Ashley Cotton and the sons of Troy dress to impress!

Rating: 7/10 (18 May 2004)

This is a sterling effort at the epic genre by legendary 'Never Ending Story' helmer, Wolfgang Peterson. First and foremost, the casting of the film is expertly done, with all of the best actors that come to mind cast so that blood ties become perfectly believable indeed.
Brian Cox may get a gong or two for his deliciously despicable portrayal of Agammenon that is so evil and conceited the audience - and a British one at that - cheered when he was killed.
The cinematography is absolutely stunning and their are some brilliant wide-angle sweeps over the battles that bring the story to brutal realistic life. One problem with the battles, however, is that the close up work lacks continuity and appears like a sort of 'highlights' clips package.
THe sets, costumes and style of the film cannot be faulted really. THere were some greeks next to me in the cinema and they all seemed perfectly happy to gasp and whoop in all the right places.
There is a camp-factor about it all, with the guys getting their bums out all of the time and a particularly homo-erotic sparring session between Achilles (a brilliant, on form Pitt) and his cousin where they giggle like little girls, fighting with a veritable 'Ohh, smack my bum and I'll hit yours harder' attitude.
That's before Bean shows up to break it up and talk some man-sense! He's great and steals the show as usual. Eric Bana is so much harder than Achilles - he's a natural warrior, whereas Achilles is a gods-blessed cheat - and their final battle was one of the most excruciatingly tense one-on-ones I've ever seen.
Lovely music that sounds like a combination of Gladiator and Titanic. An absolutely essential blockbuster for 2004. 7.5/10
WARNING: This film is completely ruined at the climax when 'Eastender's Ashley Cotton appears for a cameo. Please shut eyes when Paris releases the sword of Troy or the entire film experience is undermined and destroyed. Thanks.