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Netflix Reviews – Blood of Zeus

By Timmy Daytona

“The tales of Greek mythology were part of an oral tradition. Many were never transcribed and through the ages, some were lost. This…

Is one of those tales…”

With this introduction, Netflix’s latest animated series Blood of Zeus seeks to free itself from the constraints of having to retell well known stories from Greek mythology.

As viewers will also discover, less than a passing knowledge of mythology is required as this show lifts heavily from familiar tropes and archetypes from multiple influences, beginning with the poor labourer wishing for a better life far from their backwater village. The resistance lead by a strong female warrior. The elderly father figure who is later revealed to have a deeper connection to the hero. The demonic villain who also has a connection to the hero.

Throw in two droids and you may find yourself watching Star Wars: A New Hope.

The story begins long before the hero’s when the Gods toppled the Titans. In doing so, they were cursed to fight a new threat. The Gigantomachy that followed depicted the super powered Gods in a protracted war against the terror of the Giants.

Following their defeat of the Giants, the Gods imprisoned the Giants’ souls and hid their bodies away from the world. Apparently immune to the effects of decay, these bodies are discovered by Man and through some influence from beyond, Man is convinced to eat their flesh.

This unholy communion led to the birth of a demonic army. As they spread like a plague throughout the land, they eventually reach the protagonist, Heron, who lives a peaceful but otherwise miserable life as a bastard in a little known village. A hero needs to rise and defeat this threat.

Heron must become this hero. The saviour. The chosen one.

Though this type of hero’s journey has been depicted in similar stories, Blood of Zeus’ reliance on the trope is mixed well enough with Greek mythology so it still feels fresh and enjoyable. This results in yet another solid addition to Netflix’s growing animated line-up.

The animation is gorgeous throughout. Ancient Greece is a beautiful setting. The scenery on display moves deftly between kingdoms and villages to heavenly palaces and hellish lairs. And the details in the costumes of the Gods looks divine and befitting of deities.

The scenes with the Gods are a pastiche of comic books. While it has been said that the Justice League were modelled after the Greek pantheon, the animators appeared to have chosen for the Gods to bear a resemblance to the Justice League. Hermes could pass as an Ancient Greek version of Jay Garrick’s Flash, Poseidon looks like an aged Aquaman while Hera often resembled an infuriated Wonder Woman.

The Giants on the other hand bear a similar design to the animators’ previous work. They are enormous and when they emerge from the ocean depths, they look like demonic Kaiju.

Being a series that focuses on the often super powered struggle between good and evil, it is appropriately violent in its take on historical fantasy. Bodies are disembowelled, decapitated, dismembered or exploded. Fans of the violence in Castlevania will find plenty to enjoy here.

And like the set pieces of Castlevania, Blood of Zeus’ are a standout of the series. While not quite reaching the heights of the former’s climax of brilliantly choreographed carnage and brutality, Blood of Zeus understands the characters at its disposal and showcases the jaw-dropping abilities of the Gods, Giants and Demons. These sequences give a great sense of enlarged scope and scale.

Complementing the series is a sumptuous score that fits nicely with the epic and ambitious feel of proceedings.

Viewers may also have fun picking up on the various references to other media that likely inspired the creators of Blood of Zeus. The confrontation between Zeus and Hera’s forces recalled Captain America: Civil War and the two sides storming towards each other on the battlefield. The Giants’ climbing Mount Olympus resembled God of War 3’s introductory sequence of Kratos on the back of the Titans, scaling their way up to the home of the Gods.

Heron’s training on Mount Olympus and visit to the Fates is similar to Luke’s time on Dagobah. Late in the series, Heron discovers his latent thunder powers in a scene that was not unlike Thor unleashing his powers on Hela without Mjolnir.

The God of War, Aries, wields a hammer that returns to him while Heron has a sword that looks and cuts uncannily like a lightsaber.

Re-watching the series will be a game to spot other inspirations lifted from other places.

If there are any quibbles to the series, it’s the shallow characterisation of Heron and his allies. Heron in particular is a bland hero. As the farm boy who must become a warrior, he goes through the motions and the result is not nearly as iconic as Luke Skywalker – the character they likely tried to draw inspiration from.

The star of this show is arguably Jason O’Mara in his performance as Zeus. His actions and lust triggered the events of the series and the predicament he faced in upholding his kind’s rules of not interfering in the affairs of Man while trying his best to not be an absent father make him a vulnerable, relatable and more human character than the mortals. O’Mara’s voice is the most versatile of the cast, being able to express the emotions of the character with ease. A similarly talented vocal performance is Claudia Christian’s as Hera. The two are fantastic.

The creators also found the opportunity to insert a Bruce Lee quote into the series that was perhaps their guiding voice when writing this story – “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not. And add what is uniquely your own.”

Blood of Zeus is a patchwork quilt of influences absorbed from other pop culture favourites yet it blends together wonderfully to still feel unique while drawing on Charley and Vlas Parlapanides’ heritage. And with the tease at the end, it suggests that the story is far from over.

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Film Review: IMMORTALS (2011): Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke https://tinyurl.com/yhrofthy