This is going to be a hard review to write because I basically cannot tell you anything that is good about the movie without giving the movie away. All I can tell you is that it is not even close to what you would expect. If you are staying away from this movie because you are just not in the mood for another Sinbad-esque, fake monster, mythology movie – then go see the movie. What you wind up getting is something very different.

When the final credits roll, your first comment may be that this movie is extremely short. At 96 minutes, it is mercifully not the epic that it could have been. Some people would have liked to have seen more action scenes, but those scenes would have been unnecessary to the story. If there is one thing the movie Hercules does, it is that it stays true to the story.

The movie Hercules could very well be giving about as accurate a depiction of how the myth got started as we will ever see. I really cannot say anymore without giving the movie away, and I don’t want to do that because this is a fun, summer, drive-in movie that you should go see.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is excellent in this movie. He is surrounded by a supporting cast who play their roles very well. It is hard to describe what I didn’t like about this movie, but let me give it a go.

While the story idea was refreshing and the acting was just fine, the movie was corny. It used predictable and cheesy elements to reveal anti-climactic results. The dialogue was sometimes witty, but most times pretentious and almost boring. If you cannot get enough of The Rock cutting a chiseled silhouette through a cloud of smoke, then this movie is for you. It is kind of like Ridley Scott meets World Wrestling Entertainment. It is a really unique and interesting story with horrible execution.

I think that the reason I feel so frustrated with this movie is that it had such potential. While I do appreciate director Brett Ratner leaving out gratuitous rally cry scenes and over-extended battle sequences, I think that the chance to create some really good dialogue was missed. The characters in this story were interesting and we wanted to learn more about them, but too many loose ends were left at the end of this movie and we walk away feeling a lot less entertained than we should have.

Director Brett Ratner’s resume includes comedies such as the Rush Hour series and bizarre thrillers like Red Dragon. All of those movies seem to take full advantage of many of the best story elements available. But it kind of looks like he was mailing Hercules in and rushed through it. He had a script full of great ideas and just decided to push through to get it done.

Now let’s get nitpicky, because you know we have to get nitpicky in these reviews. I know that using modern swear words is cute and giggly, but those words did not exist back in 300 B.C. Instead of busting out with a modern swear word to get a cheap laugh, the movie could have used a dialogue element that was more suited for the times. The actors had great chemistry and these little passing titters could have been so much more.

The CGI in the opening of the movie is awful. It almost looks like the opening scene was added at the last minute and was done for about $30 on Ratner’s MacBook Pro. The CGI gets much better throughout the movie, but our introduction to it is dubious at best.

Some things in this movie were direct homages to movies that Ratner obviously idolizes. By the end of this movie, you cannot help but recognize the Han Solo-ish character who leaves and then comes back to save the day. That may have been a bit of a spoiler but, honestly, it is an extremely predictable element.

The cheese in this movie gets so thick you could dip your nachos in it. While Ratner does spare us from the extended battle cry speeches of movies like Independence Day and Pacific Rim, we still have to endure predictable moments of verbal inspiration that are not only dull, but tend to be extremely distracting from the movie.

The amount of loose ends this movie leaves is maddening. To avoid giving up more spoilers, I won’t get into these loose ends. But if Ratner thinks I am going to sit through a sequel just to tie up his loose ends, he may be right.

Give this movie a chance, because it is not what you think it is. It is a fun, summer movie that played well at the drive-in. Hercules won’t win any awards, but it certainly will not damage anyone’s career.

Rating: 2 out of 5

George N Root III is a movie addict and spends the whole summer at the drive-in. If you don’t go to the drive-in at least once each summer, then what kind of American are you?

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