Movie Review: Hercules (2014)

This film does pretty much what it sets out to do: Be an entertaining summer popcorn film. While the movie comes off overly corny at times, it settles down into a nice series of action scenes. Many of the most eye-popping moments from trailer come and go early on. In fact, the mythological aspects of Hercules are heavily downplayed throughout the film. The plot fairly straightforward and is a bit bland. A nice plot twist late helps out, but the action in the finale could’ve been a little better. The Rock does what he’s expected here. He brings his charm and hulking physique to the role, which makes Hercules both imposing and likable. The rest of the cast is just entertaining enough to fulfill their stereotypical action side-kicks roles. You have your archer, knife thrower, crazy barbarian and old-wise man. None of them are given a chance to let the audience care much about them. This group is made up of lesser known. Of the two bigger stars, Ian Mcshane is a little too over-the-top and Joseph Fiennes doesn’t offer up very much of anything.

**1/2 out of *****

Movie Review: Lucy

This film is all over the place. It’s trippy, violent, philosophical, illogical, and has a hint of dark comedy. Scarlett Johansson is what makes this film work at all. She’s gorgeous to look at, and has a quality that makes you invested in her character as soon as you see her. Unfortunately, we don’t know much about her, including her last name, before the plot thickens. While she does a great job early of bringing an emotional performance early on, her Lucy becomes increasingly more detached as she gains new abilities. Her motivations become too vague, and barely make sense at the end. The remainder of the cast is just there to fill a role or two before the story moves on, and you only barely get invested in anybody else in the film besides Johansson. (And that includes Morgan Freeman’s character, who would fail to draw you in if it was any other actor.) I had hoped there would be more action in the film, especially as Lucy becomes more powerful, but only a car chase has any real excitement. The plot has massive holes in it, and is only able to cover those up by watching Johansson’s character evolve. The opening of the film is odd, intercutting stock footage to parallel the story, and has a finale that seems to intentionally go over the audience’s heads. Even worse, it’s anticlimactic and makes the entire strange journey the film takes seem like a dead end.

** out of *****