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The Legend of Hercules DVD review

Betrayed by his step father, a tyrant king, exiled and sold into slavery because of a forbidden love, Hercules (Kellan Lutz) must use his formidable powers to fight his way back to his rightful kingdom. Through harrowing battles and gladiatorial death matches, Hercules embarks on a legendary odyssey to overthrow the king and restore peace to the land. Can this ordinary man become a hero and legend?

Blazed across some of the posters and home entertainment covers, this film has the line ‘From the makers of Olympus Has Fallen’. It also boasts of having Kellan Lutz in the title role (most will know him from the Twilight films as one of the Cullen brothers). Here he gets to take his top off numerous times and flex his muscular body in every scene.

So it seems from those two elements, this film would have a bit of something for everyone. But you need a decent and engaging storyline, and we aren’t saying that The Legend of Hercules is dull, but it struggles to truly grasp what made this man fight for everything he wanted, what made him fall and how he climbed up the ranks. This movie just can’t convey an interesting and strong word-based story. Instead it’s left to fighting, fighting and more fighting. The gladiatorial battles are so stagey that it looks as if they are doing it in slow motion and the filmmakers have pitched up the speed in post production.

Of course, most are here for the fighting. But let’s face it, this type of action has been done to death over the past decade. It rips off Gladiator and 300 in so many places that it made us want to watch those instead. This offers nothing special or new or even blood thirsty, in fact we never see a single ounce of blood come from any of the action scenes. All of it is cut away from to ensure a lower viewer rating. It’s a complete cop out from those involved just to sell more DVD’s to a supposed younger audience. However, they seem to have forgotten that the younger audience today is currently watching Game Of Thrones in all its gory detail.

Lutz tries his best in a role that clearly isn’t designed for him, but he gets to flex his muscles and do the heartthrob smouldering looks thing. But beyond that he cannot show any other type of emotion or acting ability. Lutz aside we seem to be wallowed in a cast that is mostly from English TV. Scott Adkins looks, sounds and feels nothing like a king. Then we see Hollyoaks babe Roxanne McKee pop up for a major female role. A role that requires nothing but looking sexy whilst the wind blows her hair and baggy clothes against her tight body.

The Legend Of Hercules is as shallow as a pond in the Greek desert; it can’t offer anything interesting on this immortal legend and instead tries to invoke sexiness through Lutz and McKee. This sandals and swords film gets thumbs down from all in the arena.

Mark Searby
Mark Searby
Film critic for BBC Local Radio. Author of Al Pacino: The Movies Behind The Man. Addict of The Wire. Long-suffering supporter of NFFC.

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