Review of The Legend of Hercules (2014) by Orlando O — 30 Apr 2014

The Legend of Hercules is a big mess for a fantasy action film that tends not to be taken seriously. It may be entertaining to some, but you would have to put acting aside, and a well-developed story.

The story could have been more developed but than again, the movie running time is around ninety minutes or so. It just jumped from place to place with Hercules (Kellan Lutz) battling it out until he seeks vengeance. The script also did not add to the movie, with flat one-sided characters. Hercules and his love interest Hebe (Gaia Weiss) on screen chemistry were also unbelievable and forced.

Kellan Lutz performance as Hercules is terrible. It may attract female fans that enjoyed him in Twilight. His acting did not improve as he blurts out his lines and gives a dull performance. As for Gaia Weiss, she did not add much of a performance but making her characters emotions too obvious to find believable.

The action sequences were terribly shot on screen; if it is the enemies shooting arrows at the good guys armor and the arrows disappearing a second after that shot. The editors may have not been playing close attention to some on screen errors. They could have at least have made the fight and action sequences a bit exciting but becoming a redundant swordplay clash. The visual effects were too obvious and felt cheap.

Renny Harlin has been going down hill in most of his films while providing some worthy films. His direction looked like it was trying to aim a cheap way of a storytelling for a mythological character. The visual effects also looked like it was going with the obvious 3D of throwing things towards the audience from Hercules lightning slash, boulders, or many objects. But whole effects looked cheesy and boring. The movie overall is a terrible tedious ride, while wasting a good mythological story.