‘Hercules’ or — Better Than ‘Clash of the Titans’?!
I’d been aware of the Lou Ferrigno ‘Hercules’ (1983) movie for years but had always avoided it as I suspected it would be a Golan-Globus piece of trash. Yet whilst it is most certainly a Cannon Films production it is also something vastly more important, and that’s a Luigi Cozzi movie, and as someone who considers Cozzi to be a bona fide genius I knew I had to see this movie ASAP. The only concern I had was — would it pale in comparison compared to his sci-fi masterpiece ‘Starcrash’ (1978)?
The good (or should that be “GLORIOUS”?) news is that it’s immediately apparent from the get-go that ‘Hercules’ is, without a doubt, a movie that’s sprung from the mind responsible for ‘Starcrash’ as just with Cozzi’s sci-fi epic this is a gushing love-letter to fantasy, space opera, super heroes, Ray Harryhausen and Greek myths all rolled into one. And if you think that sounds fantastic that’s because it undeniably is.
Not only that but Cozzi is reunited with ‘Starcrash’s director of special effects Armando Valcauda and whilst Valcauda might lack the financial or technical resources of an ILM he more than compensates with a bucket-load of charm, imagination and immense artistic ambition, and it’s these qualities that make ‘Starcrash’ one of the most aesthetically rapturous movies ever made. I can’t emphasise that enough so I’ll say it again — ‘Starcrash’ is one of the most aesthetically rapturous movies ever made (it’s like dropping LSD then climbing inside a Christmas tree).
And ‘Hercules’ is just as visually ecstatic with almost every shot blasting the viewer’s eyeballs like a deranged kaleidoscope, and whereas most other directors would settle for shooting on cheap and handy locations such as a beach, a nearby wood or inside a convenient cave Cozzi does all that but augments these mundane environments with astonishingly otherworldly models, miniatures and mattes. Nothing is normal; everything is extraordinary. A great example is the city of Atlantis which might clearly be constructed from tin-foil and cardboard but is so flamboyant in its imaginative scope that it’s one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.
All this insanity results in Cozzi frequently surpassing his idols Lucas and Harryhausen in certain areas, specifically pacing, because whereas those two giants produced highly entertaining movies their later work could, occasionally, tend towards the lumbering. There’s nothing lumbering about Cozzi’s work, however, with ‘Hercules’ possessing the manic energy of an exploding chimpanzee.
The film was produced by Cannon’s Italian production company, Cannon Italia, so this is an Italian feature through and through (yay!), so Sartana fans, like myself, will rejoice at Gianni Garko popping-up as well as Italian genre regular William Berger giving a gleefully ridiculous turn as the film’s villain, King Minos. The score is provided by the legendary Pino Donaggio.
There’s a reason why people who love Luigi Cozzi LOVE Luigi Cozzi and that’s because his affection for fantasy and sci-fi is so sincere and his enthusiasm so infectious it’s impossible not to fall to your knees and thank the universe such a person exists. These are more than just movies. They’re celebrations of life itself.
Oh, and if you’re only aware of ‘Hercules’ as being the film where Lou Ferrigno hurls a grizzly bear into outer space then trust me, that’s the LEAST ludicrous thing about this movie.
