Dwayne Johnson will flex his muscles as 'Hercules' for Brett Ratner

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and his ability to make every movie better is about to get put to the test in a serious way.  Already a franchise hero for Fast Five, jumpstarting the Journey to the Center of the Earth franchise, and will do the same later for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Johnson will now take on the herculean task of making a Brett Ratner film not look like warmed over garbage.

Early last year we learned Ratner had been in discussions to direct Hercules, MGM's adaptation of the Radical Comics series, Hercules: The Thracian War. Ratner will be behind the camera, with Peter Berg producing, and Johnson taking on the role of the mythological warrior. The story has Hercules, weary after completing his famous Twelve Labors, hired by the Thracian king to turn his men into the greatest army in the world.

When Ratner isn't busy insulting half the world's population by opening his big mouth, he's insulting everybody else with his bad movies, so Johnson has his work cut out for him here. But if anybody can pull this off, it's him. A filming date isn't set in stone just yet, but will have to wait until Johnson is finished with Michael Bay's Pain and Gain. Then he'll jump right into the Fast Five follow-up. [Variety]