Myths and legends about the exploits of Hercules (Dwayne Johnson), the son of Zeus himself, are known throughout Greece, but only Iolaus, Hercules’ nephew, who composes fables about his uncle almost on the fly, knows how much they correspond to the truth. In reality, Hercules is a mighty, but by no means invulnerable, mercenary, traveling around the country with a group of loyal henchmen in search of earnings. His next employer is the Thracian king Cotys (John Hurt), whose lands are ravaged by the evil rebel Rhesus with his countless army, in which, according to rumors, there was even a place for centaurs.
According to Dwayne Johnson, Hercules’ beard was made from yak pubic hair.
Brett Ratner is a living embodiment of cold Hollywood craftsmanship, a phenomenally mediocre director who, when taking on another project, seems to be most afraid of doing something wrong. He never takes risks and cuts corners until the films under his leadership turn into shapeless jelly - and вроде there is nothing to complain about, but the eyes stick together by themselves. Even in the absolutely frozen almanac of cinematic stupidity “Movie 43”, Ratner had the most “safe” segment - about the battle of Johnny Knoxville and Sean William Scott (even the choice of actors is “telling”, they say, these are famous freaks) with an unfriendly leprechaun with the face of Gerard Butler.
A year before the release of the film, Johnson’s cousin, also a wrestler Tamina Snuka, wrote that she had received a role in “Hercules”, and even posted her photos reading the script, but we could not find her in the rental version of the film.
Hercules: A Surprisingly Good Fit for Ratner’s Style
So, “Hercules” is the case when Ratner’s “neitherfishnorfowlness” came in handy for once, for the second time in his career. This happened 16 years ago, in “Rush Hour”, and this is largely symbolic, because the current Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is, in fact, Jackie Chan of the Western world. A big, smiling good-natured man who helps, instructs, sets an example - you look at least at his Facebook, where he either hugs female fans (nothing “like that” even comes to mind!), then writes how he is inspired by disabled people, then posts photos in which, in between filming just “Hercules” in full battle gear, he plays “patty-cake” with a charming three-year-old girl.
The Rock, whether you like it or not, is now an ideal role model for teenagers, and “Hercules” is in many ways an ideal “role-playing movie”, which in plain text, without abstruse metaphors and cunning symbolism, conveys simple, obvious, but not necessarily primitive things. That a person creates his own destiny. That hope for the gods, but do not fail yourself. That the strong must protect the weak. That mistakes must be corrected. That we are responsible for those we have tamed. At the same time, in “Hercules” there is no desire to somehow “shove” these truisms, Ratner is too unsophisticated and straightforward a director for this (this is not only a curse, but in some cases, it turns out, also a gift). And therefore they are perceived surprisingly favorably, even if you are no longer thirteen years old.
Action and Charisma Abound
By the way, for its PG-13 age rating, “Hercules” is quite bloody and brutal - that is, purely externally, the line between it and, for example, the notorious “Conan” with Jason Momoa is quite shaky. At the same time, the film is packed to the brim with excellent action, and Ratner has selected actors of rare charisma - even if for the most part they have to play not characters, but walking functions. Especially in this regard, the trashy effeminate Joseph Fiennes stands out, who appears in only a couple of scenes and wildly contrasts with everything around him, but still “pulls out” the role, makes his hero memorable.
The Marketing Misstep
The only thing that can seriously spoil “Hercules’” karma is its advertising campaign, which tries to “sell” the film as a fantasy epic, which the film is by no means. The promised twelve labors of Hercules are rattled off to us in the first five minutes of the film by Iolaus suspended over a stake (and we saw all these scenes - with the Hydra, the boar and the lion - in the trailers), and then a completely down-to-earth and (to a certain extent) realistic movie begins, where centaurs turn out to be ordinary riders, and a three-headed cerberus is a trio of wolves. In principle, there is nothing terrible in this, but among the people who come to the cinema for one movie, and watch a completely different one, there will certainly be many dissatisfied.