Hercules, a tormented demigod who claims to be the son of Zeus, leads a band of mercenaries made up of a former king, a thief, an archer and a mute warrior. Burdened by the memory of his past, the group agrees to train the army of Thrace for a war against the warlord Rhesus. They soon discover that their employers are pursuing aims quite different from those they were promised, and the hero must decide what role he wants to play in a conflict that reaches well beyond the battlefield. The story mixes action, palace intrigue and doubts about the protagonist's own identity, as he still cannot tell whether his divine origin is real or merely legend.

How it was made

The film is based on the comic miniseries Hercules: The Thracian Wars by Steve Moore, whose name appears in the promotion even though the writer asked, before his death, to be disassociated from the adaptation. The screenplay was written by Evan Spiliotopoulos with Ryan J. Condal, and Brett Ratner directed and produced, with Paramount Pictures as the studio. Dwayne Johnson stars after eight months of physical training, and during the shoot in Budapest he lived alone for six months to immerse himself in the role. The cast includes Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Joseph Fiennes, John Hurt and Irina Shayk. Dante Spinotti handled the cinematography and Fernando Velázquez composed the score. The tone blends classic sword-and-sandal epic with contemporary action, taking considerable liberties with Greek myth and the source material.

Reception and legacy

The film was released in the United States on July 25, 2014, in 3,595 theaters, and became a box office success, grossing about 244 million dollars worldwide on a budget of around 100 million. Critics were divided: Johnson's performance and the action sequences drew praise, while the screenplay and plot received criticism. It opened against another Hercules film, The Legend of Hercules, released the same year. Over time it is usually cited as an example of Hollywood's renewed interest in the Hercules myth during that decade, rather than as a landmark of the genre.