Film Review: Hercules

Hercules. Rated M (violence, blood and infrequent coarse language). 98 minutes. Directed by Brett Ratner. Screenplay by Ryan Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos. Based on Radical Comics’ Hercules by Steve Moore.

Verdict: Radical Comics make a stupidly entertaining entry into big screen Comic Book universe.

There is more than one way to skin a lion, it would seem, as Radical Comics (after a piece of Marvel’s box office pie) make their high-impact entry into the world of big screen adaptations. And if this entertaining piece of big budget schlock is anything to go by, they are a welcome addition to the fold – if only for entirely different reasons. Hercules is a message- and moral-free zone, existing for one reason only, which is to entertain.

Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) somehow manages channel the great Mel Brooks, Monty Python and his own peculiar taste for unhinged cinematic pandemonium into an irreverent sprint through the Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) fable. Johnson, who is re-writing the book of what you need to possess in order to have a lucrative acting career, is fantastic as Hercules. The camera cannot get enough of him, and he obliges with all kinds of face-pulling and posturing, while also handling the comedy and the high drama in thunderingly good form like the supremely entertaining showman he really is.

Veterans Ian McShane (as the weary ‘Seer’ Amphiaraus) and John Hurt (as the vengeful Lord Cotys) bring presence and entertainment value to the show in equal measure, with McShane working all the best laughs to his absolute advantage as he expects to die courtesy of a flaming arrow at any moment.

As our hero and his cohorts trample all over the place killing everyone and everything that gets in their way, it becomes impossible not to simply marvel at how wonderfully silly it all is. Silly, entertaining, and done and dusted in half the time. Marvellous.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.