Just over a decade ago, director Renny Harlin introduced audiences toThe Legend of Herculesand probably quickly wished he hadn’t. The film arrived in January 2014 with a substantial $70 million budget and an action-focused cast led by Kellan Lutz,Scott Adkins, Gaia Weiss, and Liam McIntyre. Although the line-up seemed to scream big action, the critics came in like an almighty Cyclops and crushed the film to dust. But, 10 years is a long time, and now a whole new audience is discoveringThe Legend of Herculeson Freevee.
The film’s story centers on Hercules (Lutz), born from a tryst between the mortal Queen Alcmene and the god Zeus. The boy becomes a man, a formidable warrior, and one burdened by a prophecy that threatens to unravel the power held by King Amphitryon (Adkins). When Hercules falls in love with Princess Hebe (Weiss), things get a little complex and soon enough war is on the way. The film ended up being called an “overblown melodrama” by many, and even some brutal fight sequencesstolen from Zack Snyder’s300couldn’t make up for it in any way.
Critics delivered a swift blow to the film’s reputation with a terrible 5% Tomatometer score, emphasized with complaints about wooden acting, poor effects, and a story that was just boring. However, an almost prophetic review fromThe Guardianwritten in March 2014 said,“No one seems to have high hopes for it - though it might well help to pass a wet afternoon when it shows up on Netflix 15 minutes from now.”As a note, the movie landed a strong showing on Netflix last year.
Is ‘The Legend of Hercules’ That Bad?
Despite its rocky start over a decade ago, including a lowly $60 million box office result,The Legend of Herculeshas found a surprising second life online. Currently streaming on Freevee, it has managed to secure a spot at number seven on the streamer’s top ten movies chart, at the time of writing. That doesn’t mean everyone likes it though.
Audiences on Rotten Tomatoes have not been much happier with the film than critics, as the 33% Popcornmeter score highlights. In general, those who find it passable do so under the guise of it being a guilty pleasure, while for everyone else the film was just a complete misfire which comes with some heavily choreographed slow-motion fight scenes that lead to more unintentional laughs than gritty realism. One of the only constant highlights seems to be the inclusion of Adkins, who stepped into the regal persona of Amphitryon with a ferocity that gave the film a small boost.
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Another issue that greatly plaguedThe Legend of Herculesafter its release wasthe arrival of Dwayne Johnson’sHercules, which came with The Rock’s name emblazoned above his lank-haired Greek hero and scored a $244 million box office victory under the bombastic direction of Brett Ratner, a few years before he became the subject of many misconduct allegations and vanished from Hollywood. Once that movie was released, anyone who still rememberedThe Legend of Herculeswent for a dip in the Lethe and quickly forgot it ever existed…until now. The things we have to thank Freevee for.
The Legend of Hercules
