Lets make epic stories not so epic

Rating: 7/10 (9 July 2006)

An apparent trend in the year 2004 was to demystify popular stories and make them more down to earth. This ended up working pretty well in King Arthur, which claimed to use historical accuracy and fact as a storysetter, but as far as Troy goes, the end result was quite disappointing.
If you are unfamiliar with the Iliad, there is interaction between the gods as well as mortals. Everyone and everything is incorporated into this massive battle for power and glory, but started by love. There are heroes on both sides of the battle, and the reader is meant to cheer for both sides and witness the pain and destruction of dramatic battle.
However...
Wolfgang Peterson decided not to incorporate the gods at all into the story, instead focusing on the human characters. Not that they aren't interesting or anything, but the story has so much more to offer. Getting rid of the gods and their endless drama with each other really downsized the scope of the situation. To put it in perspective, lets say they tried to do the same thing with Lord of the Rings. The movie would be more to the tune of "yeah there's like 12 orcs coming over here. Maybe we should shoot them or something." Meanwhile, the ringwraiths would really be the brazillian soccer team in disguise and the rohirrim would slide down the hill in their rocking horses. Oh yeah, and the whole Trojan war deal was shortened from 10 years to a couple days.
The whole tone of the story just seemed downplayed. Odysseus said little of his homeland of Ithaca, Ajax played about as important of a part as an eating utensil, and there was no urgency or indecisiveness about Achilles' situation. They mention his little prophecy, which is kind of an important deal, once, and really don't come back to it at all. It should have been one of the main themes of the story. And remember how there should be like 2000 Myrmidans? You know, like the best warriors in the world that turn the tide of the battle? There's like 40 of them. And the greeks most desperate hour, when they must resort to building a wall out of their now unneeded ships to shield them from the Trojans, is nonexistent in this particular motion feature event.
Besides for restraining the grandeur of the original story, the movie itself stands on its own I guess. The sets are nice, the acting was good for the most part (except for a horribly miscast Brad Pitt as the brooding and effectively emo Achilles). Orlando Bloom is perfectly wimpy and stupid, and Eric Bana is genuinely heroic and the all around good guy as Troy's Hector. And there were some nicely choreographed sword fights. The script lacked a little but there weren't any lines that immediately struck me as just godawful.
If you're just interesting in a swords and sandal epic, then watch this and you shouldn't be disappointed. Don't expect a Gladiator. If you're expecting Homer's Iliad at its greatest splendor and epicity (is that a word? it is now...), then watch something else. Just recreate the battle with dinosaurs on your bedroom floor. It'd be more spectacular.