You don't go into a "Hercules" movie starring Dwayne Johnson expecting an epic with interesting plot points. Sure that would be nice but you primarily are going to see Dwayne Johnson just destroy things. He's a big dude playing a strong character. When you sit down you expect him to just be pummeling everything in sight. You don't get that in Brett Ratner's "Hercules". Instead, you get a fairly standard tale about a band of mercenaries who are paid to defend a town. Yes, the "Seven Samurai", "Magnificent Seven", "A Bug's Life" (yes, I went there) story. Johnson's size and strength almost seem to be suppressed on purpose in the hopes of making a more realistic Hercules story. While that is somewhat surprising, it also creates a boring and underwhelming experience. It makes you wonder if Johnson regrets all those hours in the gym when it is barely shown on the screen.
The stories of Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) are a carefully crafted myth designed to give him notoriety and publicity. Sure he existed and he definitely is strong but there were no massive feats of strength. He is the son of Zeus. There are no hydras. There is no three-headed devil dog. They are stories created by his nephew Iolanus (Reece Ritchie) so that Hercules and his band of mercenaries can get jobs. These stories attract the attention of Lord Cotys (John Hurt) who hires them to train his army.
"Hercules" might be one of the biggest "bait and switch" films in quite some time. The trailers show Hercules attacking several mythological CGI beasts. The truth is that these scenes are all shown in the first few minutes of the movie while Iolanus narrates the activities. As mentioned in the plot description (this isn't a spoiler), none of these events actually occurred. Hercules is not the son of a God. He didn't defeat creatures who has impenetrable hides. This is a somewhat gutsy way to write a story and definitely a gutsy (if not ill-advised) way to promote your film. You take such a popular character and strip him of his super powers, essentially. Imagine a superhero story where the main character doesn't actually have powers or talents. Would anyone want to see a Spiderman movie where he was just a gymnast in a homemade suit? How angry would moviegoers be if the trailer for this hypothetical Spiderman film showed scenes of him jumping and web-shooting but it was all a dream that was in the first several minutes. Again, this is a risky way to make your story and that deserves some amount of accolade. It can't be denied that audiences will be upset by the version of "Hercules" that is actually delivered in the full film.
There is no sense that Dwayne Johnson as Hercules is anyone all that special. Ratner seems to go out of his way to not focus on the physical strength and presence of Johnson. Whereas films like "Fast Five" or "Pain and Gain" seemed to purposing give Johnson shirts a few sizes too small to emphasize his physicality, Ratner almost wants us to see him as just a guy who looks pretty strong. Johnson is a 6'5" guy who has posted his insane workout regime for this film. He doesn't look big and imposing though. The camera is positioned above him often. There is no sense of size or strength. There are even moments in the film where characters comment on how they expected Hercules to be more gargantuan. While this may have been intentional in order to downplay his heroics, it doesn't make us excited or interested in what he has to offer. If you make a Hercules movie with Dwayne Johnson, we should expect him to just be wrecking people left and right. Instead, we get badly-edited PG-13 action scenes of him just hitting people with clubs. Hercules, myth or no myth, should be punching people out of their sandals. Anything less is a disappointment.
Ratner doesn't know how to film an action scene. He relies far too heavily on CGI accompaniments. This gives no sense of action or even excitement. When you think of the battle scenes of movies like "Braveheart" you are drawn in the brutality of the whole thing. There are all people doing real stunts. While a PG-13 "Hercules" could never be a fraction as brutal as "Braveheart", it can still be action-packed. The scenes feel like cheap edited-for-television "300" battle knock-offs. Every serious part of these fight scenes is CGI. CGI arrows aren't scary. They don't look real and they don't make you worried about the characters. They just pull you out of the element.
The acting and characterization in "Hercules" is a little better than expected. The members of Hercules team are mostly interesting and not just there to supplement our main character. Rufus Sewell is especially good as Autolycus. It is great to see Sewell not playing villains or a even a good guy who becomes a villain. They even give a strong role to a woman in the form of Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal), who is a vital part of the action scenes and the team. This almost makes us forget that the only reason for other women to be in this film is be partially naked. Almost. Hurt is good as Lord Cotys but it might be time to not accept every role he is handed.
"Hercules" is truly a movie for no one. It isn't action-packed enough for summer audiences expecting Johnson to pummel everything. It isn't smart and unpredictable enough to appeal to people who find an original re-telling of Hercules interesting. While it is never terrible, it just serves no real purpose. It is a $100 million film that will simply disappear like so many other films this summer. It makes you wonder what a director who knew how to film action scenes would have done with this. They no doubt would have been able to show that you don't need Hercules to live up the legend in order to captivate.
No comments:
Post a Comment