Troy (2004)

For Honor. For Victory. For Love. For Troy. Troy is a movie loosely, with emphasis on loosely, based on Homer’s Iliad. Wolfgang Peterson sure did give his own twist to the story, and did not mind to forget or alter various details. The story goes that just while Sparta and Troy have come to a peace agreement, Troy’s prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) sweeps Sparta’s queen Helen (Diane Kruger) off her feet and persuades her to go back with them to Troy. This, and many underlying reasons, is enough for Menelaus and more importantly Agamemnon to go to war with Troy. From this moment on, the movie picks up pace with endless fights between the army of 50.000 men of the Greek and but a humble 1000 of the Trojans, but also one-on-one fights, Paris vs Menelaus – Hector vs Achilles. Though the great war fought is very chaotic to watch, the one-on-ones make you sit on the edge of your seat with excellent choreographed fighting and tanned bulging muscles of the gentlemen. The Greek have on their hand the greatest warrior of all times, Achilles (Brad Pitt) who is a half-god. The Trojans find their equivalent in the heir of Troy, Hector (Eric Bana). The great difference in acting between these two, is that Eric Bana portrays his character with feeling and a certain deepness, while Brad Pitt can’t quite seem to get his face to project any emotion at all, even when he mourns over the death of his cousin. His ‘thinking’ face looks rather like his ‘angry’ and ‘sad’ face. Both of them though, are a sure hit with the female audience. Troy’s newly found lovers Helen and Paris could potentially be a good love story but is certainly not that in this movie. Their relationship gives but a shallow feeling to it, and the actors though credited with other good performances like The Piano Player for Diane Kruger and Pirates of the Caribbean for Orlando Bloom, don’t seem to put their hearts in it, for some reason or another. But the couple together is a pretty sight to the eye, like most of the cast in this film
Nonetheless there are some good factors, to compensate for the inadequate acting. It is obvious that quite a few dollars were spend on this movie for the virtual special effects are magnificent and well-integrated with the rest. For example the 1000 ships sailing to Troy is honestly a terrifying sight for one who favors Troy. And my personal favorite must and can only be the scene were we look upon the gigantic army of Troy standing and awaiting the army of Agamemnon. When you think that alone is a fright and surely cannot be beaten, think again, for when Agamemnon’s army marches up the hill, I believe Troy trembled and I did too. The other thing that caught my eye, was the details of the props, mainly the armor. Such precise details which all had a purpose. The crescent shields which made it easier to protect the soldier but also allowed them to attack the enemy with their spears, for instance. Particularly the Trojan armor was beautiful with a little horse on the more important figures’ helmet. Troy’s ending follows the real story and is one to be remembered, though it leaves a sad fate for Troy and our main characters. To come to an end, Troy is a film which feels longer than it’s 165 minutes but is very much worth watching for the special effects. If you can stand the shallow characters with exception of Hector and King Priam, you will most certainly enjoy the rest of the film.