Homer for Peterson, strikeout for Pitt

Rating: Null/10 (18 May 2004)

I was originally going to call my review "Razing Helen, or Greece is the word", but instead I chose the title that best summed up the film.
Peterson's Trojan war is waged not only on the battlefield, but in the minds and hearts of men. It is a war of ideas, and indeed a meditation on war itself. Why do men fight? Some for love of country, some for adventure, some for immortality. "Troy" also addresses the role of religion in men's lives. Some characters in the film honor the gods, others do not. Achilles goes so far as to say that the gods envy men, because human mortality means that we must live each day to the fullest, as if it were our last. And if death is our lot, at least we can avoid oblivion, ensuring that our names live on by golden deeds.
Peterson revels in the carnage and mayhem of war, but the film is at its best when it focuses on hand-to-hand conflict between characters we care about, not just nameless, faceless soldiers in armor. It is also fascinating to see how war was waged in an era where cavalry had not yet superseded infantry and artillery.
Not everything works in "Troy". There are some laughable moments and awkward dialogue. I found myself gathering wool at times. A shot of Helen gazing over the parapets of Troy reminded me of Evita on the balcony of the Casa Rosada. During Brad Pitt's big scene with Peter O'Toole, I half expected Pitt to hiss, "Give me the Aquitaine!" And the burnt, charred pillars of Troy made me think of Twelve Oaks, the Wilkes' plantation in "Gone with the Wind".
Peterson's "Troy" is not entirely faithful to Homer's epic poem. I was disappointed to see several characters end up on the cutting room floor. Women in particular are not very much in evidence. Where, for example, is Priam's queen, Hecuba? Or Cassandra, the truthsayer whose dire prophecies the Trojans failed to heed? Or Iphigenia, sacrificed to the gods to obtain fair winds for sailing? The only real heroine of the film is Briseis, virgin priestess of Apollo (until Achilles comes along).
But also missing in action is the male character of Laocoon, crushed to death by a sea serpent for warning about "Greeks bearing gifts". Odysseus (Ulysses) might as well not be there. He seems to have been included only as the author of the stratagem that ruined Troy.
Pretty boy Orlando Bloom plays Paris. If Christopher Marlowe were living today, he might have written, "Was this the face that launched a thousand computer-generated ships?" Unfortunately, Paris is such a wimp and a coward that Bloom has little to work with.
Brad Pitt is a disappointment as Achilles. Somehow, he seems totally out of place. I think he simply has the wrong face for the role. He is no longer a "Troy boy", but is looking old and haggard at 40. Perhaps Peterson wanted his Achilles to look war weary -- a hero for the postmodern era. Who knows?
Brian Cox's Agamemnon does little but bluster and get red-faced as a tom turkey.
The true male stars are Eric Bana as Hector, and the venerable Peter O'Toole as Priam. They alone deliver dialogue that rings true, and Priam's plea for the body of Hector is truly heart-rending.
Peterson fudges the ending of the film. Agamemnon does not die in Troy. Rather, he returns home to be butchered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover. But that's another story.
Alas, poor Troy is fallen! But, thanks to the miracle of celluloid, we'll always have Paris. Oh, and among those fleeing the flames of Troy, with his elderly father Anchises, we see Aeneas, hero of Virgil's "Aeneid". Is there a sequel in the works?