Hercules

I just finished watching this on Sci-Fi, and rushed online to see if I could order the DVD. This is also the first online review I have ever felt motivated to make OF ANY MOVIE.

IMO this is THE best done Hercules movie I've ever seen, primarily because the message. The point of the movie was not the heroics, nor the political intrigue, nor the subplots, nor the eye candy (though, I have to admit Paul Telfer was certainly that! then again, I've always been partial to dark hair and blue eyes... *purr*) or about the special effects. It was about an ordinary man who, through his actions and determination, fought back against the prevailing beliefs of his day, to come to the ultimate self-realization: I, AND NO ONE ELSE, DETERMINE MY DESTINY.

I watched this journey with my 10 year-old son, and in addition to the above, found example after example of courage and morals demonstrated. (Wish it was a little less gory in spots though.) The second biggest lesson my son took away from the movie was how Hercules, though it wasn't completely "his fault", took full, unremitting responsibility for his actions, and made every effort to make full restitution and make the wrong right. In contrast, we have the dumb-butts who took no responsibility at all for their actions. Wow!

Absolutely great miniseries. Great cast and locations. Don't get caught to this pointles 'it isn't word for word Hercules story' complaining. That's just pointles. Story id of course very loose take on the legend but it doesn't matter since this movie and not a book Also great acting from everybody. Paul Telfer was great as Hercules and did great perfect job. Much better than Sorbo ever could. Real surprise was Timothy Dalton who obviously really had fun doing the role and it showed as great performance. Same with Perkinks as evil mother.

Only negative side is that special effects aren't very good at times.

Great movie ! Watch it. Can't wait for the 4 hour version !

I had hoped it would be better but... well it never got better. If you just wanted some man meat, there you have it. The graphics were - sorry, I kept laughing at the centaur and I am a HUGE Robert Taylor fan. I almost felt bad for him that the CGI was so bad. They could've made it so much better - I could've photo chopped something better! And I swear, if Linus had started talking about a ring, I so would've busted up laughing.

I know they meant well - really, they did.

The locations were pretty cool but again, I felt like I was watching a bad remake of Lord of the Rings.

My guess would be this was originally going to be at least two parts, and thus at least a quarter longer, because otherwise how can one explain its confused, abbreviated storyline. I was never completely lost, but I was often partially lost and usually unclear on character motivation. The movie feels as though joining plot points were dropped to squeeze it into its time slot.

If it were longer, it might make more sense, but it still wouldn't be much good. The movie's most interesting idea is of the war between Zeus and Hera as being a war between the male and female, but the movie drops the ball on this, making Hera's followers fairly horrible while not being clear on what Zeus' followers do or believe. The movie is also interesting because you don't see the gods and there's no real certainty that they exist. So it's got a couple of intriguing ideas, but it doesn't do anything useful with them.

Bad dialog, cardboard characters, and one interesting scene involving Hercules and his three antagonistic sons. Not unwatchable but also not worth watching.

Not as bad as I anticipated. This frequently felt like the matinée movies of my youth with Steve Reeves et al, although a bit bloodier (but not necessarily more violent, however) and, unfortunately, talkier. OTOH there was a more interesting use of sexual politics, IMO a plus.

Judicious use of the mute button would solve the latter problem and make for a fun popcorn movie. Some might call the SFX cheesy - for me they were a nostalgic reminder. There was some abrupt, seemingly abbreviated, editing from time to time. I wonder if we might see an (as they used to say) European version on DVD? (Hey, that beats calling it the much overused "Unrated".)