A Movie That Will Appeal to Your Lust--Sexual or Blood

Rating: 7/10 (12 May 2004)

At the center of the movie Troy is a story about two great warriors grappling with the reasons of why they fight. On the side of Greece, is the near-invincible Achilles played by Brad Pitt. Achilles despises power-hungry Agamemnon, the King of Kings of Greece. Achilles, it appears, fights for no reason. Not for love, not for loyalty, and especially not for Agamemnon. He fights because that is what he is born to do.
On the side of Troy is Hector (played by The Incredible Hulk's Eric Bana), a family man and the prince of Troy. Greece declares war on Troy when Hector's younger brother, Paris (played by LOTR's star Orlando Bloom), takes Helena as his bride. (Helena, you see, is Agamemnon's brother's wife.) Hector understands the reasons for the war and this makes him leery, but it doesn't dampen his desire to fight for Troy. He is the son of Troy, and he will protect it to the death.
In the middle of this war, Achilles refuses to fight after a dispute with Agamemnon until tragedy strikes. Achilles, filled with blood thirsty revenge, challenges Hector to a fight to the death. In victory, Achilles desecrates Hector's body for all to see. It is from this point that this 2-hour and 30-minute movie begins its race to the finish. A wooden horse shows up, a city is burned, and Prince Paris finds Achilles' weak spot. (If this is a surprise to you, brush up on your Greek history & mythology).
Troy is a non-stop movie filled with short monologues; cute, sweaty, muscled men; and wide-scale epic battle sequences that rival both Gladiator and The Last Samurai combined. The operatic scores brings dramatic tension to the well-shot battle scenes, which are choreographed to near perfection. Brian Cox is wonderfully evil as Agamemnon. Sean Bean is convincing as the clever Odysseus. And Eric Bana gives depth and emotion to the internally-tortured Hector.
But alas, the movie belongs to Brad Pitt as the brooding, moody, pr**k who is Achilles. Whatever training and preparation Pitt had to become Achilles pays off in this flick. As the great warrior, he slays his opponents with fluid motions and with the flare of a man whose skill is killing. The training also shows on Pitt's wonderfully chiseled body (excuse my drool), which is naked almost as much as it is dressed. (my hormones are a-jumping.)
This movie lived up to and exceeded my expectations. Troy is solid movie that will appeal to everyone's lust-sexual, blood or otherwise.