Spectacular Entertainment

Rating: 10/10 (2 February 2019)

Following the breakout success of Braveheart and Gladiator, comes the larger-than-life blockbuster about the legendary Trojan War. Troy, loosely based on Homer's The Iliad, is a slam-bang blockbuster action flick. Aside from the commercial appeal, Troy is also an epic, philosophical, and realistic retelling of one of the greatest stories of all time.
Troy has everything a traditional movie-goer could want: thrilling action, sprawling scale, state-of-the-art special effects, A-list actors, exciting soundtrack, endearing heroes, quotable lines, romance, drama, and political intrigue. Troy fulfills enough surface level needs to sustain an action junkie for years on end. It is so entertaining that you could rewatch it again and again and not get bored. But, it is also a film with copious amounts of depth and character development.
Critics were quick to label Troy shallow. However, Troy digs deep into themes such as belief in the gods, passion, and duties to one's country. The director's cut goes deeper into the characters and their motivations, as well as amping up the violence. Even in the theatrical cut, a major theme is how downplayed the roles of the gods are. Troy deviates from its source material as it takes a more realistic approach. So there are no fantasy elements like Apollo shooting fireballs out of his arse. This was a very wise decision because it made Troy more realistic, gritty, and all the more entertaining. Troy looks real aesthetically, and feels real emotionally, unlike the CGI mess that was 300.
Some of the most underrated scenes in the film are counsel debates circulating around the gods and the Greeks, Achilles' monologue on his take on the gods, and Peter O'Toole's heartbreaking plea to Achilles for his son's body. It's smaller moments like these that give Troy the depth needed to feel the inevitable emotional gut-punch delivered by the end. For example, take the counsel debate scene. It's very interesting hearing how religious 'servants of Apollo' and someone like Hector, likely an agnostic, rationalize their thinking. Hector is portrayed as being very logical and practical, as opposed to the priests who try to plan strategies based on religious symbolism (like bird signals). It's all the more saddening when Hector dies as the city becomes doomed by illogical rationale. This all adds another layer of depth to Troy; it's philosophical, and emotional. It takes into account the role of religion and how that affects the characters. The viewer is brought into the characters' world and empathize with the actors' sympathetic portrayals.
If there are any flaws to pick out in Troy, they're nitpicks. In the director's cut, there are needless long takes of dogs, cheesy lines, and inappropriate music played during emotional scenes. But these are minor and forgivable, especially since the director's cut adds more character depth and violence. The acting and dialogue is not Oscar-worthy, but they are good enough. Just like in The Lord of the Rings films, there are minor cheesy or dumb things, but they are easily overlooked because everything around those small moments is awesome!
Troy is just as entertaining, epic, star-studded, bloody, and philosophical as Game of Thrones. Both have the same writer, and you really can't love one without loving the other. Troy hits the mark with spectacular entertainment value while also speaking to the heart and soul.