. . . 45 minutes of thin cheese stretched into 3 hours . . .

Rating: 1/10 (14 May 2004)

Fast forward: I gave this movie 3 out of 10 points, because, according to the advertising campaign, I expected something as entertaining as 'Spartacus' or 'Ben Hur' and as expensive as 'Titanic'. (10 points for the advertising campaign).

The sets are beautiful, the ships and the real armies too. But that is not enough; the development of the characters is poor, and: Even if the actors would have given 200%, it can't be enough to fill a story that fits into 45 minutes of 'He-Man'.

First half: The Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) seduces the Spartan queen Helen (Diane Kruger) and the Spartan army uses this as an invitation to conquer Troy. Chief among their leaders is the secret weapon Achilles (Brad Pitt), acting like a cynical and sexy, modern-day 'Mad-Max'. First he can't decide to fight against the Trojans, but after his cousin Patroclus (Garrett Hedlund) is killed, he can (after some 80 minutes the movie must go on).
Second half: A really and truly excellent Peter O'Toole gives his best as King Priam of Troy, before, during and after Achilles defeats Priam's son Hector (Eric Bana).
Anything forgotten? ...Troy is conquered and Achilles killed.

All that is unfortunately not enough. Just another movie that could have been but wasn't.