.jpg)
Plot summary
Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) is the leader of a band of mercenaries comprising the spear-wielding prophet Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), the knife-throwing thief Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), the feral warrior Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), the Amazon archer Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and his nephew storyteller Iolaus (Reece Ritchie). Hercules is said to be the demigod son of Zeus, who completed the legendary Twelve Labors, only to be betrayed by Hera, who drove him insane and caused him to murder his wife Megara (Irina Shayk) and their children during a visit to King Eurystheus (Joseph Fiennes). Hercules has since rejected Zeus and chosen to live as mortal, and is tormented by visions of Cerberus.
One day, Hercules and his men are approached by Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson), on behalf of her father, Lord Cotys (John Hurt), who wants Hercules to train the armies of Thrace to defend the kingdom from bloodthirsty warlord Rheseus (Tobias Santelmann). Hercules accepts after he and his men are offered his weight in gold, and the band is welcomed to Thrace by King Cotys and General Sitacles (Peter Mullan), leader of the Thracian army. After training the army, Hercules and his men lead them into battle against local barbarians as a test of their strength. After the barbarians are defeated, Hercules and Sitacles confront Rheseus and his soldiers, believed to be Centaurs, but soon proven to be men on horseback. Rheseus is defeated and taken back to Thrace as a prisoner, where he is tortured and humiliated. Noticing that Ergenia has taken pity to him, Hercules confronts her and finds out Rheseus was merely retaliating against Lord Cotys' aggressive attempts to expand his kingdom, and, although Ergenia doesn't agree with his methods, she abides to them for the sake of her son, Arius, Lord Cotys' successor to the throne.
Description
- Directed by : Brett Ratner
- Produced by : Brett Ratner, Barry Levine, Beau Flynn
- Screenplay by : Ryan J. Condal, Evan Spiliotopoulos
- Based on : Hercules: The Thracian Wars by Steve Moore, Admira Wijaya
- Starring :
* Dwayne Johnson
* Ian McShane
* Rufus Sewell
* Joseph Fiennes
* Peter Mullan
* John Hurt - Music by : Fernando Velázquez
- Cinematography : Dante Spinotti
- Edited by : Mark Helfrich, Julia Wong
- Production company : Flynn Picture Company, Radical Studios
- Distributed by : Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
- Release date(s) : July 25, 2014
- Running time : 98 minutes
- Country : United States
- Language : English
- Budget : $100 million
- Box office : $137.5 million
Outside, Hercules and his forces battle Lord Cotys and his army. Arius is taken hostage, but then rescued by Autolycus, who has decided to return to help his friends. In the ensuing battle, Tydeus is mortally wounded while protecting Arius, but fights on slaughtering numerous Thracian soldiers. Hercules then pushes a statue of Hera from its foundations and uses it to crush Lord Cotys and many of his soldiers. The surviving soldiers bow to Hercules, and Arius takes the throne, with Ergenia at his side, while Hercules and his men depart in search of other adventures.
Cast
- Dwayne Johnson as Hercules
- John Hurt as Cotys, King of Thrace
- Rufus Sewell as Autolycus
- Ian McShane as Amphiaraus
- Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Atalanta
- Aksel Hennie as Tydeus
- Reece Ritchie as Iolaus
- Rebecca Ferguson as Ergenia
- Joseph Fiennes as King Eurystheus
- Steve Peacocke as Stephanos
- Peter Mullan as Sitacles
- Irina Shayk as Megara
- Joe Anderson
- Tamina Snuka
- Barbara Palvin as Antimache
- Tobias Santelmann as Rhesus
The film is directed by Brett Ratner. The producers are Beau Flynn, Barry Levine, and Ratner, with Peter Berg, Sarah Aubrey, Ross Fanger, and Jesse Berger serving as executive producers.
To prepare for the role, Johnson took on a grueling training routine, stating: "I trained and worked harder than ever for 8 months for this role. Lived alone and locked myself away (like a moody 260-lb. monk) in Budapest for 6 months while filming. Goal was to completely transform into this character. Disappear in the role. Press journalist asked me today, with the mental & physical toll the role had on me, would I do it again? Not only would I do it again.... I'd do it fucking twice."
