What a bunch of myth-takes! We'll show ourselves out... Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top ten films that got their myths wrong.
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00:00 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Films That Got
00:07 Their Myths Wrong.
00:10 10.
00:14 Gods of Egypt
00:15 It was bad enough that Caucasian actors were cast to portray Egyptian deities and civilians.
00:27 However, the inaccuracies didn't end with the casting.
00:30 Although the original Egyptian myth only has Horus losing one eye, the film makes him lose
00:36 both of them.
00:37 Set also goes from being a god with complex motivations to a generic villain for the movie.
00:48 And we can't even begin to point out all of the nuances the writers missed about the afterlife.
00:53 While those inaccuracies could have been overlooked, the appearances of the gods can't be.
01:14 Not only did they incorporate non-Egyptian actors, but the production took radical steps
01:19 to make the gods appear more human and attractive.
01:30 The amount of mistakes Gods of Egypt made could fill the Nile.
01:35 9.
01:36 King Arthur
01:37 Hey, here's a question.
01:38 What's the most famous aspect of the Arthurian legend?
01:42 If you answered Excalibur, you'd be correct.
01:44 In traditional tellings, Arthur typically pulls the fabled sword from a stone or gets
01:49 it from the Lady of the Lake.
01:51 But the film largely deviated from the source material by having the once and future king
01:56 pull the weapon out of his dad's grave.
02:05 Outside of that gritty rewrite, Arthur didn't meet his doomed father figure, Pelagius, in
02:10 the original texts.
02:12 In fact, the mentor wasn't even executed, but rather exiled.
02:29 Kurdik and Kinric also were supposed to survive the film's events.
02:41 All in all, it's safe to say this film was a very loose retelling of the story.
02:46 8.
02:47 Midsommar
02:48 How close does Astor's vision get to the real rituals of the summer solstice?
02:53 Not that close.
03:02 In reality, the traditional practices are much calmer.
03:05 For example, a dark romance ritual in the movie involves a woman adding something very
03:10 personal to her love interest's food.
03:16 The actual tradition mainly centers around leaving flowers underneath a pillow, and attendees
03:21 don't have to worry about any blood rituals or human sacrifices.
03:38 According to most historians, Midsommar traditions never included such grim traditions.
03:43 Honestly, spectators should worry more about if they're allergic to the numerous flowers
03:47 that would be present than actually dying.
03:50 7.
03:51 The 1932 and 1999 The Mummy films
03:56 Both the 1999 film and original 1932 classic were built on one major misstep - Imhotep's
04:03 resurrection.
04:04 "You will not remember what I show you now, and yet I shall awaken memories of love and
04:12 crime and death."
04:15 In ancient Egyptian culture, the process of mummification was a sacred process that ensured
04:20 a safe trip to the afterlife.
04:23 So when re-watching either film, you have to wonder why they would do this for Imhotep
04:27 or Aung Sun A Moon.
04:29 This duo managed to upset high-ranking officials before they died.
04:32 As a result, it would be unlikely that they would be specifically mummified in a way that
04:37 honored them and gave them an opportunity to return at a later time.
04:41 "Death is only the beginning."
04:44 While this fact may be a major letdown to fans of the franchise, they'll at least be
04:48 happy to know flesh-eating scarabs were never an issue in the texts.
04:56 6.
05:02 Leowulf "I am Ripper, Tearer, Slasher, Gouger.
05:09 I am the teeth in the darkness, the talons in the night.
05:13 Mine is strength and lust and power.
05:17 I am Bower!"
05:19 On one hand, we can definitely appreciate when a film takes artistic license, especially
05:23 when one of the credited writers is someone the caliber of Neil Gaiman.
05:28 But there's also something to be said about adhering to source material as well-traveled
05:32 and established as Beowulf.
05:34 "Keep a memory of me, not as a king or a hero, but as a man, fallible and flawed."
05:48 The story is pretty straightforward.
05:50 A warrior is tasked to defeat a monster.
05:52 He becomes a king and is ultimately slain by a dragon.
05:55 This cinematic iteration, however, mucks up the waters by having a whole lot of human-monster
06:01 copulation and propagation.
06:08 The film also casts Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother, and she's a far cry from what the
06:14 poem describes as a "swamp thing from hell."
06:18 5.
06:19 Hercules Well-read students of Greek mythology are well
06:22 aware of their reputation for perversity and bloodshed.
06:26 This is partially why it's so difficult to adapt them for any less than an adult audience.
06:31 "That play, that Oedipus thing?
06:33 Man, I thought I had problems."
06:36 While Disney's Hercules is definitely entertaining, it's a particularly watered-down version of
06:41 the myths that ignore some of the gods' biggest flaws.
06:45 Zeus' flagrant and frequent philandering is absent here.
06:50 "He's strong, like his dad."
