I first heard about this short two months ago during the Atlanta Film Festival. A director mentioned the film’s title on Twitter and it caught my interest. After doing a quick search, the first thing I saw is what greeted you in the cover photo of this article. An amazing specimen, as if carved from onyx, posing in front of the Watts Towers. The angle of the photo brings to mind a statue set upon the silhouette of La Sagrada Familia. It boasts power, glory, and dominance — like the man himself, Craig Monson.
Directed by Rodney Lucas, Black Hercules takes a candid look at the life of street bodybuilder Craig Monson, one of the biggest, strongest bodybuilders of the 1980s that you probably never heard of. The man weighed a staggering 272 pounds and was as chiseled as one could get. Nowadays, you might hear of someone that size in the world of football, wrestling, and sometimes bodybuilding — but for the ’80s, this was unheard of. This was a time when a “large” bodybuilder would be 230 pounds. You can see from this clip in 1984, that the man was no joke.
Monson started his weightlifting journey when he was a child. Unlike the other kids, all he wanted to do was lift weights. When his principal looked unfavorably upon his extracurricular choice, his mother supported him by buying him his own set of weights.
The best part about the documentary genre is that there’s always an opportunity to learn. The 10-minute long short doc was put together brilliantly, combining loads of archival footage and content set to a soundtrack that felt authentically old school. Unlike most documentaries, there was no use of firsthand accounts via video interviews. Instead, there’s a constant blitz of photos and videos with a handful of narrated stories from the past. Outside of that, the film is set like an audiobook with constant visuals to keep the viewer subdued. We get a few glimpses of the current Craig Monson but his past life is where the real stories are unearthed. From being in a gang and selling drugs to becoming a local celebrity and standing toe-to-toe with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Monson really has lived an interesting life.
Black Hercules gets a 9 out of 10. Rodney Lucas followed his own blueprint and it paid off handsomely. The creativity weaved with the style in which experiences were recounted makes for a unique experience you won’t find anywhere else. Black Hercules is a definite win.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival