Kellan Lutz stars in “The Legend of Hercules” as the son of Zeus, conceived as a result of a desperate plea by his mother Alcmene, played by Roxanne McKee to the goddess Hera for a way to stop the power hungry King Amphitryon, played by Scott Adkins.
Review Score: 3/5
When Hercules is caught showing his affections to his brother’s promised bride, played by Gaia Weiss, he is sent to Egypt by the king who hopes to have him killed prior to his eldest son Iphicles, played by Liam Garrigan, who is ascending to the throne.
This film has gotten as far away from the source material as possible. Without getting into some of the real nitpicks, this demigod is Hercules in name only.
While the distance from the source material could be forgiven as artistic license, that doesn’t give the film an excuse to be a desperate attempt to rip off both “300” and the “God of War” video games. This is chiefly seen through the overuse of mostly unimpressive slow-motion sequences that didn’t need to be in slow-motion as well as some really poorly produced CGI.
This movie was converted to 3D during post-production, and it really shows.
The fake-looking CGI looks phonier, and the green screen effects look worse, than what you would see in television shows such as “Once Upon a Time” or “Legend of the Seeker.”
Lutz comes across as a poor man’s Chris Hemsworth, making even Liam Hemsworth look like Sir Lawrence Olivier. His acting, while showing potential, didn’t create a very believable Hercules, or even a believable hero in general.
This is not helped by how the film is mostly reluctant in showing the supernatural and fantastical elements of the myth, only to suddenly introduce those elements during the third act and expect the audience to take it seriously.
This was not a good interpretation of Hercules, nor was it even a good adventure film.
It felt like someone was playing “God of War” and “Ryse: Son of Rome” while intermittently watching “300” mixed with episodes of “Spartacus,” only to jump up and suddenly decide to make a movie. It felt like the director was too ambitious for his own good.
If you’re really craving some Hercules and don’t want to wait for the Dwayne Johnson film coming out this summer, at least wait for “The Legend of Hercules” to come to Netflix if you’re that desperate. Otherwise, just watch the Kevin Sorbo series.
“The Legend of Hercules” gets a 3/5.
