Biased review, film buffs look elsewhere

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2004)

For a Greek who was raised by these stories as part of his heritage and history to actually see them unfold in front of him is a really huge thing.
I got to see the film yesterday in Odeon's flagship cinema in Leicester square. Only the best would do for such a story. Since my knowledge of the story rivals your average scholar let me provide you with some (just scratching the surface though), information about it.
The story you get to witness in Troy is not taken by one book. Homer's Iliad takes place in about 40-50 days of the 9-10 year war against the Trojans. The book actually ends with Hector's funeral. NO Trojan horse, or Achilles death etc. The story you get to see on screen is 85% Homer's (huge dispute about that as well, but i am not going to get into it) and the rest comprises by accounts and stories we have from different authors. I would estimate that about 60% of the story is taken from The Iliad, (as the credits rightly inform the story was inspired by the works of Homer, NOT Simpson)
Yes changes have been made, like in other movies, in order to take account of the cinema generation. The script is written so as to give an account of the possible factual happenings thus deferring from all the divine intervention complications as in the original text.
You see this story is not your Mummys or your Lord of the rings or your Harry Potters. The story is about a historical event that actually happened 3200 (?) years ago. You can go to modern day Turkey and visit the ruins of Troy. For years scholars were accusing the stories as fantasy. Heinrich Schliemann shut them up when he discovered the ruins of the historical Troy. That was only about 100 years ago. So do not dismiss anything from the story. King Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus were actual Kings, their palaces exist to this day, ancient Greeks did dressed like that, had ships like that etc etc. The costume designers didn't have to leave their imagination running. They just visited a few archaeological museums.
Nowadays you can visit New Zealand and be taken upon the tourist trail of Lord of the Rings. You`ll be shown the filming locations like they were the factual locations. That's what a nation without heritage does nowadays. They fake it. Whereas, you can visit Greece and stumble upon the birth of civilization, upon stories and legends on a time when humanity was born, a time before modern religions (Christianity, Islam etc), a time before weapons of mass destruction. Well enough with that, you get the picture.
Back on the movie. When I first heard that they were going to make a movie about the story of Troy I was thinking that they were going to create a simple action movie or worse, a tongue in cheek version in the veins of The Mummy. I was relieved to see that Petersen actually managed to put lots of heart into it, people around me were crying all the time, I couldn't cry, I cried many times decades ago when I was first taught the story, (part of the education curriculum in Greece for centuries).
Most of the location filming was done in Malta so you get a fair representation of the actual historic locations. The soundtrack is dipped in ancient Greek music (Pythagorean scale) and costumes/armory/buildings/weapons are highly representative of the period, as I mentioned before a simply visit to a museum would suffice.
I am taking my hat off to the people who did the research for the movie. They really did their homework, especially in the correct representation of the city of Troy and hints regarding actual shenanigans, (according to Herodotus, the father of history, Helen was actually in Egypt during the war, Menelaus collected her upon returning from his victory). Of course I have to forgive them for many false representations, since they had to make a story viable for current (easy going) generations. For instance, at that time there wasn't a collective term for Greeks. In fact, if such a generalization is to be made it has to be said that the Trojans were Greeks as well, (the Thracians, which take their name from the part of modern day Greece where I actually came from, where allies with Troy). I suggest you do your own reading upon that.
The story is about a war, and war you get in the big screen version. Huge battle scenes with bird's eye shots of countless battleships (triiris), battalion formations etc. Achilles was the greatest warrior at that time (immortal apart from his heel, according to legend) and you get to see why. Again, unlike the Matrix let's say, these warriors existed and fought like that a long time ago. Back then it was all about the heroes and their honour. You will see in the movie that Achilles wants his name in history. This testament is not just something taken of the books, these men really did lived and died for that cause alone. Honour and Arete.
Greeks to this day, still name their kids using these names. Just think about the history of your name and then try to compare that with a young kid living in Greece who is called Achilles.
It's the year 2004A.D. and these historic figures, thanks to cinematography, are more famous than ever before. Do you really think they died in vain?
Welcome to the greatest stories ever told.