Hercules

All Hercules ever wanted was to be home with his wife and son. He didn't care about fame or fortune, or whether he really was the son of the Greek god Zeus. He just wanted to be left alone. That's kind of hard to do, however, when you have Hera - a Greek goddess and wife of Zeus - pining for your death due to jealousy. As such, Hercules is sent on 12 trials, or labors to win the trust of Hera. Hercules triumphs in his quests, and wins his freedom. That all changes when years later Hercules is drugged and his family is murdered in cold blood before him. Reduced to little more than a shell of the legend he once was, he sets out as a mercenary, and along the way meets several people who become his closest allies. Soon Hercules is approached by a princess who begs him to come help her father end a war with an invading army led by a man who is said to be a sorcerer. Hercules reluctantly agrees, but not until the princess offers him enough gold to finally retire and hopefully live the rest of his life in peace.

At first glance Hercules looks like yet another banal "sword and sandal" epic that has been done time and time again - especially in 2014, with 300: Rise of an Empire, The Legend of Hercules, Pompeii, and now Hercules. To be quite honest, Hercules doesn't amount to anything terribly special, but it does manage to be an entertaining summer popcorn flick. Well, more entertaining than the previous Hercules film released earlier this year, The Legend of Hercules. This time, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson steps into the titular role, and actually does it pretty well. I feel like he has improved quite a bit over the course of his film career. This is one of those times where I wish the movie as a whole was as great as the lead actor, however. While it was entertaining, it lacked in the acting and overall story departments. If you're looking for something to spend a few hours watching, you could do a lot worse than Hercules. Personally, I think Hercules is good for either a dollar movie night or a video-on-demand rental.