Tommy Snöberg Söderberg 
Hercules and the Lost Kingdom is the second of five TV movies made about the mythological Greek hero in 1994. Once again I must point out that the name should be Herakles, but if you have read anything I’ve written about any movie where Hercules occurs you already know that by now. Herakles was the Greek name, and Hercules was the Roman name.
As well as the previous movie Hercules and the Amazon Women, Hercules and the Lost Kingdom is light entertainment. There’s no complex storyline or anything you really have to struggle to wrap your head around. The special effects are charmingly really bad at times and that’s the beauty of it. Sure, modern fantasy films with a gazillion dollar budget might look smoother and more stunning, but there is something charming about those old films where they had to use whatever means they had at their disposal. There’s a charm to rubber monsters and that is part of what makes this work.
Once again there is a stranger seeking Hercules in need of help. In fact there were a hundred of them sent out but only one made it through to actually find Hercules. We learn that he’s from the lost city of Troy and that he and his people are in need of help. We don’t get to know exactly why yet though. Of course, Hercules accepts and the journey begins.
To make it into something more than just getting to Troy, he runs across a village where they are about to sacrifice a young woman (Renée O’Connor, who would later be a major part of Xena, the Warrior Princess) to please the gods. It’s about the crops and fertility or something. Hercules, of course, saves her and tries to convince the townspeople that the gods don’t care about them anyway. I think he’s an authority on the subject in this universe. He is, after all, the son of Zeus, and has gathered some insight into the godhoods over the years.
She becomes his companion for the rest of the journey. It’s obvious that she’s something more than meets the eye, but we’ll have to wait to find out what it is. I think that’s pretty straightforward and If you don’t figure it out right away that’s fine. I actually made a few wrong guesses along the way too.
To even get to the city of Troy, they need a special compass, so that’s where the story begins. Of course it’s acquired and they reach their goal. It’s not a spoiler to say that there’s success either, Hercules is, after all, the hero of the tale.
I think that the relationship between Hercules and his father Zeus is even more strained in Hercules and the Lost Kingdom than in the previous movie. I also think that it’s kind of boring that there’s so much focus on how evil Hera is and I think they even go so far as generalizing women to be calculating and evil in general. But there’s very little involvement from her in this movie anyway. Of course, she is the cause that Hercules has to travel to Troy in the first place but that’s another thing. Anthony Quinn as Zeus is not particularly prominent in this move either. Just enough to establish that he’s there in the background somewhere, that he’s afraid of his wife Hera and that marriage is a struggle.
Overall, an entertaining film. Nothing more, nothing less.
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