Enjoyable, but could've been so much more substantial

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2004)

I really enjoyed Troy for the most part, but it's severely lacking in places and there are big problems caused by some of the changes to Homer's text.
Actionwise it's spectacular. Wolfgang Petersen's direction is perfunctory at best (imagine what a visionary like Peter Jackson or an action expert like Ridley Scott could've done with the material). The scale of it all is so great though, that such a problem doesn't impact too greatly on the entertainment value. There are literally thousands of warriors on screen slugging it out, and because so many real people have been used, there's no way of saying who are real extras and where the vfx begins. The fights aren't as dynamic as Gladiator's (the first of many times where I feel the need to compare the two) but there's plenty of punch and scale to it all. It's at it's best during the one on one moments, especially the Achilles vs Hector duel. There's an almost balletic quality to the way it has been choreographed, it's certainly not shot to look like your average bit of gladiatorial violence.
In between action sequences the characters and plotting are diverting enough. Peter O'Toole especially gives proceedings a genuine gravitas as Trojan King Priam. Eric Bana does a very good job as Hector, he's got a good screen presence about him and there were moments where I felt genuinely moved by his performance, in his defense of Paris, his final night with his wife as he holds his baby son and his final march down to face his doom. As some have mentioned Orlando Bloom is very much his standard self, but it seems right for the role he is playing, Paris is after all a legendary ladies man. I never particularly got the feeling he was in love with Helen, but there scenes together did enough to suggest it to me. Diane Kruger's Helen is similar to be honest, nothing stand out, but it's functional enough to move the plot along.
And what of the much talked about Brad Pitt. For me his portrayal of Achilles is at times hopeless. He's fine at the physical stuff and during the stroppy Achilles phase he does well, but the moment the role calls for any amount of emotion it goes to pieces. His reaction to the death of Patroclus his cousin felt like a whiny kid who'd just had his new toy taken away. And here's where the Gladiator comparison really does Troy no favours at all. You compare Pitt's feeble attempt at emotion to Russell Crowe's powerhouse display as Maximus. You want a broken man driven to revenge, take a look a Crowe, we've got rage, sadness, tears, the man even gives us snot. The scene where he collapses to his knees upon finding his family murdered says it all. OK maybe it's a bit harsh to compare a guy reacting to his cousin's death to a man who's just lost his wife and kid, and the diversion from Homer here doesn't help much either, seeing as Patroclus was Achilles's 'dear' friend, but come on he's practically untroubled by it all. Seeing as Petersen has set out to make a Gladiatoresque film, rather than giving us Homer's rich mythology, such a scene is vital and I thought it failed. Any scene from there onwards Pitt struggles, as he also does in showing passion for his lover Breiseis. That's a love that feels superficial, he might as well have won her in the lottery.
Anyway I could go on about Pitt's performance all day, suffice to say he may as well have been in a coffee shop with Jennifer Aniston, which is probably my main problem with his casting. He felt to contemporary, not 'dirty' enough to play such a role, nor hard enough.
Mention must be made of the music. James Horner is quite frankly a hack of a composer, something I've thought since Titanic, which was pretty much his score to Braveheart with a few extra bits. This is heavily pilfered from Gladiator, so we get the chanting melodies for sad scenes and the big chords for the battles. The difference being that Hans Zimmer has talent and produced something that felt fresh. The lyrical beauty of Lisa Gerrard's vocals is hoplelessly ripped off, especially as they were often used to score the more abstract moments of Gladiator, while Troy is very much a by the numbers movie.
Anyway for a film I'd still rate seven out of ten, I've been heavily critical of it. It is entertaining, which for cinema is very important to me. This was supposed to be a contender for film of the year though, an Oscar hopeful, and it doesn't live up to that. Even if it hadn't been hyped so heavily, it would still be a waste of a great piece of Greek mythology. Troy has very little to do with the Illiad at all, except for containing the same characters. Stripped of the sense of adventure and the fantastical aspects this is a generic sword and sandals picture. People who haven't read any Greek lit, try for a moment and imagine the Lord of the Rings movies being based entirely around Helm's Deep and Pellenor Fields and you have some idea of how Troy has been adapted. I just feel they may as well have written an original script if this is what they planned to do. As a sword and sandals picture it pales next to Gladiator, as well as the older precedents Spartacus and Ben Hur. As an adaptation of The Illiad it's greatest crime is that we will never now see it as it should've been, on screen. Oh well it diverted my attention for 2 1/2 hours at least.