There is not long to wait now to see which film is crowned the Worst Movie of 2014, as today we are looking at the film that has made it in to number four. We have already been more than a little unkind to a handful of movies, but it is going to get steadily worse between now and Christmas Eve.
The Legend of Hercules
We have seen two Hercules movies hit the big screen this year, was one a box office smash, the other, not so much. The Legend of Hercules saw Renny Harlin back in the director's chair as he delivered an origins story about the iconic hero that is Hercules.
In the epic origin story The Legend of Hercules, Kellan Lutz stars as the mythical Greek hero - the son of Zeus, a half-god, half-man blessed with extraordinary strength. Betrayed by his stepfather, the King, and exiled and sold into slavery because of a forbidden love, Hercules must use his formidable powers to fight his way back to his rightful kingdom.
In all honesty, there are not too many upbeat and positive things that can be said about this movie - I really don't like being overly mean about someone's hard work, but you have to wonder why this script was every given the go ahead to be made into a movie.
Sadly, there is nothing here to truly engage with the viewer, as the plot is incredibly weak and washy, while the characters are as dull as dishwater. For me, the whole thing just feels incredibly cheap and it looks like no one has given an ounce of thought to this project.
Hercules is an iconic and interesting character while Greek mythology is something that you really can have a lot of fun with. A movie that really could have been exciting and bold is incredibly boring and unimaginative - you really do have to wonder how they could have missed the mark so spectacularly when you have such rich material to potentially work with.
I think the major reason that it doesn't work is that it has strayed so far from the original source material, that this central character is almost unrecognisable - I am all for bringing something new to a story that we know well, but Kellan Lutz really could be playing anyone.
Lutz is perhaps not the most talented actor in Hollywood, and yet he certainly does look the part. Sadly, that is about as good as he really brings no charisma, personality, or style to this role - granted he is not given much in terms of quality to play with from the script.
The soppy love story is something that I really could have don without, while the action scenes really do leave a lot to be desired. The CGI was good in some places and then looked like an amateur had done them in others.
The Legend of Hercules really is nothing more than an unoriginal jumbled mess that is terribly written and poorly executed. Harlin has been behind some great movies during his career - Die Hard 2 and The Long Kiss Goodnight being two that particularly stand out - but he really has not achieved that with this latest project.
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