hercules adaptations even before I was born. The ones I watch during my childhood was Lou Ferrigno, who did two movies as the title character. As for this movie, I find it different from all the Hercules shown in the TV and movie combined. Dwayne Johnson did well playing the iconic demigod.

Usually, the stories in Greek myths were told by second-hand source who are usually poets. Most of the time, these stories are romanticized and taken literally as told. Since it was just translated from ancient Greek, we are not sure if these stories did really happened. This is also the premise of the movie. It makes the viewer judge for themselves if Hercules did all these impossible feats. The Hercules here is more grounded than the usual stories.

Just like 300 which really happened, it was also adapted from a graphic novel. But don't expect closing-credit scene. Hercules is now showing in Philippine cinemas and is released by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures Philippines. For more movie reviews, updates about geeky movies and more; follow this blog or like the L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook.