This is definitely such a "hey, WTF?!" bad movie, you wonder why it was ever made at all.
For all the special effects, there's very little real money getting spent here - the poverty shows in the costumes and make up and virtually unadorned sound-stages, but primarily in the casting; not only are the actors and extras incapable of convincing performances, but there aren't enough of them! This is the most underpopulated version of the ancient world I've every seen.
Although there are references to the actual Hercules myths, there is also a lot of loony rewriting of Greek mythology; apparently there's a point to it all - an attempt to comment on the conflicting universes of classical magic and the coming age of 'science,' which point reaches conclusion in the film's sequel. Unfortunately, the science is pretty bad; and the magic doesn't work so well either.
For all that, there are moments of amusement throughout the film, the babes are hot, and the film did salvage the fond memories of the old Italian Hercules film cycles from getting completely lost. And one last point - when the Aussies decided to put together "Hercules: the Legendary Journeys" TV show, they actually used the visual style of the Ferrigno films as their reference, just playing it up for laughs.
For all the special effects, there's very little real money getting spent here - the poverty shows in the costumes and make up and virtually unadorned sound-stages, but primarily in the casting; not only are the actors and extras incapable of convincing performances, but there aren't enough of them! This is the most underpopulated version of the ancient world I've every seen.
Although there are references to the actual Hercules myths, there is also a lot of loony rewriting of Greek mythology; apparently there's a point to it all - an attempt to comment on the conflicting universes of classical magic and the coming age of 'science,' which point reaches conclusion in the film's sequel. Unfortunately, the science is pretty bad; and the magic doesn't work so well either.
For all that, there are moments of amusement throughout the film, the babes are hot, and the film did salvage the fond memories of the old Italian Hercules film cycles from getting completely lost. And one last point - when the Aussies decided to put together "Hercules: the Legendary Journeys" TV show, they actually used the visual style of the Ferrigno films as their reference, just playing it up for laughs.