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You’ve got to check your brain at the box office when it comes to seeing historical actioners and
period pieces at the cinema. The rule is
even more applicable when anteing up for films whose narratives draw from
source material where the facts were sketchy to begin with, like gladiator
movies and Bible-based epics.
That’s why we don’t balk when the
Nazis and Israelites (or aliens from other galaxies) in summer blockbusters speak
Americanized English. It’s a
dispensation we afford moviemakers because we want to be sucked into the action
as quickly, without the encumbrance of subtitles.
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek
hero Heracles, the brawny demigod sired by Jupiter and born unto a mortal
woman. But modern books and movies typically
refer to the legendary strongman by his Roman handle, which—if the writers are
consistent—makes his Olympian papa Zeus.
