As origins stories go, Hercules' is a doozy: Born of an affair between his human mother and Zeus, Hercules would become the best-known hero of Greek mythology by slaying serpents, man-eating horses and a three-headed guard dog of the underworld.
Alas, The Legend of Hercules (** out of four, rated PG-13, opens Friday nationwide) only skims the details of our burly half-god, settling for slick action, bronze bodies and a video-game aesthetic.
Cross-pollinated by sword-and-sandal flicks 300 and Gladiator,this Hercules can't muster the visual punch of the first nor the character depth of the latter. Still, the film manages some nifty visuals and fight sequences that occasionally make you forget dialogue as rickety as a junk chariot.
Kellan Lutz (Immortals, the Twilight franchise) plays our title character, the stepson of evil King Amphitryon (Scott Adkins). The ruler is a tyrant jealous of Herc's god-like DNA and determined to play favorites with his sniveling son Iphicles (Liam Garrigan).
Adkins (Zero Dark Thirty, The Expendables 2) stands out among a bland cast that does much bleeding, shouting and flexing, if little emoting. He gives the film's first half-hour some crackle as he consolidates power by brokering a peace with neighboring Crete.
Hercules may have inherited Zeus' strength, but he could have used some of stepdad's fury. Lutz is a likable presence, a grinning beefcake who has some of the easy charm of Chris Hemsworth, star of the Thor franchise (another series that left its impression on director Renny Harlin).
But Hercules needs presence to match his girth, and he's such a sheepish hero that it's hard to get that concerned with his battles across the Egyptian desert or his pining for the love of his life, Princess Hebe (Gaia Weiss).
Credit Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2) with passable action scenes accentuated by 3-D. The stylized, slow-motion violence comes straight from the 300 playbook, though it's watered down to maintain a PG-13 rating.
And there's a fun retro camp to Hercules, with nods to classics such as Ben-Hur and Spartacus, as Hercules finds himself rowing slave ships and crossing desert expanses.
But this is mythology-light geared for kids who don't have time for Wikipedia. Our stars are buff, beautiful and wise-cracking. And there's not much in the way of tension: Pitting Hercules against mortal Romans is like an arm-wrestling match between Clark Kent and a real reporter.
Still, Hercules makes no bones about being being anything more than popcorn fare, and manages to tell a passable story, however puny.
