 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Troy - 5/14/04 - R - 163m
Brad Pitt - Achilles
Brian Cox - Agamemnon
Eric Bana - Hector
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Written by: Homer
Screenplay: David Benioff
Studio: Warner Bros.
Official
Website
JEF
Yes, I admit it. I’ve never read the famous Iliad by Homer. I seem to vaguely recall that this book was assigned to me in one of my high school English classes, and although some of the names rang a bell, I really didn’t know a thing about the history or the storyline. I was hoping this film would help to clue me in, and perhaps inspire me to read the book. Well, it didn’t, and I think I’ll wait for a better movie to inspire me to read it.
Storyline: A few threads to the storyline, but basically a young prince of Troy, Paris (Orlando Bloom) falls in love/lust with a queen from Sparta, Helen (Diane Kruger).
They decide to return back to Troy together, which doesn’t sit well with Helen’s husband, king Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). Menelaus goes to his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) who is also a king (of the Mycenaean’s) and together they put together a huge army to go get Helen and Paris. Agamemnon has broader plans to conquer Troy, while king Menelaus has plain old revenge on his mind. As part of king Agamemnon’s army, we meet Achilles (Brad Pitt) who is a sort of super warrior. Also weaved into the story is Hector (Eric Bana) who is Paris’ brother the older prince of Troy.
I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what was wrong with the film other than it’s over-all lameness, perhaps because the movie showed us nothing new. At the heart of the movie, it was a basic war movie like Braveheart, or Lord of the Rings: The King Returns. The film had more than it’s fair share of battle scenes, but I have to say they were nothing special, and in fact rather poorly done.
I’m not sure who should be held responsible for this lack of realism, or mediocre battle sequences, but just items that even myself picked up on. I think they should have brought in a historian or Greek expert schooled in the ways of war to help oversee this film. If they did do this, they picked the wrong guy. Here’s a simple example, which I just could not believe… The warriors of Troy are gathering for the attack that they know is coming. All of sudden the alarm bells start ringing high up on the walls of Troy, to indicate that the ships have been spotted on the horizon. In a flurry of activity, the soldiers run down to the beach. Then in the center of the screen, the camera picks up on a lone archer, who runs down to the “front line” and draws his bow, with arrow notched. Then the camera shows the boats still out on the water about 12 miles out! Is this archer going to hold this pose for hours on end until the ships arrive? I just thought this was so comical.
Speaking of comical, I think this is one aspect of the film that I enjoyed. I found myself doing my own “one-liners” throughout the film. Almost like the TV show “Mystery Science Theatre”. For example, there was one guy who is a warrior on the boat, and all I thought of was Rupert from the latest “Survivor”. Or a scene when Achilles is yelling for Hector to come out and fight, and all I could think of was a Monty Python scene, where Hector, and the other soldiers are hiding behind the wall, saying “Shhhh… If we don’t say anything, maybe he’ll go away”.
But it’s not a good sign, when you have to come up with your own form of entertainment to help pass the time of an almost 3 hour movie. That's bad.
The acting? Yeah, certain parts were well done. I was most impressed with Eric Bana’s role as Hector. Brad Pitt was himself, and well played as usual. I also enjoyed Brian Cox’s portrayal of Agamemnon. I think this film may have hurt Orlando Bloom’s future in getting leading role parts. He was portrayed as such a whimp in this film it will be hard to imagine him as a mighty warrior (Like Legolas).
I feel like I’ve had so many red light reviews that I’m questioning myself, in that maybe I’m being too hard on these movies. But then I think, no, when you compare them to other films they just won’t stand up. I thought Braveheart was SO much better, and the fight scenes were amazing, and then to compare these two together, it showed how lame Troy was. It was almost as if they were trying to keep from an R rating (which they got anyway do the nudity of Brad).
One more item, then I’ll give it a rest… How many people were in the real battle of Troy? How big could the army have been? What ever the number, I think perhaps the amount of ships and men, that director Wolfgang Peterson decided to put in was WAY too many. Through the ease of CGI computer graphics, it’s easy to just paint in another 50,000 men, or to paint the entire horizon with a bunch of warships. Again, I thought this was just over the top, and not very realistic. Ok, One more point to illustrate this… On one of the beach fighting scenes, we see the armies standing off, ready to charge one another. The beach in the foreground, is all “tore up” probably from practice scenes, or rehearsals, then, starting in the mid-ground and receding back into the distance, the beach is completely smooth. And that’s because this is where the CGI effects will be painted in. It’s this lack of “attention to detail” that bothered me.
I will say that I thought the attack of the big balls of yarn was well done. Sounds corny I know, but it was a good scene in the film – even if they were big balls of yarn.
So, unless you are a fan of Mystery Science Theatre, or want to see Brad Pitt scantily clad (even more than most of the women in the film) then you might want to skip this movie. Maybe wait for the DVD release, when you can pause it at points and make up your own one-liners and have a good laugh.
Jef
