Hercules

I bought it for my dad no complaints

Good present great price

As someone interested in the classical world I've watched quite a few of these mini-series based on Greek and Roman history or mythology and after every viewing I'm reminded of the old Punch magazine cartoon about the curate's egg (a visiting curate assures the bishop that parts of his suspect breakfast egg are very good.) Usually production values in these miniseries are good, the historical or mythological sources are generally respected and after 3 hours of viewing you switch off having enjoyed yourself but without any sense of having watched a classic. My major dissatisfactions often have to do with the casting which always follows a set formula of having a couple of well-known stalwarts (in Hercules we get Timothy Dalton) who often provide the best acting, or a well-known face from a hit TV series, backed up by a mass of little-known or unknown actors of varying abilities who often seem poorly cast and who often struggle with the clunking dialogue. Hercules is no exception to this rule and we get English, American, Scottish, Irish and Aussie accents jostling with each other and not a single face that looks vaguely mediterranean or classical. Nor does the wonderful New Zealand scenery really evoke the Greek world. And then there's the costumes. The Greeks didn't exactly overdress but in Hercules everyone wears what appears to be heavy late Roman and mediaeval clobber. But like the proverbial curate's egg parts of this miniseries are good. You're unlikely to have any complaints about Hercules himself who's played by Paul Telfer, an athletic Scottish hunk who knows how to act (I realised I'd seen him recently in the BBC's Hotel Babylon in which he played the handsome, scheming bellboy, Luke, and I remember thinking then that he somewhat resembles a very young Sean Connery and would have made a better James Bond than the present incumbent.) You also get some pretty good special effects and plenty of action of the sword-and-sandal variety. Yes, I confess I enjoyed it all and I think you will too, but as usual I switched off feeling that the film-makers had missed a few opportunities. To my mind only one production captures on celluloid the true flavour of the greek myths and that's Ray Harryhausen's 1960s Jason and the Argonauts which you've probably seen a dozen times (but if not then snap it up) and which correctly portrays Hercules as a bearded older man and Hylas as his "special mate".

Not bad film came early plus cheap

A gripping tale well worth a watch.

i have been looking for this movie everywhere so when i found it here i was so happyits a origin story for hercules plus some political intrigue

Have not yet seen this but bought it off Amazon and the actual running time is 161 minutes so do not think you will get a 240 minute version when ordering, still its better than the 127 minute version from Amazon.com

this was the worst piece of rubish i have seen the picture is grainy the sound awful and the whole thing a mess. the actors and whoever made this twaddle should be ashamed