way too short

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2004)

To be honest: I really wanted to like "Troy", its epic story is really known to everybody, names like Achilles, Paris or Agamemnon are everyday lingo as is the Trojan Horse, now even more than before the internet. It was just a question of time until someone made this into a big movie.
But Mr. Petersen has underestimated the responsibility that goes with it. Troy is not a bad film, it has all the elements, but it is way too short. Everybody has his own agenda, and there are so many heroes of the past meeting in just under 3 hours, that the normal moviegoer just can't take it all in. Since we all know how things end before they do in the film, the makers should keep the audience at bay in awe, but they just can't. It's just like "Apollo 13", which was a fine film but kind of boring if you know the story. Now I don't know the (hi)story of Troy in great detail, but enough to see that the film condenses 10 years of siege into some weeks as well as some other details.
Had this story been told in 3 parts, everybody would have loved it. But this is like squeezing the Second World War into 180 Minutes. History is too big to be squeezed into bite-sized movies, the same goes for all the legends.
Apart from that, don't let me take your motivation! Troy is a mighty big epic, told very well, nevertheless quite gripping. It is like always: The more ignorant the viewer is, the bigger the enjoyment of the film...