Man, oh man! Have I been excited about this for awhile. Dwayne Johnson is a guy who I love seeing act. He has a great part in one of my favorite movies! I love seeing him wrestle. He's one of my top 5 wrestlers of all time. And I LOVE that he got a new manager that stopped getting him only signed up for a bunch of garbage kids films where he is the only good part.
ALSO I love fantasy films! I love the tropes, the storytelling, the themes, the action, the magic, the style of characters, the ascetics, all of it! So of course I was 100% into this! I haven't been this excited since the last fantasy film that came through Hollywood: 47 Ronin. Oh wait ...
Hollywood and fantasy films have had a hard time together for a long time. Kind of like with Pirates films. But that did change with two huge franchises. But the fantasy ones, Lord of the Rings, instead of living in the tropes of its source or in its predecessors, it created new tropes. New, very specific tropes. That have permeated every single film made since them. And I very much hate the vast majority of them. Some fantasy movies still work for me, but they generally tend to go back to their own style without becoming Peter Jackson-ian. But I was real worried. Then you throw in hit-or-miss director Brett Ratner at the helm and ...
Yeah, the gif of Stone Cold above perfectly expresses my feelings. I had a lot of emotions. Too many. I didn't know how I was going to feel going in, I didn't know how I was going to feel coming out, I just knew I needed to see it, so I can share with all of you if you need to get see it.
Yes. Absolutely you need to see this. This movie is very very good. I'd dare say great. Now, it isn't exceptional. It has a lot of tropes, it is very character driven instead of action driven. But all the action is fabulous. All the themes are awesome. This is like seeing a big ole Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and those are generally the best fantasy films, Dungeons and Dragons the movie being the exception.
The best part is that the Rock isn't just the Rock here. He worked his BUTT off to be amazing in this, and it shows. He is fully invested in his character, much like he was in Pain & Gain, much like in Be Cool. I was never watching the Rock acting, I was invested, I was watching Hercules! And the film itself treats the mythology wonderfully. Well, almost wonderfully. Interestingly. I can see some people being upset about it, and to be honest I was a little bit disheartened ... but just a little bit. A very little bit, because what the movie is actually about is fabulous.
I really loved this movie. And I plead that you all go see it as well. This is the kind of film we need to see more of. This is the kind of movie that should be filling Hollywood. And with Guardians of the Galaxy coming next week ... I am very very excited about what may start coming with these two. But only if they do well. So GO SEE HERCULES! Take Lawrence of Arabia, Lord of the Rings, and Conan the Barbarian, smash them together, and then have it be a nice trim 98 minutes, and you can see why this movie is an exciting prospect!
Grade: A+
OH! And give me questions! In comments, in asks, in emails, everywhere, anywhere, questions on anything, I just need them for the AMA I am going to do on August 1st! If you don't then I just ... well, I won't do it I guess. I mean, I gotta have questions. So really, ask me anything. ANYTHING. Hard questions, silly questions, stupid opinions, serious ones, math questions, riddles, anything that is a question, just ask it! You all are the ones that help me make this blog and these little extra fun things work. So DO IT ... or don't if you don't want me to make the blog and AMA work, I suppose.
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