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“Troy is a thoroughly enjoyable film, that certainly...”

written by principessaleah on 31/05/2004

Troy is a thoroughly enjoyable film, that certainly takes liberties with the story as Homer wrote it, and steals more than a little from Gladiator, but is nevertheless worth seeing at least once.



Brad Pitt is fantastic as Achilles, the greatest soldier of them all. Spoilt, vain and ferocious he's not a hero - he's a fighter. He pouts and preens, and also involves himself in a rather touching romance.



Orlando Bloom shows surprising willingness to play the weakling Paris, the man who causes the war by stealing Helen, wife to a Greek King, from under his very roof. He's cowering fear in hand to hand combat is fantastic and although I doubt he'll ever carry a film alone he shows again that he's a perfectly capable ensemble player.



Eric Bana is occasionally wooden as Hector, but it's difficult to bring life to this honourable character who is the real hero of the story. He's a good father, a good leader and a good brother. What a guy!



Plus there's a who's who of English character actors, including Brian Cox as the villain of the piece, the expansionist Agamemnon, Peter O Toole (a bit starey eyed) as wise old King Priam and Sean Bean as the tricksy Odysseus (yes, the one who goes off on the Odyssey). It's great to see so much talent on screen, and although the script is occasionally cheesy, generally its not wasted.



The special effects are fantastic, almost unnoticeable until you start thinking about the fact that there are so many soldiers on screen or the fact that the sea is literally covered in barges. The fight scenes are wonderfully choreographed, and although there's no holding back they certainly aren't gratuitously bloody. Indeed, the battle between Hector and Achilles is actually remarkably bloodless, yet no less affecting for all that.



The music is unfortunately unmemorable apart from the fact that it bears a striking resemblence to Gladiator - but I guess in a film this big they couldn't get everything right.



All in all I would highly recommend this film. It's an experience to behold on the big screen.