Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (14 May 2004)

While the movie claims to be 'based' on the Iliad, you'd be hard pressed to find much in the movie that is actually the same. You have the same character names and *some* relationships that are the same and that's about it. People suddenly become related to those they barely knew in the tale (or become related so people don't get homophobic...), people die when they shouldn't, people live when they shouldn't, and the ending is the biggest slap in the face Homer could ever expect. If you want a Hollywood movie, you'll get it in spades with this. If you want an epic tale truly based on Homer's Iliad, look elsewhere. Better yet, just go read it again.

The sets are amazing, as are the costumes. Many of the actors are brilliant as well, though many other vital ones fail to deliver (Helen/Diane crucially, and to an extent Paris/Orlando). But the storyline suffers from so many changes to the original, it is totally unrecognisable. When a certain big character bites the dust early on things just go from bad to worse, and the ending is one of the most offensive things I've seen in a movie, a slap in the face to history just to please some fangirls. Makes me wonder if the writer/s truly understood and have read about what happened at the end of the Trojan War.
If you're looking for the Iliad, or even some semblance of it, don't see the movie. You will be highly disappointed. But if you could care less, then go for it, you'll probably enjoy it.