Surprisingly semi-decent...

Rating: 6/10 (14 May 2004)

For over six months we happened to fill our movie-conversation with a little bit of the "Troy project".We discussed a lot about the possibility and the probability of Hollywood creating something that would not be the "Helen of Troy"(2003). Something decent, at least a little bit closer to the spirit of Homer's saga.We watched -kind of terrified(!)- the preparation and as time got closer to the first screeners, we prayed to God that this time we wouldn't have to endure a disgrace of our legacy. But what we heard was not really encouraging... Still we watched the movie to have an opinion of our own and the result was far better than expected:"Inspired" by Iliad - and not "based" on it, the film did not in any way "insult" Iliad or the heroes.The differences are plenty but- in the end- we cannot expect a lengthy epic poem, written about 2.600 years ago to become a contemporary movie without being altered at all. SPOILERS:I must admit that some things in the movie could strike to a person who knows about Trojan war a little too much: Watching Menelaus dying, for example, or watching Brisseus killing Agamemnon (who was supposed to be killed by his wife and he took part in other stories told in ancient tragedies) was somewhat shocking. Also Paris staying alive and fleeing with Fair Helen was too much "dynasty" or "the bold and the beautiful".Still, I could accept that. The performances were decent.Sean Bean impersonated the clever and cunning Odysseus in an amazing way.Peter O'Toole was pretty shakespearean. Brian Cox was good in being the -far too evil- Agamemnon and Menelaus was decent, as was Byrne too.Eric Bana was really "royal" but his performance was somewhat "wooden", while Brad Pitt did the best he could (which was possibly not enough) to impersonate his extremely difficult character.Kruger was not convincing as the daughter of Zeus and the Queen of Sparta or as the divine woman everybody desired.Bloom was in short almost unacceptable. I would like Troy to be Iliad but it isn't and I don't think it could ever be.But -as a cinematic creation- it was grand.The scenery, the costumes, the battle scenes, the special fx, all were at least admirable.The character's analysis was decent and-considering the lack of gods- the plot was at least not insulting for Homer.6/10 for good intentions and a semi-decent result.