Release
Box office
In North America, Hercules was released on July 25, 2014 at 3,595 theaters, and grossed $11 million its opening day and $29 million its opening weekend; it placed second at the box office, behind Lucy ($44 million for the opening weekend).
Hercules, described as "pumping some much-needed life into a lackluster summer at U.S. and Canadian theaters," did financially better than expected, as it "topped the expectations of analysts by roughly $4 million" and beat out Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which finished third with $16.4 million." Ray Subers of Box Office Mojo stated, "The fact that Hercules got close to $30 million is a testament to The Rock's ability to mobilize his massive fanbase." Paramount Pictures jointly released the film with MGM; head of domestic marketing and distribution of Paramount Pictures, Megan Colligan, "credited Johnson's 'charisma' with helping drive the opening," and added that the opening weekend total is "exactly what [they] had hoped for." The audience for Hercules was 58 percent male, with 64 percent over age 25.
Outside North America, the film was released in 26 foreign markets in 3,364 locations and earned $28.7 million. Hercules dominated the Russian box office with a strong $12 million debut from 930 locations. Australia had a No. 1 with $3.5M at 222 locations. Hercules also journeyed to several Asian territories where it had strong No. 1s including in Malaysia ($1.6M from 110), Philippines ($1.2M from 134), Taiwan ($1.2M) and Singapore ($1.1M at 27) IMAX was globally worth $6M with international repping $2M on 114 screens; over $1M came from Russia.
Critical reception
Hercules was met with mixed critical reviews, with general sentiment being that the film was a pleasant surprise to critics. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 62%, based on 98 reviews, with a rating average of 5.4 out of 10. The site's consensus reads: "Hercules has Brett Ratner behind the cameras and Dwayne Johnson rocking the loincloth – and delivers exactly what any reasonable person reading that description might expect." On review aggregator Metacritic, the film has a score of 47 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a B+ grade on a scale of A to F.
Scott Foundas, chief film critic for Variety wrote in a positive review that "It’s a grandly staged, solidly entertaining, old-fashioned adventure movie that does something no other Hercules movie has quite done before: It cuts the mythical son of Zeus down to human size (or as human as you can get while still being played by Dwayne Johnson)," and further added that "[Hercules's] strongest asset is surely Johnson, who continues to foster one of the most affable, guileless screen personas in movies today. Johnson may have been born with screen presence wired into his DNA, but he's gradually cultivated the skills of a canny actor who knows just how to play to the camera and whose brute physical prowess is cut with a sly self-awareness. More than anything else, it's he who gives this Hercules his human-sized soul."
Elizabeth Weitzman of New York Daily News stated, "It's fast-paced, funny, and packed with eye-popping action. The effects are impressive, but there are none bigger than the star Dwayne Johnson's massive powerful physique which perfectly suited to the character and the large-scale movie." She added, "Johnson makes his entrance wearing a conquered lion’s head and a loincloth skirt. The fact that he can pull this look off sets the tone for everything else to come."
By contrast, John DeFore of The Washington Post stated, "[The film] simply fails to exploit its assets: an amusing, revisionist take on the mythological strongman, and the charisma of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson." Critic James Berardinelli said, "A big-budget misfire of a sizeable order, a visually busy but emotionally dead endeavor that wearies the viewer with endless computer generated special effects while failing to provide a scintilla of human interest."
Controversy
Steve Moore, the recently deceased author whose name is used in the promotion of the film wanted to have his name disassociated from the adaptation, according to an interview excerpt with his friend, acclaimed author Alan Moore. According to Bleeding Cool editor-in-chief Hannah Means-Shannon:
- "In essence, Alan Moore’s account suggests that Steve Moore had been observing multiple drafts of his contract with Radical Comics over time and was firmly under the impression that he would receive at least a 'paltry' 15,000 dollars should a film be made, but upon closer investigation found that the final version of the contract had removed that clause without his attention being fully drawn to that fact. And therefore leaving him unable to make any legal claim to payment. That fact alone should be enough to give potential viewers of the film pause, but there’s also the fairly callous way in which his name has been used against his wishes to promote the film in a way that is, unfortunately, typically opportunistic of the film industry."
