Good adaptation of Hercules
590866
If there were a little more action. It would be a 5.
293871
Whats it about?

After his legendary labors, Hercules and his band of friends work as mercenaries to save enough gold to forget the past. Along the way they train a bunch of Greeks who wear red and yellow Iron Man armor.

What did I think?

Despite a lackluster and seemingly cliched trailer, Hercules is actually a surprisingly fun action flick. It doesn't reach any real heights but what is there will keep you entertained. Ratners decision to start the movie AFTER the mythological labors really works especially considering the rather intelligent sub-plot of spin doctoring. The fight scenes are well done and Dwayne Johnson does well after a slow warm-up but what really makes the movie is the strength of the supporting cast with Rufus Sewell, John Hurt and Rebecka Ferguson impressing. Not excellent but a whole lot of quality small parts combine to make a fun movie.
579479
This is one of the few Hercules movies where the title actually makes sense. There are moon men and Herc does fight them. It's in the last ten minutes of the movie and it's not very exciting or well staged, but at least it fulfills the title. Alan Steel is portraying our buff, intrepid hero this time out. Herc is called to a village where Queen Samara forces her people to sacrifice their children to appease the gods of the mountain which are the titular moon men. They're basically giant rocks come to life. There is a rebellion going on and Hercules tries to help by infiltrating the castle. The moon men tell Queen Samara to kill Herc. She tries and fails several times so changes tactics and uses her secret potion for Herc to fall in love with her. This device of a beautiful woman giving Hercules something to drink that gives her power over him is used in nearly every Hercules movie I've seen. The writers came up with moon men for Herc to fight but couldn't go without the standard drink gag. Hercules Against the Moon men is fairly dull. The title is the wildest thing about it. It's about 90 minutes of people standing around talking with one or two poorly contrived action sequences thrown in.
1108511
The old tale was remake to very good recent story.
Dougray Scott fits in the role very good.
I really enjoyed it.
2123227
This is a fictional love story based on the legend of Helen of Troy.

I saw in the movies when I was a boy and, inspite of its many distortions, I still love it. Is there any more exciting story than the Iliad? WB pushed it and promoted it on TV and I was eager to see it. Luckily, I knew nothing much about any of the translations on the Library Shelves and I don't read Greek, so, I was at the mercy of the screenwriters.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film was the casting of Rosanna Podesta and Jack (Jacques) Sernas as Helen and Paris. Rosanna was a gorgeous Helen. The Italian actress wore a blonde wig and her voice was dubbed by someone who could speak English. Frenchman Jacques Sernas spoke no English and so his voice was also dubbed and his hair dyed. They were a beautiful couple to behold. Sir Cedric Hardwicke, his reign as Pharoah in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS now over, became King Priam of Troy. Janette Scott played Cassandra, one of the more interesting characters. If you remember, she was given the gift of prophecy, but the Gods always give a curse along with a gift. Her curse was that no one would ever believe her predictions. Stanley Baker made a compelling Achilles. You will see a very young servant girl named Andraste. It's a small part but a noticeable one. I remember when I first saw it thinking to myself "That girl is just as beautiful as Helen!" Her name was Brigitte Bardot, and a short time she would become a bigger star than anyone else in this movie.

All the requisite plot elements are here. Helen and Paris are nice people; just a couple of star-crossed lovers who would be happy to run off and live as commoners but they cannot do so. The ships, armies and battle scenes are here, amplified by the great Max Steiner's magnificents score; and, oh yes, there's that horse.

What's missing here are the interactions with the Gods and Godesses. Stll, it's great fun and I have yet to see anyone do a better job than Robert Wise. Take it with a grain of salt and then read a translation. This is the type of movie that got me interested in the Iliad and the Odyssey and so, it deserves credit for that, if for nothing else.
3055575
This is action pacted movie about one of the greatest Greek warriors Theseus.  He is favorite of Gods and Zeus takes personal interest in him.  Zeus is his teacher and mentor that helps in creation of a wise and capable warrior that one day will save all of Greece.  It is a tale that from the beginning goes with the statement that "all men's souls are immortal, but the righteous men's souls are both immortal and divine".  What is mankind supposed to do when ambition pairs itself with evil?  King Hyperion (played by Mickey Rourke), consumed by grief for the loss of his family and his personal hatred of Gods, creates a powerful army that will take on all of the Greece and Mount Olympus in a quest for power.  In this war, only Theseus can lead mankind to fight its evil.

There is a lot of action in this movie and in some ways, this film is a cheaper take on the movie like "300".  I liked the story and the brutality of the ancient world that is so honestly portrayed int his film.  The really weak part is the costume design for the film.  It is overdone and not particularly appealing.

