While fighting a losing battle with insomnia the other
night, I stumbled across this trailer, for an upcoming film. Now, I don’t
normally critique films, particularly based solely on their trailer, but I’m
making an exception here.
So, the first thing that came to mind after I finished
watching this was “how is –this- Hercules?”
For those unfamiliar with the character of Hercules, first
welcome to the outside world, glad you’re out from under that rock finally.
Second, here’s a brief guide to Hercules (or Heracles, if we’re going with his
original Greek name). Hercules was born to a woman named Alcmene, and was one
of Zeus’ many children. Hera, Zeus’ wife, was very annoyed with her husband’s
constant sleeping around, and decided to take out her anger on the young Herc,
sending a pair of serpents to kill him as a baby. Unfortunately for her, Herc
inherited some of his dear old dad’s power, and killed the snakes easily. He
eventually grows into a fine young man and marries a woman named Megara and has
two children with her. Hera, still nursing her hatred for him, decides to
induce in him madness which causes him to murder his children (and in some
accounts Megara too). He seeks out an oracle who tells him to serve King Eurystheus
for ten years. Eurystheus assings to Herc twelve labors he must complete to end
his service; slaying of the Nemean Lion, slaying the Lernean Hydra, capturing
the Golden Hind, capturing the Eurymanthian Boar, clean the Augean stables in
one day, slay the Stymphalian Birds, capturing the Cretan Bull, obtaining the
Girdle of Hippolyta the Queen of the Amazons, stealing the Mares of Diomedes,
stealing the cattle of the monster Geryon, stealing the Golden Apples of the
Hesperides, and finally capturing Cerberus. He completes the tasks, sometimes
with the help of others, and is freed from service.
Now, there are obviously many, many more stories of
Hercules, since he was a major character in Greek mythology and had a sizable
cult dedicated to him. This however is the myth that most people are familiar
with (though most people can’t remember what all the labors are, myself
included. I cheated and looked them up.) Now, because the labors are the most
familiar stories about him, they’ve obviously been taken on in film before. The
Disney film Hercules, while not expressly about the labors, does feature many
of them in his “zero to hero” montage. There was an NBC TV movie about Hercules
doing four of the labors in 2005, and before either of these, there was
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys TV series, which was launched by a couple of
TV movies that dealt with the twelve labors. Clearly, the labors stories have
been done to death, so it is nice to see the creators of the film going in a
new direction with the character. However…
The plot that the trailer is alluding to does not seem to
bear any resemblance to any of the myths involving Hercules at all. Not only
that, but it’s also taking some fairly serious liberties with the character,
most notably his ability to call upon lightning. While he was the son of Zeus,
he never had that power. In fact, Zeus’ lightning bolts were seldom (if ever)
used by someone else. Hercules’ only real power was his incredible strength, and
also his sexual prowess (with both women and men it should be noted). The film
also seems to portray Hercules as a leader of an army, which does not fit the
character. He was certainly brave, charismatic and had his moments of cunning,
but he was not a brilliant tactician, and would have made a poor general.
So, why does this movie exist then, if they’re not actually
trying to tell a story of Hercules? Well, a couple reasons that I can see.
First, sword-and-sandal films seem to be a popular genre right now. Hollywood’s
always had a love affair with guys in the desert wearing sandals and armored
skirts, usually with chariots involved. They were huge in the early days of
film, but the interest in them died off during the 60’s and 70’s. That’s not to
say that there weren’t any such films made, but they were fewer. However,
there’s been something of a recent resurgence in the interest. Movies like Troy, 300 (and it’s upcoming sequel), Prince of Persia, The Scorpion King have
been getting some good love at the box office. Certainly, not as much as other
genres of film, but enough that studios will invest in one even if it seems a
bit poorly conceived. There is something in the public consciousness right now
that makes people want to see these movies, even though for the most part
they’ve been pretty bad (Prince of
Persia, Clash of the Titans and Immortals
all come to mind immediately). Some have done really well such as 300 and Troy, (though in my opinion, both are highly overrated), and even
the ones that didn’t receive good reviews at least brought in good money (Clash of the Titans netted almost 500
million, Wrath brought in 400, Immortals was 225, and Prince of Persia was at 335 with the
lowest profit margin). So, we can see why there’d be an interest from the
studio’s perspective.
But why call the film Hercules? The character is clearly only
Hercules in name and the names of people associated with him. Why not just make
up a character and put him in this situation? Or why not actually draw from the
myths? Well, for the first question, the answer is pretty simple; recognition.
People have all heard of Hercules, so there’s a level of familiarity there.
People have proven time and time again that they’re more likely to accept
something they’re familiar with rather than try something new (which is why the
last three presidents we’ve had all got elected to two terms). Even though this
Hercules is hardly recognizable as Hercules (especially the voice. Seriously,
the dude sounds semi-British, how is he allowed to play a Greek?) the name has
enough cache to get people into the theater. The second question, about why not
just stick to the material is a bit more complex. First off, we have to go back
to the issue of the labors. They’ve been pretty extensively depicted in the
media, and while familiarity can help draw in an audience, too much familiarity
will drive them away. There’s also the issue of time. A movie covering
Hercules’ origins, rise, and then the labors would be very long, and there’d be
a lot of details lost on viewers. Okay, so the labors are definitely out. Why
not do a different story about Herc? Well, that’s not as easy as it sounds.
First there’s the ever present issue of familiarity again. Then there’s the
issue of what a studio is willing to allow in a major motion picture. A lot of
Hercules’ stories involve subjects that most studios don’t want to be
associated with (murdering children, pederasty, homosexuality, etc), so most of
the stories he’s involved in aren’t something anyone wants to adapt into a
potential blockbuster. Finally, there’s the idea that the studios know what the
audience wants. In order for the studio to make money, they have to make a film
that will attract audiences, and as stated earlier, audiences accept things
that are similar. So, the studio hires someone to write a script that
incorporates as many plot and character clichés as they can, puts them in a
somewhat interesting order, and boom, potential money-maker. If past
performance is any indication, the film will probably bring in around 300
million at the box offices, meaning the studio will have made about 230
million, not bad for about ten months worth of work. If it turns out to be a
blockbuster, then we’re talking even higher profit margins, though I honestly
don’t have high hopes for it.
So, after all this, what’s the take away? Well, simply put,
this film is not Hercules, and is in fact just another generic
flavor-of-the-month cash piñata for the studio. As I stated at the beginning, I
don’t normally take on films (especially unreleased ones). So why did I this
time? Because the movie claims to have its roots in mythology, which is a
subject I not only have a fascination with, but also love dearly. The
characters and stories that ancient cultures told as ideals that they held
themselves up to is delightfully complex and intriguing, and not to mention artistically
inspirational. Plus, the stories are generally pretty interesting in and of
themselves, ignoring any sort of anthropological connection. For anyone trying
to figure out college (or high school, if you’re lucky) courses to take, I
highly recommend anything about mythology, especially if the course is about
something other than classical myths (Greek and Roman). Worst comes to worst,
you’ll get to hear some gory and dirty stories. But if you’re like me, you’ll
find endless sources of inspiration for gaming, art, writing, or pretty much
any other sort of creative outlet.
EDIT: So, I just found out that there is in fact ANOTHER Hercules movie coming out next year, a couple of months after the one mentioned above. Sadly, there's no trailer for it yet, but it stars Dwayne Johnson (AKA The Rock), and is titled Hercules: the Thracian Wars. I'm wondering which came first of these two, and if maybe the second one was created to try and steal the thunder from the other. Either way, I don't foresee Thracian Wars being any better than The Legend Begins, even if it does have Robert DeNiro.
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