Not easy to adapt!

Rating: Null/10 (22 May 2004)

I just saw "Troy" the other day, and I really liked it. I remember, as I watched and then left the theater thinking about the differences between the Iliad/Odyssey and the film Troy; however, after reading all these poor reviews on the user comments index, it seems a lot is being forgotten. The Iliad is a GIANT EPIC poem, with a great many characters and a great many pages. Trying to adapt that is not an easy task. Being a screenwriter myself, I can understand why the Gods were not involved in the picture. Because, that creates the opportunity to make a reasonably lenghted film. If Troy was a completely faithful picture, then it would have to be 2 films that are three and a half hours; and judging by the reviews here, there are a lot of people who can't even watch one film of 2 1/2 hours. Also, with so many characters, you've got to condense to make the film work. Plus, let us not forget that not every one who will go to see this film may have read the Illiad. So, while the Homer purists may be irritated by that fact, it's simply true that a large percentage of the audience are going to watch a movie and be told a pretty good story. And as far as the "look" of the film, I like what Petersen did. He took a traditionalist approach, instead of trying to WOW everyone with MTV-style cutting and shooting. He made a film that was approached in the style of the great epics of the 50s and 60s. And personally I appreciate that kind of nostalgic sensibility. Particularly in a time where eighteen year-olds who want everything on screen to be blown up in THX surround sound is the target audience, resulting in the highest percentage of bad movies ever. And Troy is, quite frankly, much better than most those other "films".