Sometimes A Good Script Makes A Bad Movie

Rating: 2/10 (27 July 2005)

Not only is this movie not true to the Iliad, which is forgivable, it is a horrible film technically as well. Troy is some of the most atrocious editing and cinematography I've ever seen in a major motion picture. My theory is that the writer(s) wanted to write an atheist and pro-Trojan take on the Trojan War. This goal is admirable and in and of itself is a fine task. It would be like writing the Passion of the Christ through Judas' eyes- different and intriguing. The director/producer team, however, must have missed that and tried simply to make a popcorn movie out of what could have been a great film. What was with all of the slow motion cuts and jarring zooms? Why was the editing so ridiculously spotty? And please tell me how it is that Achilles could spar with his "cousin" at the ruins at Delphi if the Trojan War took place when those ruins would have been a completed temple? Did no one see that glaring mistake? Ridiculous. This movie is sloppy at best and anyone giving it a rating of anything over a 3 out of 10 has obviously much lower standards for what should have been one of the defining epics of our time, along with films like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy or Saving Private Ryan. Seriously, aside from Eric Bana and Brian Cox, this movie has absolutely no value to anyone more than a simple popcorn movie with beautiful people to look at for two hours.