Stiff and over-reaching, but worth sitting through. *spoilers herein*

Rating: 6/10 (14 May 2004)

Troy was worth watching once but little else. It was not particularly well written; both the dialogue and the plot were stiff and at times seemed fairly irrelevant. This was especially true in the first half of the film. The entire set-up of the abduction of Helen and each individual's motivation to fight the war seemed very contrived and unexplained, and we were veritably bashed over the head with the fight-for-glory routine. Smaller plot points, such as the death of Achilles' cousin, the union of Polydora and Achilles, seemed inevitable and clichéd. My basis for judging cliché is if I can guess it before it happens, it's not original enough. I had several consummated guesses during this movie. It is admittedly difficult to make a 'surprising' movie based off of a familiar legend, so I had no qualms with the large story arch, but rather smaller moments that seemed a little too predictable. I was expecting the visceral aspects of this film to make up for the writing, but unfortunately my hopes were not met. It was visually over-reaching and overdramatic, with far too many close-ups on dramatic eyes and lip twitches and slow-motions of arm swings and leaps. It wasn't bad, by any means; I was, again, expecting it to be visually grandiose. But it tried a little too hard. There were good visual moments, however, like the armada of Greek ships, or the entire fight sequence between Achilles and Hector. The acting was passable; again, referencing the dialogue, actors can only work with what they've been given. Certain actors were nice on the eyes, of course, which again was expected (although [irrelevant as this is, of course] I prefer the lanky psychotic Brad Pitt of Fight Club and Twelve Monkeys). The actresses, I must admit, did not fill their meagre supporting roles as well, with the exception of Siri Svegler, niece of the king. Brad Pitt made a pretty good glory-driven war hero, not awe-inspiring but quite acceptable, and though Orlando Bloom seemed uncharacteristically uncomfortable in his sissy pretty-boy role, he warmed up to it by the end. The real dramatic achievement in this film was made by Eric Bana, who played Hector Prince of Troy marvelously. Mr. Bana was, by far, the main reason I kept watching this film. He carried it all the way to his inevitable (and quite literal) biting of the dust. Sean Bean, in the supporting role of Odysseus, was as excellent as he always is Despite the flaws just described, Troy was a watchable movie. It also seemed to gain momentum as it went on, and whereas I was skeptical and about ready to leave the theater during the first half, I felt a few prickles of tears come to my eyes despite myself during the deaths of the major characters (and really, it was most of them). The set-up could have been better, but the climax was entertainingly reached nonetheless. All in all, not bad; a bit more visual modesty as well as better-flowing dialogue and set-up would have made it far better, but as it is, I give it a 6/10.