Directed by:
Wolfgang PetersenScreenplay:
David BenioffCinematography:
Roger PrattComposer:
James HornerCast:
Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Peter O'Toole, Julie Christie, Saffron Burrows, Brendan Gleeson, Julian Glover (more)VOD (3)
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Throughout time, men have waged war. Some for power, some for glory, some for honor - and some for love. In ancient Greece, the passion of two of history's most legendary lovers - Paris, Prince of Troy and Helen, Queen of Sparta - ignites a war that will devastate a civilization. When Paris steals Helen away from her husband, King Menelaus, it is an insult that cannot be suffered. Familial pride dictates that an affront to Menelaus is an affront to his brother Agamemnon, powerful King of the Myceneans, who soon unites all the massive tribes of Greece to steal Helen back from Troy in defense of his brother's honor. In truth, Agamemnon's pursuit of honor is corrupted by his overwhelming greed - he needs control of Troy to ensure the supremacy of his already vast empire. The walled city, under the leadership of King Prium and defended by mighty Prince Hector, is a citadel that no army has been able to breach. One man alone stands as the key to victory or defeat over Troy - Achilles, believed to be the greatest warrior alive. Arrogant, rebellious and seemingly invincible, Achilles has no allegiance to anyone or anything, save his own glory. It is his insatiable hunger for eternal renown that leads him to attack the gates of Troy under Agamemnon's banner - but it will be love that ultimately decides his fate. Two worlds will go to war for honor and power. Thousands will fall in pursuit of glory. And for love, a nation will burn to the ground. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (8)
Troy is definitely not bad and it has everything that a big-budget production can offer: young and attractive actors, solid war scenes and somewhat decent romance. Above all, it benefits from the stunning Iliad, although unfortunately it only took the rough skeleton and some essential events from it. The notable drawbacks are Diane Kruger and Orlando Bloom, who seem like advertising mannequins – completely unbelievable. On the other hand, Brad Pitt and Eric Bana are surprising. Wolfgang Petersen is more than a decent craftsman who can handle large budgets and thousands of extras. The ending is powerful and the voice-overs are extremely stylish and suitable for this type of film. It's necessary to see the Director's cut, it has gripping bloody battles and at least half a star up.
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In the past, this epic Homeric soap opera was enough to make me ecstatic, but times have changed. Troy looks gorgeous, has sequences that can be replayed to the point of insanity, and an unprecedentedly bloated and luxurious cast (except for Legolas, who’s awful again), but the film overestimates itself. While Petersen has confirmed many times that he’s a very capable director, here he has completely forgotten to provide any cohesive parallel developments that would keep the viewer's attention focused for two and a half hours and build the whole mythical conflict up to a scale of fatality higher than the staid Pearl Harbor-type level. The truly impressive adrenaline-packed sequences are interspersed with dull to uninteresting ones, which establish and develop relationships between characters of no importance to the main plot (and this despite the fact that the characters themselves are great – the narcissistic Pitt is brilliant, the chivalrous Bana is an exemplary good guy, Brian Cox is a sleazy villain, and Sean Bean should have been given his own sequel as the likeable Ulysses – I'll never forgive Hollywood for that). Taken together, it stands as a beautifully made spectacle for the cinema, but its soul is as empty as the stomachs of Somali children, despite its grandeur. 65%
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There’s a problem with Troy. On one hand it has excellent acting performances and spectacular production design, on the other fluctuating directing and stiff dialogs. The screenplay is also a little shaky, making it seem like the Trojan War lasted just a couple of months, instead of ten years. But I appreciate that Benioff wrote everything to be very natural (meaning non-fantasy) and “undivine". But back to Peterson’s directing. In the battles and in some scenes he show that he is able to invoke the right atmosphere and knows how to form the action properly, but in some places he lacks consistency. The music is also a handicap, written in haste by a new composer at the last minute. In terms of acting, as I already said, Troy is excellent. Surprisingly the main star Brad Pitt is easily overshadowed by Eric Bana (both my eyes were moist when Hector was dying ;). Sean Bean didn’t manage to steal much room for his Odysseus, but even so he easily nailed the role of treacherous king. I must also admit that Orlando Bloom had a very thankless role. Playing the greatest idiot in the greatest Greek war isn’t such a trump as it may seem at first sight. But he did a fine job of the role and I must admit that throughout the movie I kept on swearing at Paris under my breath. I remember one thing that made me feel for him for a minute. It was in the scene on the coast when he said: “Burn that horse." And they didn’t obey him.
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Troy is notable primarily as a case study on how Hollywood adapts a classic work with countless characters, motifs and both supernatural and earthbound elements into the form of a spectacular mainstream popcorn epic needing fewer characters, a few cleanly resolved storylines and, mainly, the omission of everything that could be off-putting for the supposed majority of viewers, i.e. everything from deities to non-heterosexual relationships.
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Homer did not deserve this. The Olympian gods didn't deserve it either. The screenwriter completely omitted them, thus depriving the famous story of its true spice, the element of magic and mysticism that so befits ancient epics. If there aren’t any gods or magic, what’s left? A script that is hackneyed, very distantly inspired by “The Iliad”, full of clichés, pathetic chatter and would-be deep thoughts, a boring story that doesn't grab you by the heart and is clumsily told. And there’s not even eye-candy! I just have to laugh at Petersen's talk of "unprecedentedly clear fight scenes", it's just the opposite and the very good Hector vs. Achilles fight doesn't save it. It's not surprising that all the essential fight scenes are seen in just the trailer. If I had to make a comparison, Scott's Gladiator, with about half the budget, looks much more narrative, and although the script was similarly silly, it was a real visual treat, which can't be said of Troy. A few computer-generated shots of the city and incoming ships, Petersen's lacklustre direction lacks any ideas, with rare exceptions. The music wasn't great either, and a few words about the actors: I believed Pitt's arrogant Achilles, Bana is incredibly charismatic, O'Toole is still a great actor, only Bloom, with his not very wide acting register, spoils it and regularly alternates between two expressions: a timid and stubborn. The boss at Warner was in tears during the screening. I wonder if it wasn’t for the desperation of where they burned those 200 million bucks. Poor guy.
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