No originality

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2004)

SPOILERS (but do read on and avoid the movie)
Having read other comments and reviews I felt obliged to make a comment on this movie for which I have two major complaints (to add to others in previous comments). First of all, this film completely lacks any originality. It starts off spoofing Gladiator only to become a weak copy of that great work in many scenes and in the music. Other scenes are transferred directly from Saving Private Ryan (the landing on the beach), Return of the King (battles in front of Troy, Troy looks remarkably like a smaller version of Minas Tirith) and the other LOTR films (must admit, though, that I enjoyed seeing Boromir and Legolas reappear in Troy when Sean Bean and Orlando Bloom fell back into their roles from LOTR!).
I would not be disappointed by the big changes made during the 'adaptation' from Homer's work if only they made sense in the storyline. Important bits from the Illiad are ignored, and important characters are killed in the film despite surviving in the book. Never mind this, but by making Briseis a niece to king Priam instead of 'just-another-slave-girl' her capture by Achilles should seriously improve the 'Greek' basis for negotiations with the Trojans. No one wonders or asks about this, even though (IMHO) her value to Priam should be sufficient to change the outcome of the war as we know it????
Never mind also the poor dialogue and strange casting. Plenty of comments about this elsewhere.
Watch the movie as part of your Hollywood-homework and enjoy the battle scenes and think back upon and enjoy films mentioned above even more!