Hercules and the Circle of Fire (1994)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

All of the world's fires are going out. Who's responsible? If you said anybody but Hera, welcome to your first Hercules TV movie. The third of the five made-for-TV Hercules movies starring Kevin Sorbo that preceded the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys series. This one has Hercules and Deianeira (Tawny Kitaen) trying to restart the world's fire while lighting one of their own. This Deianeira is not the same one from the last movie, played by Renee O'Connor, although there are certainly similarities that suggest a connection. Both women stand up for the mistreated and both banter with Hercules. The difference is that with busty Kitaen there's an added sexual attraction with Sorbo's Hercules that was missing before. Personally I still prefer the ROC version, for a variety of reasons. Tawny's hot but she doesn't do feisty or spunky well.The Hercules series, and these movies, were fun adventure stories. Very simple with few pretensions of being more. Nothing wrong with that. If you like to shut your mind off for awhile and just enjoy some good old-fashioned escapism, you should have a good time with this. The Prometheus stuff is pretty cool-looking and one of my favorite parts from any of these movies. Plus this one features Hercules vs Zeus...sort of.

Born of a human mother but fathered by Zeus, King of the Gods, Hercules has a strength that is only matches by his compassion for others. He lives his life helping others but his quests are made more difficult by the murderous intentions of his stepmother, who sees his existence as an ongoing reminder of Zeus' infidelity. Staying with his friend Cheiron, Hercules (and indeed everyone else) is bemused when all their fires go out at the same time. Learning it is not a phenomenon limited to their small village, it transpires that Phaedra has decided to quench all the fires on Earth, destroying mankind in the process. Joining Hercules on his quest to find fire and bring it back to man is the feisty mortal Deianeira, who doesn't get on with him but has no choice but to accept his help.Not having really ever bothered to stay in on A Saturday night to watch the TV show on channel 5 in the UK, I felt vindicated by the fact that it now fills the kids schedules on the weekend mornings of the same channel. Despite this though, I still ended up stumbling into this movie in a fit of boredom and, sadly, came out of it the same way. The very basic plot is just a frame to allow yet another adventure for Hercules to go on – you know the formula, effects, fights, big men and sexy women. Ticking off these boxes the film delivers a very average product that is to the rough standard that I expected but still didn't do that much for it. Its insistence of keeping things modern mean that it does have an uneasy humour to it but this is not enough to cover how very basic it is. The effects are very TVM and the "adventure" lacks excitement or real tension. Director Lefler can decide what element he wants to focus on and directs it all with a leaden hand The cast do what you'd expect them to. Sorbo does his usual thing and in fairness does have a certain amount of charisma about him as long as he isn't asked to do more than hit people with a bit of a cheeky look in his eye. Despite having watched her in this about 10 minutes ago, I doubt I could pick Kitaen out of a lineup; she shows her skin and emotionally spars with Sorbo but it is nothing that hasn't been done before and she is totally by-the-numbers. Quinn takes the money and is as stiff as a board.Overall an average tvm "swords and modernism" film that tries to be a fun adventure but doesn't pull it off that well. It isn't that fun or that funny and the adventure lacks energy or excitement. The cast are amusing despite being nothing special at all. Fans of the series might enjoy it but I doubt anyone else will find it worth their time.

In the third made for TV Hercules film, Hercules (Kevin Serbo) and Deianeira (Tawny Kitaen taking over for Renée O'Connor, who I guess was too busy with "Darkman II") go off on a quest for fire to save the world from cold. It was alright, but prone to over-sentimental bits and didn't have quite as much action as the previous two films, or the two that followed. However, following the mantra of any Hercules is good Hercules, I can't really saddle this with a bad score, even if it IS the worst of the five made for TV movies. Anthony Quinn as Zeus was one of the great parts of the film, in my opinion.My Grade: C-

This was a pretty good Hercules tv-movie. This adventure lacks the non stop action of the other tv-movies and seems to concentrate on the Hercules and Deianeira relationship. Acting is, of course, great; most notably Kevin Sorbo and Anthony Quinn. This is a must see.