HERCULES

Dawyne Johnson, Rufus Sewell, and Ian McShane

HERCULES (2014). Director: Brett Ratner.

"I can deal with an ambitious man because he can be bought. But a man with no ambition wants nothing."

Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) has finished most of his twelve labors and is now a mercenary for hire, along with some comrades, when he is importuned by Lord Cotys (John Hurt of Alien) of Thrace and his daughter, Atalanta (Ingrid Bolso Berdal),  to help them fight the warlord, Rhesus (Tobias Santelmann), who has magic  and centaurs on his side. Don't expect to see much of that magic because this is yet another mythological film that downplays the fantastic aspects of the legends in favor of warfare. However, Hercules is exciting on that level, and well-staged battle scenes get across the violence without needing to depict extreme gore. Johnson is fine as Hercules, with good support from Rufus Sewell as his comrade Autolycus, Ian McShane [The Last of Sheila] as old seer Amphiaraus, Aksel Hennie as crazy Tydeus, and Reece Ritchie, as Hercules' nephew Iolaus. There's only one monstrous creature in the whole movie, and it looks like video game imagery, but the movie is nicely photographed. This is somewhat better than The Legend of Hercules, which was also released in 2014.

Verdict: Entertaining action flick with muscles. ***.

G. I. JOE: RETALIATION

London gets obliterated by Cobra Commander

G. I. JOE: RETALIATION (2013). Director: Jon M. Chu.

In this follow-up to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the president of the United States has been replaced by a double, the evil Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), a lieutenant in the Cobra organization. While the Cobra operatives who were captured and imprisoned in the last film manage to break out, an operation to wipe out the "Joes" -- a crack fighting unit whose main opponents are Cobra Commander and his gang of terrorists -- nearly succeeds in obliterating the entire team; Duke (Channing Tatum) is one of the casualties. Fortunately, the survivors -- Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D. J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) -- join forces with grizzled General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis) -- to take down the "president" before he and the Cobra Commander can cause havoc and mayhem throughout the world. Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) is a Cobra agent who decides to help the Joes when he realizes how much he's been manipulated by Zartan. Unless you're a G. I. Joe fanatic, Retaliation can be confusing, but there are some genuinely impressive stunts and FX work, especially the chilling destruction of London by the Cobra Commander's special missiles. [This obliteration of a world capitol seems pretty much forgotten by the movies' end -- huh?] The acting is serviceable for this kind of stuff, nothing more, although Jonathan Pryce does manage to impress as the president and his duplicate. Like the previous film, this is sometimes too frenetic for its own good. A bit with some weird mechanical bugs is notable.

Verdict: For Joe fans mostly. **1/2.