Movie Review: Hercules (2014)

Okay, I'm going to admit something a little embarrassing here.  When I was a young boy my favourite two heroes were Superman and Hercules (classical mythology character rather than the Marvel Comics character - who I've never read, but I'm sure I'd like), and NO, that isn't the embarrassing part.

I used to think that if I were to grow up to be a superhero, I would either be called SuperKirk or Kirkules.  Also I made friends and certain siblings call me these names sometimes, and also I may have had a theme song or two I would sing to myself...

Anyway, I bring this up to provide context.  Anytime a new Hercules film or show comes out I'm bound to check it out and then to comment.  And as I have this convenient blog sitting here, I think I'll get up on my soapbox and begin.

This movie was fun.  It was like a mix between the plots of Dragonheart (1996) and King Arthur (2004), in that Hercules is depicted as a man who puts on a show, and that the story is played as a type of story-behind-the-legend type of narrative.

One thing I will definitely say about Dwayne Johnson's performance, he really comes across as a man who has spent years fighting and working at his craft (being a warrior), and his portrayal of a man living up to a legend was actually one of the highlights of the film for me, even more so than the action sequences, and they were great.

The film does play around a little with 3D, so watching it on my regular-old 2D television at home makes it look a little strange anytime things poke out at the screen, but otherwise, the story was fun, the visuals were great, and honestly the end-credit sequence was surprisingly fun and enlightening.

Well worth a watch.

Series Review: A Dream of Eagles

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Today I thought I'd take a quick look at one of my favourite Canadian authors, Jack Whyte, and his most famous series, A Dream of Eagles.


To be fair, Mr. Whyte was born in Scotland, but has been living in Canada since the '60s so I think it's fair to say as a nation we've adopted him.

The series takes a look at Arthurian legend (stories of King Arthur and his round table) and focuses on it through the lens of historical fiction, attempting to view the story behind the legend, the original story of the king, the wizard the sword in the stone and Camelot and tries to put together a framework which could one day become the legend with which we are all so familiar today.

The series is great - the novels are quite big but move quickly and are filled with action, adventure and romance (which does get a bit steamy at times).  The concepts of how all these pieces might have come together to form the backbone of the legend are incredibly clever and I can honestly say that these may be my favourite books on the topic - and over the years I've read everything from La Mort D'Artur to The Mists of Avalon.


If you haven't checked these books out before they are a great treat and I really hope you enjoy them.