Movie Review: Hercules

Hercules
Directed by: Brett Ratner.
Written by: Ryan Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos based on the comic by Steve Moore.
Starring: Dwayne Johnson (Hercules), Ian McShane (Amphiaraus), John Hurt (Lord Cotys), Rufus Sewell (Autolycus), Aksel Hennie (Tydeus), Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (Atalanta), Reece Ritchie (Iolaus), Joseph Fiennes (King Eurystheus), Tobias Santelmann (Rhesus), Peter Mullan (Sitacles), Rebecca Ferguson (Ergenia), Isaac Andrews (Arius), Joe Anderson (Phineas), Stephen Peacocke (Stephanos), Nicholas Moss (Demetrius), Robert Whitelock (Nicolaus), Irina Shayk (Megara)..

Among directors, there are probably very few that are more hated by movie people than Brett Ratner. Do you remember that scene in Community, where Shirley goes on and on about how great Tower Heist was, and how Ratner is the new Spielberg, and Abed has to remove himself from the situation before he says something horrible (which he cannot quite control as he tells Shirley she is a bad person). That’s about the level of hatred Ratner inspires in online film forums. Even Michael Bay gets more respect – at the very least, Bay has his own distinct style, even if it’s a bad style. Ratner seems to have no personal style at all – aping Bryan Singer in X-Men: The Last Stand or Jonathan Demme in Red Dragon, and being basically bland in everything else. When I saw the previews for his latest film, Hercules, I have to admit I laughed out loud – and not in a good way. The film looked ridiculously stupid. It’s somewhat surprising then that Hercules is as entertaining as it is. It’s not a good movie in any real way – but it’s a lot more fun than it has any right to be. That probably has more to do with having such low expectations of the film, but Hercules, while dumb, is also kind of fun. It’s not a good film, but it’s far from the awful film I expected it to be.

The movie dispenses with the legend of Hercules within the first two minutes of the movie – as we hear a narrator who turns out to be Iolaus (Reece Ritchie), Hercules’ nephew telling the story we know so well – that Hercules is the son of the God Zeus, and a human woman and that Zeus’ wife Hera hated Hercules, and assigned him 12 impossible tasks to perform in order to be left alone. But it quickly becomes clear that in this version of Hercules, that’s all a myth. Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) is not half god, but a mercenary with a team, who hire themselves out for money. They use the myth of Hercules because it helps them – their opponents are scared of the legend of Hercules, which get them off their game. Hercules and his team have just been hired by Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson) on behalf of her father Lord Cotys (John Hurt) to fight against an oncoming horde led by Rhesus (Tobias Santelmann). Lord Cotys army is mainly made up of farmers and other inexperienced men. So Hercules and his men set out to train them – but they don’t have much time.

 
The movie is silly, but knowingly so. It wants to be an old school fun blockbuster, instead of the modern, more self-serious blockbuster than seem to dominate these days. Johnson is well cast as Hercules – impossibly big and strong, even if he isn’t the son of Zeus, he’s still a great warrior. He’s surrounded by a good cast of supporting players – none more so than Ian McShane as someone who, with the use of herbs can see the future, and expects his own death soon. The battle scenes are large scale; swords and sandals type action, and are entertaining to a certain extent – until perhaps they go a little too far in the final one. The film, at only 96 minutes, doesn’t overstay its welcome and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s silly and goofy – not deep in any way, and not really that good. But it’s not an unpleasant way to spend a summer night. If you think that some of this year’s blockbusters are too dour and ridiculously serious, than Hercules is the movie for you.

