The
Legend Of Hercules 3D
(2014/Summit/Millennium/Lionsgate Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray 2D)
3D
Picture: B 2D Picture: B+ Sound: B+ Extras: C Film: D
Swords
fly and blood spills in
The Legend of Hercules, which
is an origin film that falls short of using its budget correctly to
make a film that is both interesting and fun to watch.
It
mimics better films like Gladiator
and 300,
and employs some of the worst use of camera movement with digital
filmmaking that I have ever seen. The film stars Kellan Lutz and is
shamefully directed by Renny Harlin (who made Cliffhanger,
Deep
Blue Sea,
and other decent action movies) and features no name actors (even
cameos) to turn the audience's head and give it notice. I mean, at
least Pompeii
had some names! Panned by critics and holding only a 3 percent
review rating on Rotten Tomatoes, this film doesn't have a lot to
offer fans. It was also hailed as cheap
looking, poorly acted, and dull.
But, hey, at least the 3D presentation is good.
Banished
by his stepfather, the King, Hercules (Kellan Lutz) slowly becomes
aware of his true origins as the son of the God Zeus. As he learns
to harness the demigod powers, Hercules gathers an army to fight his
way back to his kingdom. There are some cool fight scenes in the
film that are captured in slow motion and stylized and a moment or
two but all in all I have to tend to agree with the other critics on
this one.
The
presentation of the film is fine, however, capturing in 1080p high
definition in an aspect ratio of 2:40:1 and featuring a great English
DTS-HD Master Audio track in 7.1. The disc also features a Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo track, English Descriptive Audio, and a Spanish
Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The disc contains both 2D and 3D
MVC-encoded 3-D - Full Resolution digital High Definition versions of
the film.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary
with Director Renny Harlin & Kellan
Lutz and a Making
of Hercules featurette.
If you are a fan of the Hercules character or this kind of film then
see if it works for you. Personally, I'm waiting for July 2014's new
release starring The Rock.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.vimeo.com/jamielockhart
