A different twist on the legendary character from Greek mythology... Dwayne Johnson does a noteworthy performance as the superhuman, God-like Son of Zeus! Special effects are amazing and the 3D technology really adds some emphasis to this tale of a 'betrayed' hero (watch it to find out how)! A nice addition to my movie library! I enjoyed it!!!

Last summer saw a rebirth of the Hercules legend with its genesis in Hollywood with Mr. America/Pro. Universe, Steve Reeves (the muscle man who was featured in comic books that created a generation of bullied youths who took up the sport with the view of payback) which later featured Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role model as an aspiring bodybuilder in Austria, the next major champion to defeat Steve Reeves as Mr. Pro. Universe, U.K.’s Reg Park (who was given first class travel arrangements and accommodations for his role), which will later be played by Lou Ferrigno (who had the most successful run of Hercules movies and whom most cinema audiences associate with the Hercules franchise), a role which Arnold will later assume in the box office flop Hercules in New York; given the fact that the last Hercules movie featuring Arnold was in the seventies, Renny Harlin figured it was time to reboot the entire franchise with a box office flop entitled, The Legend of Hercules, in the same manner that Rupert Wyatt deemed necessary to reboot the critically acclaimed Planet of the Apes franchise that was based on Pierre Boulle’s Ape Planet, which had a successful run in the seventies as a box office trilogy and was serialized for TV given its unsuccessful reboot as a franchise by Tim Burton, resulting in a similar reboot to the Hercules franchise this summer in a phenomena box office hit by Brett Ratner, featuring awesome CGI by Double Negative, and the most awesome physique since Arnold and Lou – with Dwayne Johnson, playing Hercules and the handsome Ingrid Bolso Berdal playing Atalanta, the only female heroine, with Hercules’ family being butchered by King Eurystheus – who spread rumors to the effect that Hercules had butchered his wife, Megara, and their three children, and deceiving him into believing that Rhesus was bent on dividing Greece, when, in fact, he had colluded with Lord Cotys, who had poisoned Ergenia’s husband to seize the throne by keeping the true heir to kinghood –Ergenia’s son, Arius, captive, and deceiving Hercules into believing that his father, Zeus’ wife, Hera, had beset him with the task of defeating twelve mythical creatures owing to jealousy over her husband having mated with a mortal woman, Hercules’ mother, Alcmene, and engaging Hercules and his band of mercenaries to train an army of peasant to rise against Rhesus (which gave birth to Obama and John Kerry’s strategy in Syria and Iraq).– who was the only one who rose in protest against Lord Cotys after he has poisoned Ergenia’s husband to claim the throne, with Hercules eventually uncovering the truth from Ergenia and turning against Lord Cotys, and defying his oracle, Amphiaraus - who had prophesized Hercules’ and his own death, to defeat an entire army he had trained to the point of invincibility and, thereby, claiming his rightful place as the legend of the true hero, which resides in each and everyone one of us, as Mariah Carey implied in her song, Hero.

This year of 2014, there have been two Hercules movies. The first, The Legend of Hercules, was decent, though it offered nothing unique. This one starring Dwayne Johnson has more development of the theme of courage and more unexpected plot twists. I approach most movies without a lot of expectations, knowing I’ll find a movie somewhat rewarding if the values, writing, and editing are good. This one gave me more enjoyment than I expected. Hercules is the natural choice for an ancient superhero. When you add themes of justice and the rights of the people and make that Hercules’ cause to fight for, he becomes as relatable as Superman, Batman, or Spiderman. One of the strengths of this superhero movie is that it’s not primarily about supernatural powers but about the meaning of courage. Hercules does have superhuman strength in this, but his victory always depends on triumphing over internal struggles first. His powers don’t come very naturally, so he’s easier to relate to. Hercules in this movie is more like John Henry, the American railroad worker superhero, than like a demigod. In fact, the movie goes to extra lengths to convince you he’s just a man, not a god. I feel like it developed the internal struggles of a superhero better than most superhero movies, and that made it more rewarding when he succeeds. When Hercules is in action on this movie, it feels truly awesome because he has to work so hard to produce that superhuman strength. The movie does a great job with the pitched battle scenes. It is as rewarding to watch them as some of the great battles on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie’s intensity level is a bit stronger than I like, but it really helps that the movie stays PG-13 instead of indulging in graphic gore. I like the casting also, of John Hurt as the king who hires Hercules to fight his enemy, and Hercules’ several friends, and Hercules, played by Dwayne Johnson. His personality is such that he doesn't need to express much in order to reveal his character's mood or attitude. There are some touches of humor that add a lot, yet not so much that the movie gets silly. The lasting satisfaction for me is how the Greek value of physique gets fused with the Biblical value of servant leadership, exerting courage to protect those who are weak. Hercules has a strong moral code on this. Sometimes it works well to have an antihero like Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean) be the center of a story, but that usually makes the movie more silly. There’s no blurry gray line between good and evil in this movie, but that’s not a weakness; it’s the natural way to present a character with such brute force as Hercules.

This is one of my favorite movies, starring one of the best professional wrestlers known to man. He has accomplished a great deal in both the wrestling world and the acting world.

My husband is obsessed with going to Best Buy yo buy super affordable movies like this one