Hercules (2014), directed by Brett Ratner (Daniel)

He is Hercules. 

In this film Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays Hercules, the legendary son of Zeus and one of the greatest heroes in ancient Greece. The film follows Hercules and his group of companions through a series of adventures to rid the land of Thrace of a warlord who 
threatens the kingdom. From this premise the plot takes a number of twists and turns so that things rarely happen exactly as the viewer would expect. For those with a background in mythology I can tell you that this story takes place after the madness of Hera.

I should make it clear, this is not a deadly serious movie. The film is not afraid of making fun of itself or occasionally being cheesy, and this choice actually aids the film quite a bit. Too serious a tone would have smothered this film as both the script and the acting are probably best described as adequate. Even John Hurt, usually quite good, doesn't seem to bring his full chops to his role as the king of Thrace. On the other hand the effects are quite good and the fight choreography (really the most important thing in a movie like this) is excellent. This choreography is then improved upon by Dwayne’s raw physicality, which allows him to fully inhabit his role as Hercules.

This film is quite violent (as one might expect), but this violence never really seems to cross the line into pure gore. There are fights and there are some dismembered body parts, but things seem just sanitized enough to never make the viewer really uneasy or uncomfortable. That said the film does hold a PG 13 rating, and it is one that I would stick to fairly closely, as some of the themes (particularly the deaths of children), could hit younger viewers fairly hard. 

All in all I would recommend this film to anyone who is looking for a fun action movie with ancient flair and a dash of mythology thrown in. Is it the best film of the year? No. Will you have a lot of fun watching it? Absolutely.