Hercules
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell, Ingrid Bolso Berdal
Screenplay by Ryan Condol and Evan Spiliotopoulos

I went into this movie with low expectations.  The movie industry’s track record for sword and sorcery movies (at least ones I’ve seen) hasn’t been too great the last couple of years.  And Hercules isn’t always a character they get right.

I was impressed.  While not a perfect movie, I thought it got a lot more right than it did wrong.

In this story, Hercules had completed 11 of his 12 labors and was living in Athens when his family was brutally murdered while he was in the house.  He remembered nothing about the murders.  Rumors began to spread that he had killed them, and Hercules was forced to flee Athens.

Now he makes his living as the commander of a small group of mercenaries.  They need one more good contract to call it quits and settle down.  That’s when the daughter of the king of Thrace shows up.  The kingdom is being menaced by a warlord.  She offers Hercules his weight in gold if he and his companions will help them.

Of course things are not quite what they seem… Continue reading →