Theatrical Version VS Director's Cut

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2009)

I've seen two versions of the film Troy, starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, and Peter O'Toole. The first version I saw was the cut that was released in theaters at 162 minutes. Many people hated this film, but I don't understand why. I found it to be very entertaining. The acting was decent, despite some weak moments of dialog. Eric Bana was great, Peter O'Toole, who's not even in the film that much, is one of the more stand out characters, along with Brendan Gleeson and Sean Bean. Brad Pitt was great in this film, and he makes the character of Achilles much more of a flawed character rather than just a god like warrior.
The action was very fun to watch. Some of it felt a little PG-13, but that didn't bother me too much and I had fun watching them. I was mostly impressed with Beach of Troy Battle; there were some things we haven't seen before, and it was very fluent and you could tell what was happening, which is more than I can say for "Alexander." I also liked that the film was more realistic than "The Illiad" which this film is based off of. Like I mentioned, Achilles is more a flawed, selfish character rather than a god like man that can only be killed by an arrow through his Achilles tendon. I also liked who they didn't have Greek Gods used during the war scenes.
Now I did have a problem with some of the acting, especially from Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, and-gulp-Brian Cox. Some moments of the movie were just ridiculous and reminded me of 50's epics. But still, I had fun with it, and it stands as one of those fun movies that I own on DVD.
Theatrical Cut: 7.5/10 Now when I heard there was a director's cut out, I instantly went out to get the movie. The director's cut adds a little more than a half hour of additional footage, the running time now at 196 minutes. Normally director's cuts nowadays just add back in a minute or two of gore, sex, and nudity. And while Troy does do that in some ways, it adds much more than that.
This version of Troy is in some ways a lot better and in some ways it isn't. The one problem I faced with the Director's cut was the way the music was edited. Sometimes they edit it in the wrong places, and it feels like the director's cut rather than full version of the film. And also the acting is re edited and it sucks, especially from Brad Pitt who ruled in the theatrical cut.
Having said that, the director's cut is much better than the original. The color tone is much more beautiful, the story is longer, the sound design is epic.
The thirty minutes added give us more character development, especially from Peter O'Toole and Sean Bean. You get a sense of why all these characters are fighting and what their motives are.
The film also adds a great amount of graphic violence. The theatrical cut had some graphic violence, but it still remained as something twelve year old kids could go see. The director's cut changes that, and now what was once a thin cut across the throat is now a gaping wound with lots of blood and gore. There is also a decent amount of nudity and sex added, but it isn't a gratuitous as the violence. It is merely there for some historical accuracy (people did sleep naked), and to underscore one or two love scenes.
The director's cut is more flawed then in the original, but it still feels like better. I like both versions of the film and I give them both the same rating, 7.5/10. Troy overall is a flawed epic, but still entertains you enough to forgive it's faults.