Hercules:
Hero, God, Warrior
(2014/Lionsgate/A&E/History Channel DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Documentary: C+
Hercules,
a man, myth, legend or pure fiction? One of mankind's oldest
legends, but who was he really? Known for his twelve labors, feats
of strength, and bravery he was considered the hero among heroes, but
ultimately, what was the purpose of the legend of Hercules? A
man/god to be idealized or worshiped? A political pawn of political
with religious purposes? The History Channel's new Hercules:
Hero, God, Warrior
(2014) program tells these tales of Hercules with traces of evidences
of his existence and then lets you decide if he was fact or fiction.
Arriving
the capitalize on several new action features (neither apparently any
good) on Hercules, the Greek mythological hero that was said to be
the son of Zeus, a therefore demi-god. He was blessed with
supernatural strength and became a legend. He faced various trials,
challenges and even gods, monsters, and demons. While there is
evidence of ancient Greece and it's ruins, was Hercules's a made up
hero to inspire ancient Greeks or just a childhood bed time story for
mothers to tell their children? Taking cultural, historical ideas
into consideration we get a better understanding, why this character
and his legend still lives.
Hercules
was considered the Superman of his time and can be still found in
even today's modern movies, films, even his own TV series (including
a few animated ones), but this show takes a serious look into why we
still tell his stories. Sure, we all enjoy heroic tales and
adventure of good versus evil, and it teaches us various virtues and
morals, but Hercules was not only a legend but a symbolic
representation of the Greek culture, it's ideals and the beliefs it
stood for. This program is broken into 3 parts, part one told the
legend/story of Hercules, part two takes a look into real
evidence/places of how much the story is true or false, and part
three takes into the religious culture of Greek gods into
consideration.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image and lossy Dolby Digital sound
are average, but passable and there are no extras.
-
Ricky Chiang
