At last, now available in epic cut

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2009)

The new director's cut of Troy might at over 3 hours be rather long to have been sitting in a cinema, but for home theatre, this is now finally the movie punters wished it could be when it first came out. The extra scenes - a mixture of character moments and action scenes, truly change it from a bit of a muddle, to something approaching classic status. The battle scenes add little, but the character scenes change and explain the dynamics of the characters, in particular Sean Bean's Odysseus, and the tension between King Agamemnon and Achilles. There is still a problem with the casting... no-one really looks that comfortable in their roles, neither Eric Bana, Brad Pitt and certainly not Orlando Bloom. Only Peter O'Toole really fits the part, at least as much of a part as he is given. Diane Kruger looks pretty, but whether it is the script, or her acting, it is difficult to say - but she never quite seems worth putting a thousand ships to sea for. That aside, the battle scenes are visceral, and if this movie added anything new, it was the mano-a-mano battles with Achilles, which are terrifically well choreographed to make you really believe in his invincibility. Extras are prolific - I gave up before I managed to exhaust all the topics, which are conveniently arranged in segments a few minutes long, so you can either watch all together or search for just the parts which interest. A worthy package which goes some way to restoring the reputation of this previously maligned movie.