Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

zardoz-13 Steve Reeves has his hands full in director Pietro Francisci's sequel "Hercules Unchained" with Sylva Koscina reprising her role as the wife of Hercules. This spear and sandal saga occurs after the first "Hercules' movie and finds Hercules, wife Iole, and the young Ulysses (Gabriel Antonini) heading off in a wagon for the city of Thebes. Our muscular champion gets to battle the Son of the Earth, tangle with a deceptive dame, fight tigers, and lead a charge into battle. Early in the action, our strong protagonist pauses to quench his thirst. Unbeknownst to him, he drinks from a fountain that refreshes but also erases his mind. Ulysses poses as the amnesiac Hercules' deaf servant. Queen Omphale of Lydia takes him into her pleasure garden, while Ulysses spends his nights in prison. Ulysses dispatches a homing pigeon to his father Laertes, and Andrea Fantasia assembles a small but valiant band to rescue them. Omphale (Sylvia Lopez), has an appetite for handsome studs. When she tires of them, she has priests from Egypt embalm them for posterity. Meantime, two brothers compete the throne of Thebes. They battle each other to the death. "Hercules Unchained" takes advantage of Reeves' acting chops as he has to feign ignorance while he is in Omphale's presence. Lots of fun, especially the fight with with the giant Anteus (Primo Carnera) who regains his strength each time Hercules whips him and puts him down.

JohnHowardReid With very little in the way of explanation, this movie commences where Hercules left off. The first thing of importance that happens to Hercules is his rousing fight with a giant played by Primo Carnera (in his final movie appearance), who keeps bouncing back for more. If anything, however, good old Steve Reeves is something of a letdown. True, he looks the part, but everyone else acts him right off the screen – including Mr Carnera. First off are the wonderful credit titles with their beautiful underlying music score by Enzo Masetti. Soon after that, we are treated to a lovely song, seemingly rendered by the beautiful Sylva Koscina but actually by Marisa Del Frate (in the Italian version) or June Valli (in the British/American version). After than it's all super spectacular action a-plenty with chunky Steve Reeves, two warring conspirators (played by Sergio Fantoni and Mimmo Palmara), and not to mention the wickedly lovely queen herself (super-slinky Sylvia Lopez).Fans of Gabriele Antonini will enjoy the first half of the movie in which director Francisci indulges the young man with numerous close-ups, although he does virtually nothing. About halfway through, however, Antonini is suddenly and inexplicably dropped from the movie altogether and the focus shifts firmly to either Steve Reeves or charismatic Sylvia Lopez, although it's Fantoni and Palmara who handle the actual climactic action spotlight.Although the movie itself bears no photography credit, both British and American press releases cite Mario Bava.An Italian-French co-production, copyright 1959 by Lux Film-Galatea and Lux Compagnie Cinematographique de France. Italian release: 14 February 1959. U.S. and British release presented by Joseph E. Levine. U.S. prints distributed by Warner Brothers: 13 July 1960. New York opening on that date at neighborhood theatres as the lead title on a double bill with "Terror Is a Man". United Kingdom release through Warner-Pathé: 7 August 1960. Australian release through Warner Brothers: 1 November 1962. The excellent Kolossal DVD (dialogue in Italian with Italian sub-titles only) runs 95 minutes (which is equivalent to 99 minutes theatrically). The English dubbed theatrical version ran 97 minutes. The Australian version ran 94 minutes. The running time of the original Italian theatrical release was 105 minutes.

wes-connors "Hercules exercises poor judgment when he quenches his thirst from an enchanted spring en route to a diplomatic mission in Thebes. He promptly loses his memory and gets sidetracked in the pleasure gardens of Queen Omphale. Ulysses, his young companion, tries to desperately to help him regain his memory, but in the meantime, the situation in Thebes is reaching boiling point. To make matters worse Hercules' young wife Iole faces imminent danger," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Re-titled "Hercules Unchained" for the English speaking world.This was the second Hercules film directed by Pietro Francisci with Mario Bava, and starring handsome muscle-man Steve Reeves as the titular hero. Unfortunately, it was also the last time both Mr. Francisci and Mr. Reeves signed on to the series, as both sought finer productions. Importantly, Reeves' boy companion Gabriele Antonini (as Ulysses) also returns, as does beautiful wife Sylva Koscina (as Iole) and a variety of busty young women. One of the better "sword and sandal" epics.***** Ercole e la regina di Lidia (2/14/59) Pietro Francisci ~ Steve Reeves, Gabriele Antonini, Sylva Koscina, Sylvia Lopez

ablewuzi Hercules becomes amnesiac after drinking from the waters of Lethe. For years, the beautiful queen Omphale has been abducting warrior men who become amnesiacs off to her exotic paradise island where they give themselves up to sexual pleasures until the day she tires of them. That's the day they die, only to be immortalized as statuary in her garden of conquests. Hercules soon finds himself abducted and like all the others he is her completely willing slave.But this time her soldiers bring back Hercules' traveling companion Ulysses, who has saved his life by pretending to be the hero's deaf-mute body servant. Ulysses continues in that role during Hercules' captivity and by keeping Hercules from drinking more of the magical water, restores his memory.'I've been tricked by the gods.' is his summation of the situation. After all, he had been on an important mission of state with his wife the virtual hostage of a madman when all this happened. Of course he gets away, the first of Ompahle's slaves to escape her net. She statue-tizes herself over the lose and the movie moves on to its conclusion.All Sons of Hercules movies have this same plot: Hercules falls under the sway of a powerful, beautiful and evil woman but comes to his senses and saves the day. At its core it is about sex and the taboo predilection of men to seek this enslavement. This plot is not fashionable any more. Too much sexual freedom in modern society has robbed it of its power. But it had power (over men) in the sixties, and this film exploited it expertly.