The Legend of Hercules: All Around Awful

By now we know how this story goes.  Hercules (played by Kellan Lutz) has otherworldly strength as the son of Zeus. After his forbidden love affair is revealed his stepfather, the king, sells him into slavery.  He must fight to the death time and time again as a gladiator in the arena. And using his special abilities will be the only chance he has to defeat his father, assume power and restore peace.

This isn’t even so bad it’s good.  It’s just bad, bad, and more bad.  Of course this film was released in the same year as The Rock’s Hercules…  So I once again question, is Hollywood all out of ideas? I’m sure we can all answer that by now.  Even still, I wish they’d try a little harder.

Sometimes you hope the action will be the saving grace for films like these, but even that’s not the case. It was pretty laughable.  It’s one thing if the movie is completely self-aware of its ridiculousness, but this film really tried to take itself seriously.

In the theatre I thought I quietly whispered to my friend that a certain actress was pretty terrible as she delivered a line that was every direction of fail.  But my comment was met with giggles from people surrounding me, so I guess I can assume they agreed.

I don’t dislike Kellan Lutz.  I’m not a fan of Twilight despite how hard I really tried (I made it through 4 books and 2 movies, folks!) At the very least I can appreciate his looks.   But he is just not leading man material and he isn’t even remotely believable as a period actor. I didn’t think Twilight was his best work either. I think he is at his best as a supporting character in action flicks, at least for now.

I’m a big fan of the Spartacus TV series so I was excited to see Liam McIntyre starring in a film.  You’d think he would be right at home in this type of setting.  But I didn’t find his performance as believable here as in the show. I chalk that up to the director.

Overall, it is by far one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in a theatre.  I can’t recommend this film in any way, shape, or form. Watch SyFy if you want to see a bad movie that’s at least entertaining.

Rating: 1/5

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