Alan Moore: please boycott Hercules (The Rock's new film)

[Frank]

Usual story - comic creator gets shafted by publisher/film company - but given added bite by the sad passing of Steve Moore, upon whose work the film is based. I don't need any persuading not to watch a fantasy film starring a half naked wrestler in a wig anyway:

Steve was saying that this film sounded like it was going to be a complete abortion, that they'd dumped characters such as Hylas. That's understandable in that Hylas was Hercules' boyfriend. And that's perhaps not what The Rock wants to bring to his tale of his Hercules. So, Steve wouldn't be getting any money from this. The only consolation was that his name wouldn't be going on it.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/07/17/alan-moore-calls-for-boycott-of-wretched-film-hercules-on-behalf-of-friend-steve-moore/

[GrinningChimera]

I don't think anyone here would admit to wanting to see it before this news anyway.

Definitely won't be seeing it ever now.

[ThryllSeekyr]

Is this the new version with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in it.....

[Theblazeuk]

Hercules, the Rock's New Film? Possibly. Maybe there's some kind of clue on this thread...


Gonna be shit anywho.

[CheechFU]

Shut up Alan Moore, you stupid wizard.

[Dark Jimbo]

Shut up Alan Moore, you stupid wizard.

Yes, how dare he take umbrage at a Hollywood studio cynically exploiting the recent death of his close friend.

[ZenArcade]

Alan Moore appears to be none too fond of the industry at the best of times. I'd say this has him incandescent. Z

[Trout]

Dave Elliot has posted an email from Steve Moore on the Bleeding Cool comments for this story. In it, Moore (rest in peace, you splendid man) accepts that he was owed nothing for the film, admits he read the wrong draft of a contract and apologizes for his mistake.

Also, Elliot says that the film company had a legal duty to credit Steve Moore. If they are using his death for publicity (and I'm not sure where the evidence for that is), then that's reprehensible. But at least some of Alan Moore's concerns seem to be based on things that can be disproved. Perhaps he's just mistaken.

I say this in the full knowledge that I've been a supporter of Alan Moore's opinions for many years, and I hate the way he's vilified for speaking his mind. This time, however, I fear his call for a boycott has been undermined.

Mind you, I won't be watching this film anyway. It looks shite.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Interesting (and depressing) slating of it over on io9.

Clearly no one involved is thinking that hard....

Spoilers within.
http://io9.com/brett-ratners-hercules-is-a-lie-dont-fall-for-it-1610881361

[Dandontdare]

Interesting (and depressing) slating of it over on io9.

Clearly no one involved is thinking that hard....

Spoilers within.
http://io9.com/brett-ratners-hercules-is-a-lie-dont-fall-for-it-1610881361

I did like one quote in that:

But the movie is so lazy that bitching about its utter lack of regard for Greek mythology, or the anachronisms, or the Greco-roman design confusion, is useless. Complaining would require you to care more about the movie than Ratner ever did, so why bother?

[I, Cosh]

Interesting (and depressing) slating of it over on io9.

Clearly no one involved is thinking that hard....

Spoilers within.
http://io9.com/brett-ratners-hercules-is-a-lie-dont-fall-for-it-1610881361

I'd certainly agree that the reviewer isn't thinking too hard.

For some reason, I read Steve Moore's Hercules comics when they were coming out. They were pretty good fun but, had anyone told me a big budget movie was coming off the back of them, I'd have been as surprised as I was when I first saw this thread. As far as I can remember, all the unreliable narration and deliberate exaggeration, story that grows in the telling stuff is present and correct in the comic and made explicit in one of Herc's crew being the storyteller.

To simultaneously complain that the film doesn't deliver exactly the story you want but is too predictable seems slightly obtuse. To double down with a moan about the film portraying Hercules as an unreliable narrator and then think that it's relevant or insightful to include this " one of them is Atalanta, whom the mythological Hercules never palled around with" removes any doubt.

[I, Cosh]

A more charitable view: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/23/hercules-review-dwayne-johnson-the-rock

[Banners]

Peter Mullan's in it so it's awesome by default.

[The Doctor Alt 8]

Well you won't catch me watching this. Looks awful.

[Bat King]

Hercules is a very unreliable narrator as he doesn't even remember his own name correctly...