Put 3 hunks like Eric Bana(Hector), Brad Pitt(Achilles) and Orlando Bloom(Paris) and what do you get? Loads of young, female fans queuing in line again and again to see their dreams on screen. Troy is set to break box-office records. I feel that Wolfgang Petersen, the director of this move failed to bring out the essence of love and war that Homer portrayed in his poem. This movie is highly exaggerated in a way to make it more appealing to media masses and lacks accuracy to the original poem, Illiad.
What puzzles me is why aren't the God's featured in the movie as well since the Trojan war was not just among men, but also between Gods. Little is mentioned about the Greek Gods in the film. I guess this is done to every directed ancient film, the boring parts taken away, leaving the good parts behind, at the same time, focusing on these interesting parts of the story and paying little attention to those parts which were misplaced. Also, from my knowledge, the Trojan war lasted for a span of 10 years whilst this movie pictures it in a span of 2 weeks which shows how much detail was left out of the movie.
The movie lacks aggression in battle scenes and compared to the battle scenes in 'Lord of The Rings: Return of The King'. The duels in the movie are pretty boring and does not create the quickened beating of hearts the battle scenes in 'Lord of The Rings' did. The duels are unclear and uncertain and ends rather briefly after a fatal blow, again, unlike LOTR where the fighters are not killed in a single shot. Each of the leading characters, Achilles, Hector and Paris lack dimension, and background. Little is shown about them in the movies and thus, little is known about their backgrounds. Details are important in movies, and in my opinion, Troy lacks of it.
The leading male casts provide us with a lot of eye-candy and has shown great acting prowess. Thumbs up for them. Not surprisingly, Orlando played a cowardly prince who sparks the war with an affair with a Spartan Queen and runs behind the walls of Troy for cover, and when you think he finally finds courage to probably help end the war by battling his rival, and just when you start to admire his courage, you eat your thoughts as he cowers in the legs of his enemy and needs Hector to step in to aid him. Brad Pitt plays the convincing role of a stubborn battle warrior, forced to partake in a war. Eric also plays a very convincing role as the leader of the Trojans and a prince. His rough edges put him a cut above Brad and Orlando who are virtually perfect in the movie. A little roughing up helps portray a character a lot.
Overall, Troy is a feeble attempt at duplicating the success of 'Lord of The Rings' but is a far cry away from it. It failed to portray Homer's Illiad in an accurate manner and is nothing but another overrated blockbuster. A tip to those who watch Troy, if you are confused with Trojans and Greeks, the Greeks have these so called "umbrella" helms while Trojans have "horse-tailed" ones...
Great cast, great story, the only thing I would replace is the director.
My Rating: A-