“In the same way audiences have appreciated “realistic” super heroes, Hercules gives us a realistic demi-god, who may or may not be a god but he totally punched a hyrda in the face once. Dwayne Johnson swells to super beefcake size for this starring role, a dead serious spin on legend with a wealth of side characters allowed to pierce the veil of sincerity for one-off gags. Hercules is high fantasy without any actual fantasy. Creatures and monsters are explained away because imagination is stupid nowadays.”