The Legend of Hercules (2014)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 99 minutes
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Kellan Lutz, Gaia Weiss, Scott Adkins, Roxanne McKee, Liam Garrigan, Liam McIntyre, Rade Šerbedžija, Johnathon Schaech, Luke Newberry, Jukka Hilden, Kenneth Cranham
KRS release

The kingdom of Argos is invaded by Amphitryon (Scott Adkins), a young king who craves power and wealth. When Queen Alcmene (Roxanne McKee) realises how much her husband is beset with greed, she agrees that she will bear the god Zeus’s son and that one day this boy will end up bringing Amphitryon to justice.

Twenty years later, Hercules (Kellan Lutz) becomes a super warrior and is trying to woo Princess Hebe (Gaia Weiss) from Crete. But Amphitryon has other plans as he has arranged for his other son, the insignificant Iphicles (Liam Garrigan), to marry Hebe. The two try to run away but Hercules is caught and given a mission that spells doom for him. He is sold as a slave to Captain Sotiris (Liam McIntyre) who, however, is generous and kind.

Eventually Hercules becomes a gladiator and starts to fight his way back to Greece. He meets Hebe once more and becomes a legend in his own time as people flock around him to turn the tide against Amphitryon’s yoke.

Hollywood never does things in half measures as the legendary mythological character of Hercules will get two movie treatments in 2014. Summer will see the release of Hercules with Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock in the titular role.

This week we have The Legend of Hercules with Kellan Lutz from the Twilight movies as the titular character. This is the second Greek mythological figure that Lutz is playing having also played Poseidon in Immortals (2011).

The Legend of Hercules also sees the return of director Renny Harlin who was behind some really excellent action movies: Cliffhanger (1993), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and Deep Blue Sea (1999). The Finnish director also helmed the Maltese-shot film Cutthroat Island (1995).

The veteran director here takes a few pages out of the Zack Snyder handbook of movie-making, delivering sword battles in slow motion in the 300 style with all the peplum glory of Italian sand and sandals epics of the 1960s. Intertwine this with a love story made in the style of Blue Lagoon, and The Legend of Hercules turns out to be an enjoyable outing.

The film has all the trappings of a B-movie even though it boasts a Hollywood-style budget

The film has all the trappings of a B-movie even though it boasts a Hollywood-style budget.

One of the film’s screen writers is Sean Hood who was also partly responsible for 2011’s Conan the Barbarian with which this film shares several similarities. It shares the same sensibilities and overall approach, especially as the film’s ingredients seem to be a cross-over of classic Steve Reeves B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s which had also focused on the character of Hercules.

Lutz makes for an able-bodied Hercules as he makes for an im­posing action hero. It is, however, Adkins who seems to enjoy his role most as he hams up every screen moment with gusto.

The Legend of Hercules transforms itself into campy pleasure. It would make ideal film-watching especially if joined by a group of friends ready to shout out with glee at each sword fight and action sequence.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.