Hercules (Rated T)
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell
Genre: Action Adventure
Dwight's Rating: 2.5
Lucy (Rated C)
Cast: Scarlett Johansson,
Morgan Freeman
Genre: Action
Dwight's Rating: 1.5

It was an epic battle between a superhuman man versus a superhuman woman at the box office this past weekend. One of the films looks to a fictional future, and the other looks to a mythological past, but the themes and tones are remarkably similar. And while one is an enjoyable romp, the other is a regrettable waste of time.
"Lucy" is the latter -- a sad, jumbled mess of a movie. Poor Scarlett Johansson stars as the title character. It's not her fault; she's always enjoyable to watch, and delivers a reasonable performance here. Unfortunately, in this case, she's working with some incredibly loony material.
Lucy accidentally gets caught up in a drug trafficking operation, and is forced to be a drug mule. But when the bag containing the powerful synthetic drugs rupture inside her abdomen, she develops superhuman powers, transforming into a merciless warrior beyond human logic. She also decides to turn the tables on her captors, a Taiwanese drug cartel.
With a plot like this, there are only two directions this movie could have taken -- really provocative or really ridiculous. And this one ends up on the really ridiculous route, and then leaps right off the track.
Throughout the movie, we are reminded that human beings generally only use about 10 percent of their brain. Sadly, it appears director/writer Luc Besson only used about three percent of his. He seems to believe we're either all too dense or dull to have imaginations, and repeatedly provides cutaways -- "Family Guy" style -- for what seems like almost every single scene.
For example, Lucy enters a potentially dangerous situation -- cut to a gazelle in Africa looking up nervously while drinking from a watering hole as cheetahs lurk in the grass. Really? Other scenes play like something from a National Geographic documentary, again rife with cutaways of nature or techie science stuff. I'm pretty sure that when people pay money to go to the cinema, most don't want to feel that they're watching a TV show.
Morgan Freeman essentially phones in his performance, playing largely the same character he did in the strikingly similar "Transcendence" starring Johnny Depp. "Lucy" actually makes "Transcendence" -- a film which I panned, earlier this year-- now seem quite sensible.
"Lucy" ends up trying far too hard to be the next "The Matrix" or "Inception". But it is so far off the mark. (And just wait until the ending -- the spectacularly ridiculous icing on this very sour cake.)
A much better choice is "Hercules" -- although it is not as good as it had the potential to be.
The story here picks up after Hercules' 12 labors. He's haunted by his past and his legend, and has become a mercenary along with his five faithful companions. They travel across ancient Greece selling their services for gold, essentially as "swords-for-hire".
I'm sure many are wondering how many times Hollywood will try to tell any Hercules story. (This is actually the second Hercules movie this year, although hardly anyone remembers the one released in January.)
Thankfully, this one is whimsical and action-packed, with a prominent and pervasive sense of humor. Extremely prominent and pervasive! Every character but Dwayne Johnson's Hercules delivers a constant barrage of comedic lines -- especially Rufus Sewell's exceptionally sarcastic, Autolycus -- as if they're on a sitcom. This happens even during the epic and violent battle scenes. Nevertheless, it's fast-paced and visually appealing. For some, it's all anyone could want in a summer movie.
But it feels like something is lacking, preventing me from completely gushing over it. The problems probably lay at the feet of Director Brett Ratner, of the "Rush Hour" film series fame. He's built a career on quick thrills and humor, with music video-like freneticism. That tradition continues here.
However, it feels as if the pace in "Hercules" had been slowed down just a bit, if the snarky humor had been toned down just a smidgen, and if some other odd choices had been eliminated, we could have had something very special here. Those odd choices include a potty mouth. In a movie tailor-made for teens and pre-teens, it seems highly unnecessary for our hero Hercules, son of Zeus, to be dropping an F-bomb. It's a bit jarring, and just plain weird.
That may be nit-picking, but without a doubt, it does feel that with just a little more effort, and a little less laziness, we could have had something closer to a near-classic like "Pirates of The Caribbean" (the original, not the many painfully awful sequels that followed.)
Otherwise, "Hercules" is a straight-forward, inoffensive summer pastime. Consider it the vanquisher in this round of superhuman man versus superhuman woman.

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