“I’m not entirely sure why I wanted to see this one, on what was going to already be a busy weekend. It feels like Hollywood has been trying to make a trend out of mythology, and it hasn’t quite taken off. I tend to be unimpressed. I think if Dwayne Johnson wasn’t involved with this one, I would have given the film a pass without a second though. But he brings some street cred with him. And I hadn’t heard too much about it, so curiosity was still piqued without anything warding me off.
Story wise, it was the sort of dull plot built around supposedly epic fighting and lots of images of scantily clad sweaty actors. What I did really like about it was the tone. It wasn’t going for the regal and somber and polished feel that you tend to get with these. The attitudes were more modern. You could feel the snark and sarcasm in Johnson’s glare. There was present day slang thrown in. I later learned it was based on a graphic novel, and the feel of it is there. Less reverence. More grit.
No matter how much I enjoyed the tone, it still wasn’t enough to save the film. Maybe if it hadn’t gotten off to such a slow start. We jump into a story, then get hung up on some ridiculously long action sequences. We’ve made it halfway thru the run time without much advancement. Then things started to progress really rapidly, at a pace that would have better served the first half. By then I was already lost and checking my watch and plotting my next adventure. Just another summer blockbuster to be quickly forgotten
Hercules – \m/ \m/ \n