Hercules [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

Umm, what was that?.......2007-02-12

All in all, this wasn't a terrible miniseries. In general, the acting was quite good, though there were times it was obvious the lead actor was chosen because of his physique rather than for his acting skills. Also, if you're expecting any great feats with the graphics, you will be sorely disappointed. While Sean Astin was obviously attempting to cling to his sidekick status from Lord of the Rings, one must question why it is that he never once aged. I don't recall it ever being said that he was any sort of immortal being, so, why, over the course of roughly 30 years, did he never get any older?

A B-film, but okay for the genre.......2005-10-27

It must be a Herculean labour to put together a miniseries dealing with this subject, and like so many of the recent attempts to make major classical figures into larger-than-life Hollywood icons, this one also falls short of the mark. Films such as 'Alexander' and 'Troy' for cinematic release, or the recent made-for-television series such as 'Caesar', 'Spartacus', and 'Helen of Troy' all set out with lofty, almost Olympian ambitions, but fail to deliver divine visions. The same is true here - relative newcomer Paul Telfer (also appearing in the above-mentioned 'Spartacus') certainly has the physique of a Herculean figure, and is a reasonable actor, but the dialogue is a bit stilted - I can't be sure if they wanted 'Greek Epic' or colloquial familiarity, and I'm not sure the writers and director ever quite decided, either.

The crew of actors is not bad here, so the acting is usually reasonably well done for a b-film (and so long as one keeps in mind that one is watching a b-film, expectations are held in check). Sean Astin plays much the same kind of role in this film that he plays in 'Lord of the Rings' - the ever-faithful sidekick, but without Tolkien's great character. Leeanna Walsman plays Megara, Hercules' first wife, reasonably well, without too much melodrama, despite the tragedy of her situation. Kristian Schmid as King Eurystheus is a bit flat, but again that may be the dialogue as much as the acting. Leelee Sobieski also does a good job with the role of Deianeira, the mystical figure who falls in love with Hercules and helps him in subtle ways on his labours.

The one great disappointment of this film is that the the CGI special effects seem to be rather ill-constructed and stand out as obvious insertions; it reminded me of the kinds of obviously phony inserted special effects from similar Greek epic and science fiction films of the 1980s. Surely the technology has been upgraded since then in the studios where this film was finished.

The labours are a bit shortened and modified somewhat from the legends, but for those unfamiliar with them, this is an introduction that will hopefully lead them to want to learn more. This is certainly far closer to the real Hercules legends than the Kevin Sorbo series of years past.

There is violence, but it is fairly muted, and some sexual content, but very mild even by soap-opera standards. Telfer never misses an opportunity to take his shirt off, Sobieski hints at being unclothed in a scene or two, but rarely does it get more erotic than that.

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