Mafia families battle in out in the ancient Mediterranean.

Rating: 4/10 (3 September 2009)

Much has been made of the fact that the Gods were removed from the storyline but this is inconsequential as they are extraneous to the central story which is Achilles withdrawal from the war, the death of Patroclus, then the battle between Achilles and Hector.
None of the historical elements is accurate - the costumes, metals, weapons, fortifications are all wrong. This doesn't matter, everything looks ancient and lovely.
The storyline and characters however have been time warped out of all recognition. This film really shows a symbolic battle by two Mafia families for control of a lucrative patch. In order to assist this novel approach some who survived in the original story are clunkyly killed off in order the maintain the soap opera simplistic "Sopranos in Asia Minor" approach. It's fairly dreadful. All those production values are wasted on this piece of hackneyed old tripe. The script sounds like it was churned out for a parody. As I look at the screen now, Peter O'Toole gives the impression that he's just filling in the time until he can decently grab his paycheck and depart.
I too will depart.
4/10