Troy

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. (05/24/2004)

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. (09/15/2023)

An ambitious epic that stumbles over its miserable screenplay and idealess directing. A tirade of mediocre scenes and seeming ignorance of the myth make Troy an uninteresting attempt at a great movie which is closer to being a big studio sword-and-sandal Cecil B. DeMille epic than a modern movie intended for the big screen. ♫ OST score: 2/5 (01/29/2007)

A sugary parade of stars and spectacular fight scenes. The actors are decent and the production design is nice. The fight between Achilles and Hector may be the best I have seen in the genre, though that’s debatable. Troy doesn’t have even a fraction of the charm of William Wyler’s films and is nothing more than a calculated, technically brilliant popcorn flick. (05/13/2004)

First of all, the film's title says "inspired by Homer's Iliad, for which I forgive it a great deal. It has almost nothing to do with Homer's masterpiece, unless I count the partially beaten story. Petersen's film is an attempt to look behind the myth by "reviving" the first event. They are not gods, they are not heroes outside of time and space, there is only a great human story of passion, love, betrayal, war and heroism. There are positive and negative heroes (hector is positive, while surprisingly the conquering Agamemnon negative), but there are also heroes between good and evil (Paris and Achilles). There are plenty of layers to play out this compelling and riveting story, but there's only one layer in which the creators actually do it – the layer of Hollywood spectacle. Troy is nothing more. It lacks pure emotion without calculus, it lacks real charm and monumentality (the tricks suck when there is nothing "behind" them). Petersen does exactly what he famously did in the dream factory: creates a good craftsmanship product. The battle scenes are excellent in large units and details (the Achilles vs. Hector battle is flawless), but his direction is lacking in the empathy and imagination with which The Boat or The NeverEnding Story still shine today. Nothing more than technical skill. This skill is subdued by Horner's shameful soundtrack without any excitement, distinctive melody or a drop of energy. On the other hand, he is helped by the brilliant Pitt-Banna duo. Pitt played his role with admirable conviction, and if there is one thing that could survive this single-use candy, it is Achilles, a hero on the edge of boundless arrogance and fragile vulnerability. The other faces? Bloom is traditionally terrible and now also unsympathetic. O'Toole is kind of awkward, but at key moments persuasive, Bean is drowned in a miserable and touting screenplay, etc. The end of the film is such cruel smut that the knife in my pocket opened. Inspired by Illias and endless stupidity. Homer’s Denyen besieged Troy for ten years, Petersen's extras are done with it after 14 days. Homer’s masterpiece lasted thousands of years, Petersen's opus won't survive this season. I'm sorry, but he owns it. --- marginalia: the jokes with Aeneas and Achilles' heel are really good. It is probably pointless to mention that this version does not work in the complex of Greek myths and illogically denies many of them (Agamemnon is a shining example of this, as is the oracle Laocoön)... (05/17/2004)