Year:
2004
Studio:
Warner Bros
Feature:
4/5
DVD:
2/5
Maybe I'm too
easily impressed but I thought Troy
was a really good movie. This is
Wolfgang Petersen's take on the Trojan War, as related in Homer's
Illiad. Starring
Brad Pitt and lavish sets and good CGI it's a movie
with epic scale in the mold of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Troy focuses on
Achilles (Pitt), an amazing warrior, feared throughout
the Greek isles, temperamental and quite the prima donna. In the first
scene he bests the Thessalian champion to win the last battle that
unites the Greek city states under the rule of Agamemnon (Brian Cox).
Meanwhile in Sparta, Menelaus (Brandan Gleeson) is hosting the Trojan
princes Hector (Eric Bana) and Paris (Orlando Bloom). At long last,
peace between the two nations. A peace that lasts approximately one day
because the next day the Trojans leave with the Queen, Helen (Diane
Kruger) who goes willingly with Paris.
This is the excuse that Agamemnon needs to invade Troy with the aim of
conquering their empire and adding it to his own. A thousand ships sail
to Asia Minor. Fifty thousand Greek warriors against half that number
of Trojans. But the Trojans have the benefit of defending so it's going
to be a close war. A war where Achilles will play a key role.
There are a lot of differences between Troy and The Illiad. Some people
may not like it. From my viewpoint The
Illiad is one version of the
Trojan war. It happens to be a written version which made the telling
static more or less from that point on. But before that they had bards
telling the story and the story would change in each telling. We spent
a bit of time studying Icelandic oral sagas -- the important things are
basic facts and events and who was there, everything else is for
entertaining the audience.
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Some differences:
1. Troy portrays the war as
taking about two weeks instead of a decade.
2. Achilles lives to the sacking of Troy rather than dying sometime
before.
3. The whole Hector-Achilles fight is much kinder to Hector than as
told in The Illiad, which has
some rather anti-Trojan, pro-Greek
propaganda.
4. Agamemnon also dies at the end of the movie, though in about the
same way as in The Illiad.
5. Some Trojans escape the sack of Troy, which I don't think was
mentioned in The Illiad
though it's the basis of The Aeneid. I liked
the scene where Paris gives Aeneas the Sword of Troy so that the kid
can eventually found Rome.
There are lots of other differences. I liked that Achilles is merely an
amazingly good warrior. He is never shown as being invulnerable because
nothing hits him. Achilles uses his sword, shield, and movement to keep
blows away. It's only at the end when Paris when shoots him in the
tendon that slows him down enough to be shot a few more times.
I also liked the beach assault. Achilles and his Myrmidons are a good
few minutes ahead of the fleet and land first. People are getting shot
of the ship as they scramble down to the sand. It has a very Saving
Private Ryan feel which I thought was quite cool.
Overall I thought this was a cinematically impressive movie. Brad Pitt
is quite good. Both Greeks and Trojans are heroic. I almost forgot to
mention that Sean Bean has a small role as Odysseus but it was quite
impressive. I think there's sequel potential in a movie focusing on
that character. Highly recommended movie.
Extras
In the Thick of Battle (17:15) - Fight Choreography
From Ruins to Reality (14:00) - Set Design
Troy: An Effects Odyssey (11:00) - Special Effects
Gallery of the Gods - 1 minute descriptions of each of 12 Greek gods
Theatrical Trailer
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