Slightly better than the critics say

Rating: 5/10 (15 May 2004)

The biggest problem that most critics have with this movie is the casting of the male lead characters. I totally agree as far as Achilles (Brad Pitt) is concerned. Brad Pitt just doesn't have the presence or acting talent to pull off this role. Emotional turmoil looks like constipation and his speeches just don't have impact.
Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom were actually good choices for the brothers Hector and Paris, they even looked like they could be brothers. Bana plays the strong, noble relatively quiet type, and Orlando plays the smarmy pretty boy. I just wish someone had taught Orlando to shave the joke of a mustache. I am sure it was supposed to make him look like a young man trying to be a full grown man, but it just looked silly and was distracting.
One big problem I had with this movie is the exaggeration of the numbers. They could have saved a ton of money on CGI by actually showing only 50K greeks and 20-30K trojan soldiers. Instead they had to carpet the hills with fake soldiers, closer to 500K than 50K. Also, although the large battle scenes were well done, it came across as the great toothpick battle. Personally, I would like to see a battle scene that shows some sort of tactic other than my army charges your army. I suppose the Myrmidons forming an armadillo counts, but that was very brief and more of a skirmish.
Other than that the movie is about as expected. A bit too much of the sappy dialog and speeches, but there is no getting away from that in today's hollywood.