A travesty of a great classical story

Rating: 1/10 (9 January 2005)

My disclaimer for this is that I am a graduate student of Literature; but I like a good action movie as much as anyone else. I was totally excited about this movie: great cast, great director, a timeless epic story; all the right components right? WRONG! Certain tales are *timeless* and should not be changed too much. I was all right with the screenwriters taking out the role of the gods in this story, I was moderately all right with them cutting out the women in this tale (overplaying Helen who never speaks in the Illiad, and cutting out Hecuba--Priam's wife and Queen of Troy--completely, cutting out Cassandra), and I eventually came to terms with the fact that the Trojan Horse was in this version (the Trojan Horse was not in the Illiad, it was written about in the Aenied which was written a few hundred years later by Virgil and NOT Homer), and even that the Trojan war took place over the course of a few days instead of years but there are LOTS of things that suck about this movie.
Who was that girl who Achilles ran into the burning city to get? Who is she based on? For a second I thought she would be Cassandra mixed with some other people but then no. And I am completely SHOCKED AND AMAZED that the director took such artistic license as to kill Agamemnon in Troy. That is such a desecration of literature that I cannot believe that he thought he would get away with it. Does Petersen think that he is above yielding to the true nature of the story? That was it for me, I turned it off then, I don't care how the movie ends now.
For all of these reasons I hate this movie, what could have been a brilliant combination of action mixed with art Petersen missed completely; because he changed the story *SO* much this is a sad and lame excuse for both an action movie and a cinematic version of Homer's tales. Petersen missed both marks by a LOT. I don't know who I'm more upset with; the screenwriter who produced this crap or the director for making it viable. All of these things have been written and recorded and translated into every language for over a thousand years, certainly the screenwriter could have picked up some Cliff notes for a reference.
*For those who are interested: Agamemnon did not die in Troy. He went home with Cassandra as his concubine and was killed by his wife Clytemenstra because--before sailing for Troy-- he sacrificed his daughter to appease the god of the wind for good sailing. After his murder Clytemnestra cuts him up and serves him in a stew to her children Orestes and Electra. Wouldn't that have been a better end for a great villain?