Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Hercules II; here's the breakdown of my ratings:
Story: 0.50 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.25 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00
TOTAL: 5.25 out of 10.00
Sequels are seldom as good as the originals, and with Hercules II, it's hardly surprising since it wasn't intended to be a sequel: Hell, to begin with, it wasn't even a Hercules story. But this only shows how flexible the writer and director, Luiggi Cozzi, could be.
The story isn't as loaded with storylines as the original, and it hurts the film a little. There's not so much transpiring on Earth or The Gods Home, the Moon, which gives the viewer extra time to find fault with the ones on offer. The main one is the theft of Zeus' seven thunderbolts. Had Cozzi been allowed more time to structure this scenario better, then it would have been superb: However, it felt a tad rough and rushed. There's no reason why the thunderbolts manifest themselves as monsters. Once Herc defeats the creatures, they dissolve away to reveal the bolt. Suddenly we're in the next scene, and we don't see how the bolts get back to Zeus. Had we had answers to these, the story would have been stronger. Cozzi also brings back the Evil King, who believes in science over mythology. But for some reason, science equates to chaos, which is the real motive driving King Minos. But everybody knows that in chaos, nobody is king, and that makes this plot point a tad silly. It would have been better to have Minos pursuing only science, which is more understandable because even in the 80s, religion was losing out to knowledge.
Luckily Cozzi keeps the style and panache of the original movie. Once again, employing lighting techniques and feature colours to create the relevant moods in the film. And he keeps his quick cutting and gripping camera angles when shooting the action sequences. Though the story might not be as good, the direction lives up to the original.
As do the cast, a few of them have returned with Lou Ferrigno from the original movie. Sadly, I believe it's the script that has let them down this time around. Though they all give a hundred percent, if they have to speak some terrible lines, well, those lines remain terrible, no matter the speaker. In particular, King Minos ranting about chaos is pretty risible. It isn't William Berger's fault, though he does appear to be hamming up these scenes.
Not as good as the first movie, and therefore I would only recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Hercules. Even then, I'd advise watching it only if you'd exhausted your movie watchlist. Once again, it wasn't a bad Sunday Morning Crumpet Breakfast view, though I probably won't rush to watch it again.
Please feel free to visit my Obsidian Dreams and Holding Out For A Hero lists to see where I ranked Hercules II.
Take Care & Stay Well.
Story: 0.50 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.25 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00
TOTAL: 5.25 out of 10.00
Sequels are seldom as good as the originals, and with Hercules II, it's hardly surprising since it wasn't intended to be a sequel: Hell, to begin with, it wasn't even a Hercules story. But this only shows how flexible the writer and director, Luiggi Cozzi, could be.
The story isn't as loaded with storylines as the original, and it hurts the film a little. There's not so much transpiring on Earth or The Gods Home, the Moon, which gives the viewer extra time to find fault with the ones on offer. The main one is the theft of Zeus' seven thunderbolts. Had Cozzi been allowed more time to structure this scenario better, then it would have been superb: However, it felt a tad rough and rushed. There's no reason why the thunderbolts manifest themselves as monsters. Once Herc defeats the creatures, they dissolve away to reveal the bolt. Suddenly we're in the next scene, and we don't see how the bolts get back to Zeus. Had we had answers to these, the story would have been stronger. Cozzi also brings back the Evil King, who believes in science over mythology. But for some reason, science equates to chaos, which is the real motive driving King Minos. But everybody knows that in chaos, nobody is king, and that makes this plot point a tad silly. It would have been better to have Minos pursuing only science, which is more understandable because even in the 80s, religion was losing out to knowledge.
Luckily Cozzi keeps the style and panache of the original movie. Once again, employing lighting techniques and feature colours to create the relevant moods in the film. And he keeps his quick cutting and gripping camera angles when shooting the action sequences. Though the story might not be as good, the direction lives up to the original.
As do the cast, a few of them have returned with Lou Ferrigno from the original movie. Sadly, I believe it's the script that has let them down this time around. Though they all give a hundred percent, if they have to speak some terrible lines, well, those lines remain terrible, no matter the speaker. In particular, King Minos ranting about chaos is pretty risible. It isn't William Berger's fault, though he does appear to be hamming up these scenes.
Not as good as the first movie, and therefore I would only recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Hercules. Even then, I'd advise watching it only if you'd exhausted your movie watchlist. Once again, it wasn't a bad Sunday Morning Crumpet Breakfast view, though I probably won't rush to watch it again.
Please feel free to visit my Obsidian Dreams and Holding Out For A Hero lists to see where I ranked Hercules II.
Take Care & Stay Well.