Movie Review: New York, I Love You

New York, I Love You ***
Directed by: Yvan Attal, Allen Hughes, Shunji Iwai, Wen Jiang, Scarlett Johansson, Joshua Marston, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner, Andrei Zvyagintsev, Fatih Akin, Randall Balsmeyer, Shekhar Kapur, Mira Nair.
Written By: Emmanuel Benbihy, Hall Powell, Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal, Alexandra Cassavetes, Hu Hong, Shunji Iwai, Olivier Lécot, Joshua Marston, Suketu Mehta, Yao Meng, Anthony Minghella, Jeff Nathanson, Natalie Portman, Stephen Winter, Andrei Zvyagintsev.
Starring: Carlos Acosta (Dante), Eva Amurri (Sarah), Kevin Bacon (Tom), Justin Bartha (New Yorker), Rachel Bilson (Molly), Orlando Bloom (David), James Caan (Mr. Riccoli), Richard Chang (Mr. Su), Hayden Christensen (Johnny), Julie Christie (Isabelle), Bradley Cooper (Gus), Chris Cooper (Alex), Cesar De León (Dominican), Drea de Matteo (Lydia), Andy Garcia (Professor), Taylor Geare (Teya), Carla Gugino (Woman on the bench), Ethan Hawke (Smoking Man), Juri Henley-Cohn (Ali), John Hurt (Waiter), Andy Karl (Evan), Irfan Khan (Mansuhkhbai), Shia LaBeouf (Jacob), Cloris Leachman (Mitzie), Blake Lively (Girlfriend), Emilie Ohana (Zoe), Natalie Portman (Rifka), Christina Ricci (Camille), Robert d Scott (Du-Rag), Qi Shu (Chinese woman), Maggie Q, (Smoking Woman), Gurdeep Singh (Badal), Olivia Thirlby (Wheelchair Girl), Goran Visnjic (Man on the bench), Eli Wallach (Abe), Saul Williams (Rap artist), Robin Wright Penn (Anna), Anton Yelchin (Guy at Prom), Burt Young (Landlord), Ugur Yücel (Painter).

The so called “omnibus” movies have always seemed better on paper then they end up being in practice. The idea of getting together a group of great directors and stars and making a series of short films about some loosely connected subject matter always seems like a can’t miss proposition. But the reality is that most of these movies are rather forgettable.

In 2007, Paris Je T’Aime proved to one of the rare exceptions to the rule. Set in Paris, the film was a series of shorts by directors such as the Coen Brothers, Alfonso Cuaron, Gus Van Sant, Alexander Payne and Wes Craven among others. Bolstered by their success, the producers behind the film decided to do the same thing for New York. The results, while not quite as strong as Paris Je T’Aime (no doubt because the directors involved are not quite as good), overall, it is an enjoyable movie.

As it almost mandatory in reviews of these movies, it becomes necessary to tell the reader which films work and which ones do not. The single best segment in the movie belongs to Yvan Attal, in which Ethan Hawke tries hard to seduce Maggie Q. on the sidewalk. The film is a quirky, funny little gem that has more laughs than many feature length films. I also quite admired Scarlet Johansson’s segment, shot in gorgeous black and white, about a lonely man (Kevin Bacon) who takes the subway out to Staten Island. The segments by Brent Ratner, with Anton Yelchin taking a wheelchair bound Olivia Thirlby to the prom, Wen Jiang with Hayden Christenson as a pickpocket trying to pick up Rachel Bilson away from Andy Garcia, Joshua Marton with Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman as a bickering old couple, Shunji Iwai about Orlando Bloom as a film composer becoming inspired by the voice of Christina Ricci on the phone and Randall Ballsmeyer with Chris Cooper and Robin Wright Penn as two people who meet on the street are all enjoyable, but not groundbreaking.

I was less impress by the segments by Allen Hughes with Drea De Matteo and Bradley Cooper mindlessly talking in voiceover about a potential meeting, Faith Akin, about a painter who gets inspired by a beautiful girl in a Chinese grocery store, and Mira Nair, but mainly because in her segment she has the great Irfan Khan and Natalie Portman, and doesn’t give them anything interesting to say to each other or do.

Like Johansson, Portman also contributes a segment as director, but unlike Johansson she shows no real aptitude towards filmmaking, making a pretentious, muddled mess of a film about a young father with his child. But it’s nothing compared by Andrei Zvyagintsev’s segment, which is even more pretentious, and takes place almost entirely through the lens of a camcorder of a teenager spying on a crying couple that he cannot hear. But sadly, Shekhar Kapur’s segment, which he took over from the late Anthony Minghella’s, is by far the worst, with Julie Christie as an aged singing star staying at a hotel where a limping Shia LaBeouf is the porter, and a possible Jesus figure. It just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Overall, I enjoyed the film quite a bit. It doesn’t really mean anything, and doesn’t reach a level of true greatness, but overall, it is fun way to spend a couple of hours. The good thing about these movies is that when you don’t like one segment, it doesn’t last more than 10 minutes.

Note: This review was written based on a screening at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. The theatrical version has eliminated two of the segments – those directed by Scarlett Johansson and Andrei Zvyagintsev. I notice that they eliminated the two segments with the least amount of dialogue in them. As you can see from my review, I really disliked the Zvygintsev segment, so I think the movie will actually be improved without that one, but it’s a real shame that Johansson is eliminated because it was one of my favorites – with gorgeous black and white cinematography, a real command of cinema language, and a touching, wordless performance by Kevin Bacon. Apparently, these will show up on the DVD version.