Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur
Tags: cult, violence

Plot synopsis:
In a sun-dappled forest, two men are searching for buried treasure. They pace out the step given with the map, and discover a cave overgrown with bushes. The two men break through the plants and enter the cave. In the cave they find a huge wooden door, as they try to get through the door, a monster breaks through the door and chases after them. One man is captured and the other flees as the monster tells him to bring Hercules. Meanwhile, Hercules works on his farms, he sees his sons fighting and tells them that they should not fight. They say that Hercules fights, Hercules explains that he only fights when he has to and only to prevent other people from being harmed. He tells about the time when he had to fight Eryx the boxer to stop him from killing anymore people. He asks the boys if they understand, and they say they do. Later that evening, Hercules is working in the stable, Zeus appears and they chat. Hercules tells Zeus that there have been no monsters for a while, which is good as he has now settled down with Deianeira to raise the children. Zeus gives him a scale from a sea serpent and Hercules remembers the time when he and Deianeira were swallowed by a sea serpent while looking for the lost city of Troy. While day-dreaming he snaps back to reality at the dinner table to find the dog eating his dinner. Back in the cave, the Minotaur broods in wait for Hercules.
At night the children ask their father to tell them a story, Ilea asks for Hercules to tell her about when he and Deianeira first met. Hercules begins relating how the fire had vanished from the Earth and that Deianeira's village needed fire, and how he got the fire back from Hera's temple. Halfway through the story Hercules realises the children are asleep. He and Deianeira retire to bed and she asks him if he misses his adventures and battling monsters, he says truthfully that he does miss it. The following day, Hercules is working in the stables and sees something flit past the door, he goes to look but sees nothing. As he walks back into the stable a man jumps down upon him, Hercules turns to see it is Iolaus. They begin talking about their adventures and the time when they had to fight the Lernaean Hydra that Hera had sent to kill them. The two men go inside to get a drink, Iolaus tells Hercules that he met a man who taught him some new moves that allow smaller men to overpower a bigger man. Hercules says he won't fight Iolaus, but he is eventually persuaded. The two men strip off their tops and prepare to spar. When Hercules attacks Iolaus he is overpowered by the smaller man, but after a short while Hercules gets the best of Iolaus as he sees Deianeira and Ilea standing in the doorway. Deianeira tells Iolaus that since Hercules gave up his adventures he has become depressed. A man arrives at the stable looking for Hercules, he tells him that he must help his village and that a monster has taken his brother. Hercules says he can't go and the man says he has to because he is Hercules. Later that evening Deianeria asks him why he refused to help and he tells her that he promised to stay and raise the children with her. She tells him that he shouldn't try to stop being Hercules, not for her or the children. She tells him to go and the next day her and Iolaus set off for Alturia. As they travel to Alturia a young couple are looking for somewhere quiet, they find the cave and enter. While they are making out the Minotaur comes and attacks them.
When Hercules and Iolaus arrive in Alturia they ask a woman where the monster is and she tells Hercules that there isn't any monster. Underneath the village the Minotaur swears that Hercules will pay, Zeus appears and tells the Minotaur that he still has not learned his lesson, he replies that he has been feeding on hate. Minotaur taunts Zeus because he was unable to kill the Minotaur. Hercules and Iolaus are in a tavern and end up fighting some men because they don’t believe that he is really Hercules. Outside the tavern three men are killed and Hercules goes to investigate, only to be found by the villagers. They think he killed the men and chase him and Iolaus. The man who had asked for Hercules's help comes and takes Hercules to the cave where his brother was captured. Zeus appears and tells Hercules what the monster is and why he wants Hercules. He asks Hercules to kill the Minotaur, and he enters the cave. In the center of the cave he finds the Minotaur, who challenges Hercules. They begin fighting and as Hercules is about to kill the Minotaur, the creature reveals that he is really Hercules' brother Gryphus and Hercules cannot kill him. The Minotaur then attacks Hercules and Hercules ends up killing him by throwing him onto a stalagmite as Zeus arrives. As Gryphus lies dying, Hercules says he is sorry Zeus had to lose a son this way. Zeus says to Hercules that Gryphus was lost the day he tried to lead the people against him and that it didn't have to be this way. When Gryphus begs for Zeus not to let him die like this, Zeus changes Gryphus back to mortal form as a mist covers over Gryphus' dead body. As Zeus declares that Gryphus is now "free," Hercules helps Iolaus and the other people being held by the Minotaur and the two brothers are reunited. With the people of the village now safe and Iolaus freed, the two men journey back home.

