wobbly start, but impressive ending

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2004)

As I had already studied the myth of Troy in Latin, I was very eager to see what Petersen was going to do with the myth of myths: was he going to leave some parts out or would he stick to the original story, even if that meant putting some stuff in that wasn't very credible? Petersen obviously decided against the latter, keeping the movie within the boundaries of the possible.
At first I was a bit disappointed though, cause the fighting scenes were amusing rather than breathtaking (the bit where Paris crawled towards Hector and clutched his leg during a man-to-man fight with Menelaos was hilarious), but as the story evolved and the characters developed, I started to get really intrigued by their struggle for love, life or plain honour.
The second half is obviously exceedingly better than the first one: only then do you get the feeling of really being pulled into the story. The impressive finale makes you shiver and leaves you with a feeling that you wouldn't have missed this movie. The last voice-over by Odysseus is the perfect end to the greatest adventure of this year's cinema.