A Drama That Leads To Nowhere

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2004)

Before I start my review I must confess that I haven't read Homer's "The Illyad", but from what I can gather, the epic poem reads a lot better than this movie. I found TROY very confusing; I think that rooting for one character would help, but you end up feeling pity for Achilles (Brad Pitt), who is portrayed as a ruthless, heartless mercenary, hellbent on being "THE" warrior. At the end, you don't feel any sorrow nor pity for anyone...you kind of wish everyone dies, which they eventually do so. The scenery, the CGI fx and the overall acting is OK, although I have my doubts about Brad Pitt's casting...he's just "too" Hollywood, if you get my meaning. Still, he gets the job done with a decent performance. Eric Bana does great as Hector. Another miscast would be Orlando Bloom as Paris, Hector's kid brother. I think we've seen enough of Mr.Bloom in other "Epic" pictures...his agent should try to diversify his client's movie offers. For a moment, I thought I was going to get a GLADIATOR 2 kind of movie. It is similar (due to the period setting and overall feel), but where as GLADIATOR was wise and had a rapid pace, this one is slow and contrived. Again, I think I should read Homer's poem. Nice movie if you plan to rent a DVD on a Sunday night (by the way, TROY is already out on DVD here in Mexico and NO, it's not a bootleg!!!)7* out of 10.