HERCULES IN THE UNDERWORLD (1994)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*

Discounting the final telefilm in this series, which is essentially a "clip show," UNDERWORLD is the weakest of the HERCULES pilot-movies-- and this despite the fact that it's based on one of the best known archaic stories about the hero. 

The original tale hinges on an element of infidelity impossible to duplicate in a squeaky-clean adventure-show. Archaic Hercules, married to Deianeira, saves her from a rape-happy centaur named Nessus by shooting the beast-man dead with an arrow. As Nessus perishes, he convinces the gullible woman that his centaur-blood, when applied to a garment, can be used to keep her husband faithful. Sure enough, Hercules' affections stray to a new love, Iole. Deianeira innocently gives Hercules a robe soaked in centaur-blood, and upon donning the garment, the hero feels as if he's burning alive. He dies upon a pyre but his spirit ascends to Olympus, while Deianeira commits suicide.

In UNDERWORLD, Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) has been married to Deianeira (Tawny Kitaen) for several years, since they have three small children. Zeus (Anthony Quinn) comes by every once in a while to play Grandpa.

As for Hera, she finally does mount a two-pronged attack, one overt and one subtle. She manipulates a brutal boxer into slaying some of the men of Hercules' village, so that the hero must fight and slay the boxer. When Hercules learns of Hera's involvement, he demolishes her local temple, though Zeus warns that this will only enrage her further.

But it appears that Hera's been working for some time on Nessus, a centaur who works at Hercules' side at a smithy. Nessus covets Deianeira, and he's rash enough to even proposition her in private. Then a fetching young woman, Iole, comes to Hercules, needing his help in her town, where a pit leading to the Land of Death menaces the populace. Agents of Hera play upon Deianeira's insecurity as to her husband's fidelity. Nessus then tries to rape the young woman in clear sight of Hercules, who shoots the centaur dead. As Nessus expires, he completes his mission for Hera by deceiving Deianeira-- who, in contrast to her earlier depiction, becomes a complete dummy.

Hercules pursues his mission to Iole's town. He meets Iole's old boyfriend, who tries to kill him. Iole thinks there's some prophecy linking her to Hercules romantically, though this prophecy doesn't add up to much. The hero reaches the Underworld-fissure, but since he can't descend without dying, he actually does plan to withdraw from battle to protect his own family. Through a series of contrivances he dons the poisoned garment and plunges into the abyss anyway, but he doesn't die for some reason. Meanwhile, a messenger informs Deianeira that he saw Hercules plunge into the abyss. Deianeria does not kill herself in grief, but Hera manipulates her into stepping off a cliff to a fatal end.

Hercules finds himself contending with an assortment of monsters and dead specters in the Land of Death, while Deianeira ends up in the peaceful Elysian Fields. Hades refuses to release Deianeira, since she is rightfully dead. However, to Hercules' good fortune, the three-headed dog Cerberus has got loose, and Hades will bargain for his capture. Eventually, all the right romantic partners are placed together, and the script never really establishes who opened the fissure into the death-world in the first place. This time, the writers' attempt to rework old myths just turns into a myth-take.