All that I wanted -- and more!

Rating: 10/10 (8 May 2004)

I had the chance to see "Troy" a week ahead of release, much thanks to a free military showing. Now, I'm excited for its regular release; "Troy" deserves to be #1 for several weeks.
It was everything I wanted it to be: entertaining, interesting, and filled mostly with action.
Normally, it's tough for an action movie to stand out in my mind, since they're my favorite and I see them all the time. I'm probably one of the few people in this world that didn't like "Lord of the Rings" because I thought it dragged on and had too much talking & not enough action. I didn't even like the last Matrix movie because some of the battle scenes repeated too many of the same actions. But "Troy", in my opinion, doesn't have these problems. It captured my attention so much that I had to remind myself to blink, and I didn't notice how long the movie was until after I left the theater.
The action sequences contained some original moves, were gruesome-as-needed, and impressively fast (not to the point where you can't figure out what's going on). Since I've never read "The Iliad", I found myself guessing during the most important battles, which probably heightened the experience for me.
As a young woman, I do have to mention that Brad P., Orlando B., Eric B., and Sean B. all looked very good, very sculpted. Again, the action was the reason I went (or maybe it was the free ticket), but much is seen of their bodies (especially Brad's), another bonus to this movie. The men wore very short 'loincloths', and everytime a man jumped up, it made you wonder whether they really wore anything underneath.
Some of the acting did seem a little stiff, but the fight scenes made up for it. I noticed a lot of shots with the actors just staring, a dramatic technique that I think was overused in this movie. But then again, I always stared back.
The music was forgettable though. At the beginning, it resembled "The Passion" too much.
But, for an action/adventure epic, I really loved "Troy", and I'm sure millions of people this weekend will feel the same way. I was captivated during the fight scenes, and I enjoyed the little bits of humor that were mixed into an already intriguing storyline. So, if you want to be thrilled for 2 hours and 45 minutes, go see this film!
And, ladies, don't forget to blink every once in a while! ;)