Truly Dreadful Film

A-maz-ing

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

In this follow-up to the blockbuster hit HERCULES, our muscular hero travels to his home land to discover treachery and a war between two brothers for domination of the city of Thebes. Acting as a diplomat between the two men, he is employed with transporting a treaty from one to the other. Along the way he drinks from the fountain of forgetfulness and is captured by a cruel queen who loves men and then turns them into statues. Eventually breaking free from his memory loss, he escapes and goes to battle to rescue his captured wife.Firstly, ignore the plot as the box has it. Obviously written by somebody who's never seen the film, it makes no sense and hardly any of it happens in HERCULES UNCHAINED. What we have here is a straightforward adventure yarn with a rather complex plot for a change involving lots of different groups of people (there are at least four armies around here). With photography by one Mario Bava, the film is lovely and colourful to look at although sometimes the low budget is apparent (especially in the fun but cheap-looking lion fights).Like most films from this period, there's a bit of everything for people to enjoy. The violence is tame by today's standards (even getting the film a 'U' certificate) yet still involves people hacking each other up with swords and bleeding all over the place and getting thrown to their deaths - with the impact on screen! I could have done without the romantic subplot between Reeves and Sylvia Lopez, who plays Queen Omphale, although you have to admire the scriptwriter's ingenuity which allows Reeves to have an affair through forgetfulness and yet return to a loving, unsuspecting wife afterwards! Steve Reeves is on top form here, playing his best remembered role and his muscular physique is something to look at. Throughout the film he does all sorts of manly things, including bending bars (underwater this time), moving huge boulders, holding open huge steel doors as they close, and throwing giant statues at the enemy! Koscina is also quite radiant as his long-suffering wife while Gabriele Antonini lends some comic relief as the young Ulysses - his impersonation of a deaf mute had me repeatedly in stitches! While the romantic aspect of the film is quite boring and there's a definite lull in the middle, you always know that there'll be another action set piece coming up and sure as hell, there is. This keeps the film entertaining throughout. They even manage to throw in a full-scale war at the end, as well as some gladiatoral combat and a macabre museum of human corpses! My favourite scene has Hercules fighting an immortal 'earth god' who repeatedly laughs at his opponent's efforts to beat him - until he is dunked unceremoniously in the ocean by our friendly titan! HERCULES UNCHAINED definitely isn't the best of the genre and there are a lot better efforts out there, but it's nice to look at and a lot of fun on an escapist level.