Review: Closest to the series.
Of all the Hercules tv-movies that were made, this one manages to achieve the tone and theme of the Legendary Journeys.
Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst have good chemistry with each other.
My only problem with this tv-movie was the flashbacks.
In my opinion, they really just slowed things down.
Other than that, this pretty good and should be seen..
Good, but it could have been great.
This is the fifth and final episode of the Hercules television movies.
This movie contains a lot of flashbacks of the other four movies.
Because of this the story itself slows down and most of the times the flashbacks are annoying.
And that is a shame, because this could be the best episode of them all, because it has the best plot.
It could have been so much better if they put King Minos and all the others in the movie as well.
But in stead we just see the Minotaur.
But still, this Hercules-movie is a good and enjoyable action/adventure movie with good acting, great locations and a good climax.
It still is a lot better than the tv-show that followed..
too many flashbacks spoil it.
Hercules sits his kids down to tell them stories of his past, trying to recapture a little of his glory years.
Yet deep inside he yearns to be going out on adventures.
Michael Hurst is back as Iolaus, so it must be cause for celebration.
RIGHT??!!?
RIGHT??!!?
Wrong.
Half the story is flashbacks to the other previous TV movies, thus making this one a tad lame to sit through, but sit through I must since it leads up to the great TV series.
The parts that new are good but the flashbacks kill it and make this the least engrossing of the TV movies.
Pity as this was the one that came closet to capturing the feel of the subsequent TV series.My Grade: C-.
"But wherever there was evil, wherever an innocent would suffer, there would be Hercules.".
Hercules, married and a father of three, is settled down and longs for the adventures of his past, which leads to lots of flashbacks.
Eventually he does get a chance for new adventure and heads off with Iolaus to fight the Minotaur.This is the fifth and final of the Hercules TV movies before Hercules: The Legendary Journey was launched.
In a way, it serves as a good primer for that series because it's basically a clip show.
While I enjoyed the Hercules TV series, they did do a lot of clip shows where they showed past clips from episodes with a few new scenes to fill time.
This was done to save money but still meet the ordered per-season episode count.
Not sure what the excuse is here but it's probably about saving money as well.
It's nice to see Michael Hurst back as Iolaus.
His chemistry with Sorbo is great and the Hercules/Iolaus friendship provided the show with its buddy comedy heart.
Tawny Kitaen's sexy as ever.
Anthony Quinn appears as Zeus for the last time.
A miniature Rose McIver plays one of Hercules' kids.
The Minotaur looks pretty cool but the excessive flashbacks are annoying.
It's the least of the five movies but still entertaining..
The weakest of the five.
In the final Hercules made-for-television movie, Hercules is called upon to save a village from a Minotaur.
But things are not as simple as they seem.
The Minotaur has a secret that Hercules must overcome if he is to save himself and the village.This is easily the weakest of the five movies that preceded the television series.
Half of the running time is filled with flashbacks from the four previous movies.
It gets old real quick.
The actual battle with the Minotaur is a disappointment as well.
The costume worn by the actor playing the Minotaur makes it all but impossible for him to move with any grace during the fight scenes.
The relationship between Hercules and Iolaus, which would become one of the highlights of the television series, seems very unnatural.
Almost all of the dialogue is designed to set up the next flashback.Too bad, because this one has a lot of potential.
The plot concerning the Minotaur's secret is one of the best in the five movies.
Although the way it is handled makes it very obvious for anyone to guess.