Typical Hollywood Epic ie Not Historically Accurate But Visually Enticing and Decent Entertainment

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2009)

Petersen's 'Troy' boasts of high quality production values. The sets are lavish. The props, especially the costumes and weapons are interesting. The locations and visuals are spectacular. The cinematography is stunning. The special effects look good. The one-on.one combat scenes are well choreographed and visualized. However, the battle scenes look a bit too decorated.
Most fans of Hollywood epics would love 'Troy'. I stress on the word Hollywood because for me that is also a major flaw of the film. For the sake of convenience, the film isn't exactly accurate to the source and has the usual Hollywood ending. The characters and parts of the story have been slightly altered. Agamemnon who was known to be a wise thinker appears to be rash and silly here. Hector is known to be extremely strong but here he struggles to fight with Patroclis and appears clumsy and a little frightened when fighting Achilles.
The casting of Brad Pitt was definitely intended to pull a larger crowd. Not that Pitt is awful or anything, in fact he does show signs of good acting, but you pretty much see his usual on screen persona rather than him playing Achilles. Eric Bana, though it is questionable whether he fits the part, does a splendid job in the acting department, beating his more famous co-stars Pitt and Bloom. Orlando Bloom is rightfully weak, naive and stubborn as Paris. Brian Cox is brilliantly menacing. Julie Christie has one scene but she shines. Sean Bean is great as Odysseus. Peter O'Toole is excellent as usual. The scene where he displays Priam's despair as he watches Troy fall apart strikes a chord more than any other scene and another scene where he meets Achilles to take back the body of his dead son is incredibly done. This latter scene also has some superb dialogue.
The women do not have much to do. Diane Kruger is drop-dead gorgeous as Helen. She fits the part like a jigsaw puzzle and conveys Helen's guilt, ambivalence and love with grace but the character, who plays such a crucial role in history is given too little screen time here and the viewer does not get to see the depth of her thoughts and feelings. Saffron Burrows needs to eat more but her acting is better than her usual. Rose Byrne is alright.
'Troy' may not be a cinematic masterpiece but it is visually enticing and overall decent entertainment.