Great movie for the weekend relaxation.  Not too memorable, though.
1125498
Normally, I'm not impressed by Hercules movies, but this one is pretty intense.  Of course the fighting ability of Hercules and his associates is abnormally strong, but still in the nearly believable realm.  It made Hercules seem much more human than previous versions of the story.  I actually enjoyed this one.  I would recommend this one for fantasy viewing.
2713206
This movie is a fun adaptation of Disney classics.  The humor is pleasant and adult without being pandering.  There is adult level romance, but it is still fun and over the top at times.  There is very little of the modern humor that is almost insulting in its stupidity.  So fun movie, fun costumes, good songs, worth watching.
1710002
I enjoy the ancient mythical Greek era so I enjoyed this film. It's not an academy award movie for sure but it's still entertaining
1250755
A very nice Shakespeare adaptation. Ralph Fiennes is excellent, intense and feral, as a character completely incapable of playing the political games necessary to win popular approval. Vanessa Redgrave is superb, perfectly believable as his mother, just as fierce as her son, but more political by nature. The supporting cast is all fine. Jessica Chastain rolls Shakespearean dialogue off her tongue like she's been doing it all her life. As well she might have - I don't know her theatre background. Most of the negative reviews of this movie are from people who do not know Shakespeare. Adaptations set in alternate times are very common, if not the norm these days.
1449681
Well, the only thing wrong with my review title is the fact that this isn't really a Hercules movie. In actuality, the hero of this widescreen testosterone fest is a fella by the name of Maciste, a musclebound do-gooder who's cinematic exploits date back to the silent era. When this film was brought over to The States, it was decided that Hercules would be a far more commercial name to exploit, so through the magic of dubbing, Maciste was turned into the son of Zeus. And thus, Hercules Against the Moon Men was born.

To make matters even more confusing, the star of the film, Alan Steel, isn't really Alan Steel, he's Sergio Ciani, a former stand-in for Steve Reeves who eventually started getting lead roles in Italian sword and sandal flicks throughout the 1960's. He looks to be having a grand old time throughout the movie, and his enthusiasm becomes quite infectious. A good thing, too, as the remainder of the film is a bit of a bore.

Hercules/ Maciste is called into action to free the village of Samar from a seven foot tall moon man who now lives in "The Mountain of Death." With the aid of the wicked, yet nefarious Queen Samara, the moon man is sacrificing villagers by the ox drawn cartload. Along the way, Herc/Mac must battle a snaggle toothed ape monster, face the tortures of Queen Samara, and battle an army of giant moon rock monsters.

Unfortunately, it all sounds more fun than it actually is. The moon man and monster elements are kept to a minimum and it's pretty much the same old toga heroics, otherwise. There's also a sandstorm sequence near the end that just goes on and on and on.

Something Weird's presentation is gorgeous, however. Presented in 2.35:1 widescreen, the picture is nice and sharp and colorful. The sound quality is also very nice, with some surprising stereo separations that even my old TV monitor was able to pick up on. This one puts all other DVD releases of the same title to shame.

If that weren't enough, Something Weird has filled the disc to maximum density with almost 2 1/2 hours of extras. There's a second Maciste movie, The Witch's Curse, which is full screen and kinda blurry (it also has the same film score from Herc and the Moon Men), a ton of trailers, and two more condensed features, The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules (which features the same ape monster from our main feature) and Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules. AND there's a couple of Easter Eggs, too.

It's a shame that Something Weird found it necessary to include an annoying "SW" logo during most of the extras. Fortunately, the two main features are logo free.
2873919
An interesting take on this story from classic mythology, this movie was unexpectedly good.  I anticipated a formulaic action flick with updated special effects repeating and renewing fun and campy old movies.  While there were definitely elements of that, this version of Hercules took a surprisingly fresh approach to the myth and I quite enjoyed the movie as a whole.  The only complaint I have, and it's very minor, is that there was a lot of exposition left out in the plot.  It felt like I missed parts, not unlike going to refill popcorn and coming back to wonder what happened and how we got from point A to point Q.  Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie.
3100540
One of the best movies I've seen.  The Rock gives another superb performance.  I found it interesting how the story shrouded knowing whether or not Hercules was a demigod or a man who was just talented as a tactician.
977623
If you enjoyed the comic Watchmen, this is a fairly good adaptation. Certainly not an all-time great film, but I enjoyed it.
1729320
I'm a Dwayne Johnson fan, so I'll watch most of his movies more than once. Dwayne definitely has the physique to pull off a portra yal of Hercules. Not much lag in the action and I liked the subterfuge in the plot, though it was predictable.
1618842
This is a well made and a very entertaining movie; Reg Park is excellent as Hercules, and not that bad as an actor.  Christopher Lee is excellent as usual.  The picture quality is very good and the colors are crisp.  Not bad for a low-budget movie made in 1961.  Unfortunately, I already purchased the same movie, but under the English title "Hercules In the Haunted World" so if you have that one, do not bother buying this one; they are the same.  I highly recommend this movie to those who enjoy this type of movies.
1159177
A solid and fast moving adaptation of the Scottish play. The acting and set pieces are all very well done and the movie moves swiftly through its plot points. Some of the more famous speeches are performed in unexpected and sometimes surprisingly refreshing ways. It's worth watching.