06:55 Additionally, while Hera seems pretty friendly here, she actually attempts to assassinate
06:59 Hercules in the source material.
07:01 You know, because the demigod is actually the son of Zeus' mistress, Alcimene.
07:06 "Hercules, we're so proud of you."
07:11 "Mother."
07:12 Disney was definitely aware that they had majorly messed with myth.
07:16 The company warned Athenian audiences about inaccuracies with written materials during
07:20 screenings of the film.
07:22 4.
07:23 Troy 2004's Troy runs fast and loose with many
07:27 of the bullet points which were found in Homer's influential Greek poems, The Odyssey and The
07:33 Iliad.
07:34 "The gods envy us.
07:37 They envy us because we're mortal."
07:42 One big aspect of Brad Pitt's Achilles that they changed was his relationship to Patroclus.
07:48 Throughout various works, the duo has been stated to be everything from close friends
07:52 to lovers.
07:53 But they were never cousins like they were in Troy.
07:56 "Put down your spear."
07:57 "But I'm fighting the Trojans, cousin."
07:59 "Not today."
08:00 Achilles also was respectful of the gods, and during the film, characters like Menelaus,
08:05 Ajax and Agamemnon are offed early on in the film.
08:09 This is despite the fact that they all survive much longer in the Trojan War and beyond.
08:14 "I thought you wanted peace with Troy."
08:16 "I should have listened to you."
08:18 "Peace is for the women and the weak."
08:22 It looks like accuracy to the source was the Achilles' heel of this movie.
08:27 3.
08:28 Hercules
08:29 "Who are you?"
08:30 "I am Hercules!"
08:36 Although casting the Rock as a strong demigod was inspired casting, his muscles couldn't
08:41 distract us from this adaptation's interpretation of events.
08:45 Throughout the film, the mystical elements are mostly billed as rumours or exaggerations.
08:50 This artistic decision drains a lot of the myth from the original story, and makes everything
08:55 a lot grittier.
08:56 Additionally, the warrior Atalanta is turned into an Amazon instead of a hunter dedicated
09:02 to the goddess Artemis.
09:03 "We're a family.
09:06 All we have is each other.
09:09 We will fight for you.
09:10 And if it's our time, we will die for you."
09:13 To be fair, The Legend of Hercules has its own set of inaccuracies to talk about, but
09:17 the fact that the film still incorporated mystical elements made it feel truer to the
09:22 source than 2014's Hercules.
09:25 "I need in your heart to forgive."
09:27 "You want forgiveness?"
09:33 2.
09:36 Immortals
09:37 "Fight for your children.
09:38 Fight for your future.
09:39 Fight for your name.
09:40 Survive.
09:41 Fight for immortality."
09:42 There are many differences between how Immortals present Greek myths and the actual tales.
09:54 Just as the film utilises junky CGI to hide a lack of character development and storytelling,
09:59 so too does the script try to cover up how fast and loose they play with myths.
10:03 "Stop.
10:04 You cannot enter here.
10:05 You are grounded."
10:06 "Sacred for all."
10:09 While Hyperion and his army are made to be big antagonists, they weren't really part
10:14 of the original Theseus stories.
10:16 Their inclusion prevented us from seeing the hero face off against an Amazonian army.
10:21 Writers also neglect to mention that Hyperion is traditionally a titan.
10:25 However, that may be because the movie includes eight more titans than it should.
10:30 "Forgive me, father.
10:32 Forgive me."
10:33 "I only broke the law to protect the mortal."
10:38 If you're looking to cram for a test about Theseus, we wouldn't recommend relying on
10:42 this movie.
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10:59 1.
11:00 Clash of the Titans
11:02 Both the 2010 Clash of the Titans and its sequel, Wrath of the Titans, took some major
11:08 creative liberties with their original stories.
11:10 To rip the band-aid off right away, Liam Neeson's Zeus would never have said,
11:16 "Release the Kraken."
11:18 A different creature named Cetus was the big sea beast from the original myth.
11:23 While Hades is presented as an antagonist here, he's more ambivalent in the original
11:27 stories.
11:28 "You are specks of dust beneath our fingernails.
11:33 Your very breath is a gift from Olympus.
11:36 You have insulted powers beyond your comprehension."
11:39 Perseus ends up romantically linked with the wrong mythological maiden at the end of Clash.
11:45 "Perseus Argus needs a ruler."
11:47 "I cannot be a king.
11:50 I serve you better as a man."
11:52 Over in Wrath, the Chimera is killed by the completely wrong hero.
11:56 And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
11:58 Ultimately, the biggest clash in these films is between the screenplay and the original
12:04 myths.
12:05 "Can you forgive me for that?"
12:08 "Why do you ask?"
12:10 "Because I forgive you for this."
12:13 Who's your favorite mythological creature?
12:16 Let us know in the comments.
12:17 "Yes, our hit is weak!"
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12:28 [music]