Not your regular Hercules
Added 1/23/2009
I know the story of Hercules pretty well. It's one of my favourite myths from Greek mythology. I wish that they would have used his Greek name instead of the Roman version, but I think people would have been thrown off by that.
This movie is a revamped version of the myth and nothing like the Disney version. Hercules wasn't hated by his mother, but by Hera. In this film it seems to be his mother who does most of the hating and uses Hera as an excuse. The "fight" between Zeus and Hera's followers is based on the theory that Goddess religions were taken over by God religions. I don't think that was really necessary to put into the film.
But besides that, and the lack of going through the 12 labours, it was an OK movie. The acting was OK, the special effects left something to be desired at some points, but the main jist of the story was there. Hercules is a story that will be told and retold for the ages and this is just one version. I still like the originals better though.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Case in good condition - DvD not scratched - Slow shipping, but otherwise happy with purchase
0 out of 5 people found this helpful.
|
Overly long and droll
Added 3/13/2008
I love watching anything regarding mythology but this was a horrendous mini-series. To start with, most importantly and most noticably, the editing is AWFUL. Its all over the place and clearly noticable. It jumps way too much and you have to sort of get your bearings and remember what you just watched 2 seconds ago. It is very distracting and perhaps the most negative aspect about this mini-series. Secondly, the acting was, at times, cringe-worthy. I don't understand how a film with well-known accomplished actors could flub up so bad. I must say, I really liked Timothy Dalton in this. He was the only one who seemed genuinely interested in actually acting. The man that plays Hercules had his high and low points. I was even dissapointed in Sean Astin.
Also, if you are not terribly familiar with the story of Hercules, this mini-series will only complicate the matter. It is congested and just too messy at times to make sense. The script is poor and even for a mini-series, it was too long. Again, it mostly goes back to the bad editing. It just jumps annoyingly from one scene to another.
Visually, the film also fell short. I know the budget isn't grand but the effects at times were cheesy and appalling. I loved the look of the Cleopatra Mini-Series, and that is even older than this! All in all, I am actually surprised that I sat through the whole thing. I've only seen it once but I think the run time on TV was something like 6pm-12am. I would never watch this again. It was almost unbearable. I usually don't give anything a 1 star rating, but I feel that strongly after having to watch this awful series.
3 out of 5 people found this helpful.
|
Too much editing for an otherwise great movie
Added 10/18/2007
I actually saw part of this movie on the Sci-Fi Channel and thought it was a very unique re-interpretation of the Greek myth. The casting and acting, while not first class, were overall very well done and I was surprised that I actually enjoyed it tremendously and wanted to own the DVD. However, I do not understand they decide to issue an abridged version on the DVD, cutting out numerous scenes that are integral part of the story. Otherwise, I would give this a 5 stars. Try to catch the un-abridged series if you can on cable. The DVD does not do the movie/script/interpretation justice.
4 out of 5 people found this helpful.
|
Mythological Heroes
Added 7/9/2007
Im a big fan of mythological people this will go great along side of Clash of the Titans. I especially like Leelee Sobieski's character she is smokin HOTTTTT!!!!!
0 out of 5 people found this helpful.
|
