The Legend Of Hercules
Renny Harlin
Director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, 1990) serves up an entertaining romp here packed with spectacle and action. With the help of handsome sets and CGI, he brings the ancient world of mythic Greece to life.
The film draws on the stories surrounding the demigod Hercules, son of Zeus and a mortal woman. In one sequence, he wrestles and kills the ferocious Nemean Lion.
Too bad the creature looks patently fake, so it is a good thing the film is not focused on the canonical 12 labours of Hercules.
Instead, there is family drama and romance as Hercules clashes with his elder brother, heir to the throne, over the beautiful Hebe (Gaia Weiss).
There are also bloody battles and intense death matches, filmed in loving close-ups and lingering slow motion.
Kellan Lutz, best known for playing vampire Emmett Cullen in The Twilight Saga film series, gets leading-man billing here. He brings muscles and a suitably stoic heroism to the beefcake jock Hercules, who must learn to accept his true identity and his destiny.
Channing Tatum will have to start looking over his shoulder.
(ST)