Excellent movie, but with glaring mistakes

Rating: 8/10 (28 August 2006)

I have seen both the recently made movies "Troy" and "Helen of Troy" and consider that the former is by far the superior movie of the two.
"Helen of Troy" was simply romantic twaddle from start to finish, but "Troy" was a pretty decent effort at bringing the historical siege to life, but even in this film there were some rather glaring mistakes, that is if Homer is the source. Therefore (although there was perhaps a deliberate usage of artistic licence) I can understand if the purists are somewhat shocked.
1. Menelaus did not die at Troy. After the Trojan Wars he and Helen spent seven years in Egypt before returning to an everyday family life in Sparta as if nothing had happened.
2. Agamemnon also did not die at Troy, but returned home after the war, then was murdered by his wife and her lover.
3. Achilles was not in the Wooden Horse. He had already been slain by that time.
4. Ajax was not hacked down by Hector. With Achilles dead, the prize of that great warrior's armour was to be awarded to the one deemed to have been the most heroic, and Ajax thought that he should have been chosen. Instead, the prize was awarded to Ulysees (aka Odysseus). Ajax was furious and in an insane moment tried to kill Ulysees and other Greeks. Then mortified by what he had tried to do, and still smarting from the insult he committed suicide.
5. One of the major heroines of the story was missing. Where on earth was the daughter of King Priam, i.e. the all-seeing Cassandra?
6. The siege of Troy was not over in weeks (or even months), but lasted for ten long years. And the Trojans enlisted help from their allies the Hittites (not the Biblical Hittites, but those of the Empire, although there has been recent archaeological controversy over this difference), and even the Greeks had to call on reinforcements.
The performance of Brad Pitt as Achilles has been vilified to some extent by various reviewers, but I really think this is unjustified. If they read "The Iliad" they might discover that Brad had the characterisation just about right (although at times he did remind me of the lonely gunman in a western). Most of the other well-chosen actors also played their parts with realistic gusto and distinction, and with comprehension as to whom they were portraying. Two that stood out were Sean Bean as Ulysees, and Peter O'Toole as King Priam.
The intricate choreography of battle scenes and duels was out of this world, and superbly performed, and the use of computer imagery equally as good, as were the sets and music.
Overall, apart from the above-mentioned mistakes, I can recommend this as an extremely watchable movie, and it puts it's rival "Helen of Troy (2003)" somewhat to shame.