"Troy" is Good, Epic Entertainment

Rating: 9/10 (17 May 2004)

I enjoyed "Troy" immensely. It had a great cast, some awesome fight sequences and wonderful cinematography. It may not be accurate to the original story, but who freakin cares. This film is not supposed to be a history lesson but an interpretation of the story of the Trojan War. I liked the film anyway. I saw the film for the first time on Friday with some of my friends and thought it was pretty darn good. I did have a few problems with the film, especially the score by James Horner. He has written some wonderful scores for such films as Braveheart, Apollo 13 and Titanic but this score did not have one piece of really memorable music in it. The score seemed to be recycled from other films especially Gladiator in a few spots. It wasn't the worst score ever, but I wish it had been better. I saw the film again on Saturday with my mom and I liked it a lot better the second time for some strange reason. Things that bothered me when I first saw it didn't bother me so much anymore and I looked at the film for what it was; a good old fashioned time at the movies. The second time I saw it I payed more attention to the acting in the film. I loved the performances in this movie, especially Eric Bana, Brad Pitt and most of all Peter O'Toole. Eric Bana gives a compelling, believable performance as Hector and really shows his great skills as an actor. I hope to see him in a lot more films in the future. Brad Pitt, one of the most underrated actors in my opinion dominates as Achilles. the critics can say what they want about him being just a pretty face, but I though he was awesome in this film. It really shows that he worked hard for this role and he does a magnificent job of playing the conflicted warrior. Finally, Peter O'Toole, what can be said about him that hasn't already been said a hundred times. He is just GREAT! One of the finest actors to ever grace the screen and he deserves an Oscar nomination for his role in this film. He delivers one of the best scenes, and the most well acted scene, in the entire film which includes his character King Priam begging Achilles for his son back. What a great scene! Anyway, one thing that surprised me about "Troy" was the fact that the one on one fight scenes between characters were more exciting and well done than the larger scaled battle sequences containing thousands of soldiers. I guess the reason for that is that it is easier to see who is fighting whom in the smaller fight scenes. The fight between Paris (Orlando Bloom) and Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) is very good and the fight between Achilles and Hector is movie making at its best. What a terrifically well done scene (this was one of the only parts of the score I liked). In conclusion, this is a really good film with some terrific scenes and acting. It may be three hours, but for me the time flew by. GO SEE IT!