Troystory

Rating: 3/10 (17 June 2005)

Achilles in this film is portrayed as a bit of a simpleton, easily influenced, self centered and shallow. His motives for fighting remain rather vague too. He does not like Agamemnon but still plays the role of champion when called upon, albeit sulking like your average zit-faced adolescent. Furthermore he's reluctant to go to Troy, but when Odysseus and Achilles' mother speak of 'the great war' and of the tales of heroes that will be told for thousands of years to come, he's suddenly convinced he has to go.
At Troy his main concern is whether his glorious acts of war can be seen by big enough crowds. His first display of military genius is to embark on the heavily defended Trojan beach ahead of the rest of the Greek fleet. Some might argue this knack for being outnumbered and desire for getting impaled by your opponents arrows is a sign of misplaced arrogance bordering on a self-destructive nature. Others will disprove this by stating the man knows he's invulnerable, well almost. Of course any sane man wouldn't be jumping for joy to be in this Muppet's army, but not in Petersens' film, no they love it.
So after Achilles has virtually single handedly claimed victory, and established a beachhead, desecrating a temple in the process, he miraculously still has a Myrmidon army left. Finally the promised war on Troy can really start, without Achilles that is, because Agamemnon has taken away his Trojan priestess/house-slave/lust-object Briseis whom the Myrmidons had taken hostage.
The Trojans meanwhile have assembled their army. They've done this outside their walls, considering Troy is famous for it's huge and seemingly impenetrable walls, this is a bit silly. Luckily the Greeks, who by the way haven't really brought or built anything to breach these walls, are also outside these walls, so a good fight can start.
Paris proves he's a bit of a wimp and Agamemnon shows his small military vocabulary shouting 'charge' and not soon after 'retreat'. The Trojans decide to attack the Greeks one more time. This attack reunites the shattered Greek forces, who counter and hold the line, losing Patrokles to Hektor's sword in the process yada yada yada. Achilles kills Hektor, wooden horse, Paris kills Achilles, Agamenmnon kills Priamos, Briseis kills Agamemnon(!), Troy burns and the Greeks win.
Petersen tries to find a balance between myth and reality and fails. He randomly chooses bits and pieces from the Illias and apparently turned to other material, Cassandra comes to mind, as well. The bombastic Hollywood approach doesn't leave much room for myth. The corny dialogue and frankly some of the acting performances as well, keep the characters from becoming real people.