Excellent post-CGI 'sword and sandal' epic

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2019)

A-list Hollywood hunks Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, and Sean Bean play A-list mytho-historical hunks Achilles, Hector, Paris and Odysseus in Wolfgang Petersen's spectacular vision of the legendary Trojan War. A staple of Western classical tradition, the legend tells how the Trojan Prince Paris fell in love with beautiful Queen Helen of Sparta, wife of King Menelaus. The lovers escape to Troy, hoping for protection from the Spartan's wrath behind the city's great walls and by the sword of Paris' heroic brother, Hector. The Greeks, led by Menelaus' brother, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, and numbering amongst their ranks the heroes Achilles, Ajax and Odysseus, lay siege to Troy for a decade before famously overcoming the city-fortress by equine deception. Petersen streamlines the story, speeds up the war drastically, minimises the meddling of the Gods, and focuses primarily on Achilles, adding a romance angle as the indomitable warrior falls in love with Trojan princess/priestess/virgin Briseis (Rose Byrne). While not a history (or classics) lesson (see 'goofs' section for inaccuracies), the film is hugely entertaining and well made. The intersections between CGI and live footage is seamless, and the scenes of the vast Greek fleet (the famous "thousand ships") and Troy's towering walls ("the topless towers of Ilium") are striking. The cast is excellent (especially Bean and Peter O'Toole as Priam, King of Troy) and Diane Kruger as Helen makes a plausible "most beautiful women in the world" (at least by contemporary 'Western' tastes). Despite a few implausibilities and anachronisms, 'Troy' is a great cinematic retelling of Homer's epic verse. Towards the end of the film, Aeneas makes a brief appearance, setting the stage for a 'sequel' that, sadly was not made.