"Hercules Unchained" (1959) is an Italian/French/Spanish sword & sandal flick in the mold of Kirk Douglas' "Ulysses" (1954). I always loved "Ulysses" as a kid (and adult), which is far better than the boring 1997 TV remake "The Odyssey" despite its datedness. So if you have a fondness for "Ulysses," "Hercules Unchained" is more of the same, with a very similar plot, i.e. the journeying hero forgets who he is while bewitched by a beautiful babe on some island.Californian muscleman Steve Reeves plays the titular hero/god to perfection. Reeves is most known for his Hercules role but interestingly only played the part twice, in this film and the first one "Hercules" (1957). Anyway, one good side-effect of watching Reeves is that it will likely inspire guys to get in shape (the same effect as watching Stallone as Rambo).In this film Herc is married to the beautiful Iole (Sylva Koscina), but he forgets his wife and homeland after drinking of the waters of forgetfulness and falls under the spell of Queen Omphale (Sylvia Lopez) of the isle Lidia. So Herc is caught between two beauties: Sylva and Sylvia."Hercules Unchained" can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. It's a fun fantasy adventure with dated "effects," but it also addresses quite a few mature themes.One theme is the boneheaded predilection of men to sexual gratification and their intrinsic weakness to the spell of feminine beauty. Herc is married to cutie Iole (Sylva), but it wasn't too hard for him to fall under the power of Omphale (Sylvia). And he has the perfect excuse -- "Aduh, I forgot" (!).Another theme is that feminine power can be used for good or evil, productivity or destruction. Sylva uses her feminine charms to catch herself a manly hunk (Reeves) for a husband and family, while Sylvia uses her womanly power to capture (literally) a never-ending succession of studs. Sylva wants a lifelong mate and family, whereas Sylvia is a black widow who kills her "conquests" after she gets bored with them and puts 'em in her trophy case, so to speak (you'll see what I mean).Look around and you'll easily see both types of women in real life. One girl I knew in high school, for example, would catch herself a hunk boyfriend and ultimately start cheating on him as soon as she got bored; she would then let go of the boyfriend and officially hook up with the guy she was cheating with; once she got bored of him she'd start cheating with the next guy, ultimately dropping the boyfriend for him, ad nauseum. She was notorious, just like Omphale (Sylvia). She would even break up best friends with here expert feminine powers. The lunkheads could never come to the realization of what she was actually doing because they were too susceptible to her bewitching charms.Interestingly, Sylva is beautiful in a cute way, whereas Sylvia is beautiful in a sharp, leggy and glamorous way. Both are well worth catching the film for if you're a red-blooded male.Another theme is that of negative rivalry. The two siblings vie for kingship (or control) of Thebes. Proud rivalry begats enmity and violence, and ultimately mutually assured self-destruction. Both actors are outstanding, fittingly displaying a palpable royal pomp.The sets and costuming are noteworthy. Mario Bava did the cinematography and special effects, as well as some directing, so the film has that colorful Bava look.BOTTOM LINE: If you can overlook certain dated aspects (like the editing) "Hercules Unchained" is enjoyable on numerous levels, both juvenile and mature. It's the obvious precursor to modern films like "Troy." GRADE: B+

This movie definitely is not the best or most exciting one around. Strangely enough it doesn't decide on picking a more adventurous story and restrains itself mostly to the same locations.You can say that these early Italian genre movies set the later standards for the swords & sandals genre. The first movie "Le fatiche di Ercole" began with this and this movie further expands it, without adding too much excitement or fun though. The movie has the looks and right characters involved but yet the movie only at times manages to become an interesting and good one to watch. Most of the time too little is happening, which is a shame and a waste.The set and colors of it all might seem fake and silly looking by todays standards but this at the same time has become part of the charm of these early type of genre movies. Also for it's time this movie must have been pretty good and impressive looking at times. It's at least not as cheap looking as many other later Italian genre attempts. The earliest Hercules, or Ercole, movies are still definitely the better ones to watch.Steve Reeves certainly was an impressive presence and for some reason he's far better than most other actors who ever portrayed the Ercole (Hercules) character in these type of movies, without having too impressive acting talents.It's really too bad that the movie its middle part is so poor. The movie begins quite well and promising and also ends well, when the movie turns into a more spectacular one to watch.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Only a fool would curse a fairy tale because it narrates the actions of a witch. A good man has a strong enough heart to allow differences to flourish as long as people are allowed to live their lives in a peaceable manner.That's the great lesson that underlines this film, otherwise silly and occasionally mawkish. I suppose that's why intelligent children have loved the Hercules myth ever since it could be recorded. Hercules is pretty dumb, but he's a nice guy with good intentions, the most important of which is to keep those who have let power corrupt them from bringing ruin to farmers and villagers and other peaceful working people.Here he is threatened by three evil generals and an over-self-indulgent witch. The plot is partly based on the Hercules myth itself, but borrows freely from the Odyssey and from the Oedipus plays, with just a dash of the Argonauts legend tossed in briefly at the beginning.Alright, so it's a mess. And the middle third is just outright dull as the witch grows to love her buffoonish captive.Never mind. It's well-made for its time and place, colorful, and even occasionally lyrical. And some of the fight scenes retain their excitement, after all these years.Perhaps best viewed - and understood - by children; but can provide real entertainment for intelligent adults in the right frame of mind.