Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) in this new Brett Ratner movie is a trifle too naïve for my taste, and assuredly the dialogue isn’t brainy.  But the battle scenes, involving Hercules and the Thracian army, are fun and sweatily compelling.  Also, it was savvily photographed (by Dante Spinotti) and costumed—the actors, I mean—(by Jany Temime).  Rebecca Ferguson looks like a million bucks in hers, for she’s a classical beauty—and has acting ability to boot.

Nothing great, this Hercules, but it is watchable.

Image from page 289 of “The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary and Greek lexicon; forming a glossary of all the words representing visible objects connected with the arts, manufactures, and every-day life of the Greeks and Romans, with represen (Photo credit: Internet Archive Book Images)