Movie review: This Film is more Rock than Hercules
Film: Hercules
Director: Bratt Ratner
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Rufus Sewell, Ian McShane, Ingrid Berdall, Joseph Fiennes
Rating: Three stars out of Five
Story: The mighty Hercules (Johnson) is presented in a revisionist light. Not only does he have to kick some serious ass, he also needs to silence his inner demons and defeat an evil king.
Directed by the famously Brett Ratner, this film in which we get to see some awesome action, some decent wisecracks, a superheroes lead actor with rippling muscles, and hardly any story.
the film has Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as the mythical son of Zeus. However, instead of the superhero we expect, he is a mercenary who uses the tales of his divine parentage and superhuman labours to woo new clients and scare prospective enemies.
Hercules also hides a dark secret. It all comes tumbling out when he is hired to defend the kingdom of Thrace against an enemy which may or may not be centaurs. The aged king Lord Cotys (John Hurt) needs to train an army to fight this bad sorcerer and Hercules is just the man for the job. 
His 12 labours accomplished, we catch up with Hercules after he has been driven out of Athens and is living like a “mercenary”, battling pirates and fighting other people’s wars for gold. As Hercules lets us know, legend may require him to have won battles all on his own but for most he has had his faithful band of the seer Amphiarus (McShane), his childhood friend Autolycus (Sewell), a fierce warrior stunned into silence because of the cruelty he has seen, Tydeus (Hennie), Amazonian warrior Atalanta (Berdal), and his nephew who is the official raconteur of his exploits.
The latest war Hercules and his friends are lured into is being fought by Lord Cotys of Thrace against his enemy Rhesus. However, Hercules doesn’t have to win just this battle but also his own demons (including the killing of his wife and three children) if he has to find any peace.
Johnson soldiers on in this role, tailor-made for him, even doing justice to his lion mask. And Ratner impresses in how he mounts some of the war set pieces. However, having been beaten to this space by 300 and others before, this film is more Rock than Hercules — clearly earthling-aimed than godly.
