Today's News: shooting Hercules (on film) begins

If you're already tired reading about plastic dinosaur toys, this bit of news from MovieScene might be of interest to you:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/147811/opnamen_dwayne_johnsons_hercules_begonnen

I hadn't heard of both this project and the graphic novel it's based on before. It sounds reasonably intriguing, but there's a lot of apparent similarities with Johnson's own The Scorpion King (2002). That's not necessarily a bad thing: TSC might not have been a good film, but it was a fairly fun action flick. I have a gut feeling this movie will turn out likewise. Though a different approach to the mythological Hercules sounds fascinating, I'm not overly fond of ignoring the more fantastic elements like monsters and sorcery, which always proved my favorite bits of any mythology. And what about gods? They're surely the realm of fantasy (for an atheist like me at least), but they're mentioned in the synopsis I've read, plus they're an integral part of the Hercules persona that should not be ixnayed in my mind. He's a demigod and he knows it, after all. The rest of the plot sounds fairly standard really: conflicted mercenary and his gang get involved with the wrong crowd, i.e. a ruthless monarch, and slowly see the truth about themselves, realizing they're good guys after all so they turn the tables and start fighting for the oppressed masses. And then they win and their leader becomes the new king or stuff. That's probably the gist of it. Can't imagine Hercules ever being a real bad guy. Now that would be an original take on the character for sure!

I will not deny there's a lot of solid names attached to this project. Least of which is Brett Ratner, who is truthfully a capable action director - is this a good moment to openly state I liked X-Men: The Last Stand? - but usually feels lacking in most other departments. Still, he's a fairly decent player in Hollywood. Certainly not the lowest of the low as far as directors are concerned, but also not exactly top Hollywood brass. John Hurt, Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes all sound like music to my ears. Solid British actors each, every one of them always a joy to behold despite the occasional feeling they should have picked a better project than waste their talent on the current one. This Hercules flick might very well turn out to fall in the latter category. After all, it kinda sounds like a typical B- action movie, Sword & Sandals style. However, if it were, I doubt Johnson himself would bother to star in it, considering how far he's come - or he thinks he's come - over the last decade. Perhaps he felt nostalgic and wanted to do something reminding him of the old days? Fat chance! Maybe he wanted to cash in on the comic book craze and star in a graphic novel adaptation of his own? Or maybe, jusy maybe, there's more to Hercules: The Thracian Wars than we might be inclined to think at first... Whatever that may be, it's definitely not in that silly title.