a silly little film

Rating: Null/10 (13 June 2004)

helen of troy launched a thousand ships. in which case brad pitts achilles could easily launch a thousand titanics. its hard to see a movie where the lead guy is prettier then the supposed 'most beautiful girl in the world'. troy is a fable of heroes and immortality. and it feels like a stage drama from the start. some of the dialogue is absolutely cringe inducing. i don't know whether the story has been oversimplified for mass popcorn consumption, but everything is explained at every turn. misplaced dialogue is spoken when a simple look or directorial frame would have been enough. there is a great story in there somewhere, but never for one instance do you feel lost in the drama, you know you are watching a movie, mainly because everything seems misplaced, especially brad pitt, who is totally miscast as achilles. he is simply too ... American. the film finishes with the voice over ' i lived in the time of achilles' but nowhere in the film is the impact of achilles felt. troy only comes to life near the end after the death of prince hector, played by eric bana, who outshines brad pitt's posturing in every frame, and only because of some fantastic acting by the great peter o'toole as king priam, mourning the loss of his son and heir. lets hope next years Oscar has his name on it. diane kruger as helen is pretty, but too inexperienced an actress to pull off one of the great literary figures. where 'gladiator' felt real. this feels strangely pretentious and uninvolving. life is lived. only in hindsight does it become a parable.