Troy

Rating: 6/10 (7 April 2005)

Greek soldiers set to sea to ambush the city of Troy after a prince steals the heart of the wife of a rival king.
The film is well-made on a visual scale, but the direction is too slow for my taste. The movie is almost three hours long and feels twice that. The biggest flaw is the over-abundance of unsympathetic characters. The film focuses on Achilles (Brad Pitt), a pompous warrior who is too full of himself to be the focus of a feature of such length. I quickly grew bored with him and wished for every scene with him to be over quickly. The character of Paris (Orlando Bloom) seems to be a spoiled, rich brat who does not care what the consequences of his actions are. Again, he takes up too much screen time. The only appealing characters are Hector (Eric Bana), the brother of Paris and the only one involved in the proceedings with an intelligent head on his shoulders. Sadly, his character meets an unfortunate end. Peter O'Toole, as the king of Troy, is wasted in an underwritten, far too short role. Had the focus been re-adjusted onto Hector and away from Achilles, this picture would have been much better. Also, as with most movies made today, the computer effects are overdone and unconvincing.