An Epic for the 21st Century...

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2004)

I watched Troy last night and overall I was greatly impressed.

Inspired by Homer's poem Wolfang Petersen has done a great job bringing this to the big screen. It could be said that it is a modern Day Ben Hur or Spartacus or Cleopatra.
Troy combines fantastic effects, amazing battle scenes without the battles becoming tiresome as they are kept at a reasonable length, offers a variety of characters and we get to see the main characters a little deeper making it possible to either identify with them or sympathize.
Brad Pitt gives an excellent performance as the gravity of this film lays at his shoulders and he delivers his role to the last detail. Eric Bana and Brian Cox share a bit of that load giving powerful performances.
Also in my opinion the climax of the film is the scene where Achilles calls for Hector and the thereafter fight between them, a scene that has created cinematic history as the atmosphere created is nerve tangling making the viewer think that he is actually there. Pure good job done there!!!
The films has a few drawbacks as it tries to tell a story that would make a multi-episode TV series in just over 2 hours and some deviation are made from the book Iliad which are deemed necessary.
Its drawbacks however are not enough to overshadow its greatness so unreservedly I will give Troy a 10/10.