Solid Hollywood epic. Just enjoy

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 2010)

With actors given such dialogue as 'The Sun God is the patron of Troy - our enemy. Take whatever treasure you can find' and 'What are you doing in thrall to that pig of a king?' you'd'd think that a film such as Troy is stymied from the off. But you'd be wrong. I have to admit that dialogue is not this film's strongest suit, but what it does do is to lay down the ground rules, to prepare you for the kind of film it is: this is, in essence, a glorious Hollywood epic of the old school and, it has to be said, one verybworthy of that genre. The saintly Roger Ebert, with whom I find myself having to disagree more than once (his encyclopaedic knowledge of film and film making notwithstanding) grumbles that 'Troy is based on the epic poem The Iliad by Homer, according to the credits. Homer's estate should sue'. Elsewhere other IMDb reviewers complain that Troy is not true to Homer's Iliad, that the gods have been written out of the film, that historically – and odd complaint to make about a myth – the film is inaccurate because the Greeks and Trojans didn't have horses which in Petersen's version are abundant. Oh dear. They entirely miss the point: this is not a film version of the Iliad, this is a film in its own right 'based on the Iliad' and Petersen and his scriptwriter have every right to do as they damn well please. And it is to their credit that they neither sell you short, nor stray into pretension and try to make out there's more to their version, more depth, more meaning. If you want to stick to Homer's version , go and read it. If you want an 'historically accurate' version of the Iliad, don't bother with Troy. If on the other hand you want and exceptionally well-made, imaginative and thoroughly entertaining film 'based on the Iliad', this is your number. From Brad Pitt and Eric Bana to reliable Peter O'Toole and a gallery of old Brit thespians who can do this kind of thing with their eyes closed, there is any number of strong performances. OK, so there aren't any particularly moving dramatic scenes, except when O'Toole's King Priam ventures incognito into the enemy camp and Achilles' tent to reclaim the body of his slain son Hector, but – do I really have to repeat it? – it isn't that kind of film. And of the kind of film it is, it is better than many. Petersen makes ample use of CGI, but the film is not dominated by it, and it serves the film. In many ways calling the film Troy is a misnomer. Achilles is, more or less, the central and most interesting character. Ebert moans that Homer's Achilles was not introspective and did not sulk on the sidelines. The only answer to that is: well Petersen's Achilles is and does. As portrayed by Brad Pitt, Achilles is a superb warrior, an almost unbeatable warrior who finds it a little difficult to reconcile himself to the death he causes, but who is under no illusions that those who live by the sword, as he does, must inevitably die by the sword. His Acilles, and Eric Bana's Hector, almost break out of the two dimensions this kind of epic reduces its characters to and provide something more. That they don't quite do so is simply down to the fact that if they had done, this would no longer be the kind of film it is intended to be: (for the third or fourth time) and epic. So ignore the whingers and complainers. Sit back and enjoy a rollicking yarn. I was going to give this a 7, but on reflection it's getting an 8. It might not be gold, but of its kind it is pretty damn good.