I think there might have been some glue on the screen...

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2004)

When I first heard they were making a film based on Homer's The Illiad about a year ago, I was delighted, and as a lover of films and this book my hype was surely too much. As the date drew nearer, my excitement grew, I thought it was going to be the best film ever. Did I overestimate it?
The Illiad is the only book I have ever read, I've attempted to read more books but I just can't sit down and read. I find it boring. But with the Illiad, it was the opposite. A truly great story which you can just sit there and read and let your imagination take control. But now, Wolfgang Peterson has brought this epic tale to life. If you take a look at the end credits, it will say, Inspired by Homer's The Illiad. You have to take this into account because you cannot expect any film to stay true to a book like The Illiad in every aspect, you see, I believe that the 'Inspired by' sets it apart from book-film adaptations such as Lord of the Rings, as this film is called Troy, and not The Illiad. Many people want this film to fail because they believe it shouldn't have been made and will be an insult to The Illiad and others who want it to fail because of its $200million dollar budget. As for the director of Troy, Wolfgang Peterson, I can say that I am not familiar with much of his work, apart from Air Force One, which I quite enjoyed. But despite his critics, we know he can create something special as he did with his powerful war/drama Das Boot (Which I haven't seen but being in the IMDB's top 250 at number 45 says alot.)
When I heard the casting of Troy, I was quite suprised to see so many big names in one film, many people questioned the casting of Brad Pitt as Achilles and at first, so did I. I've always pictured Achilles in the physique of Brad Pitt, but I didn't think he could do it. I read that he put on an English accent for the film and I went in expecting a weak performance from him. At the beginning of the film I still was a little weary of him, but as the film went on, I became quite impressed with his performance. What could you expect? Achilles was very arrogant, egotistical, and a great warrior, and this was indeed how Pitt portrayed him, with a loving side to him, towards Patroclus. If anyone doubts him, they should look at him without all his star-glow and just accept that he IS Achilles and truly does give a great performance. Oscar worthy? I wouldn't think so but honestly, he should be worthy of at least a nomination. As for my favourite character in the book, Hector, was played very well by Eric Bana (The Hulk.) with clearly one of the better performances throughout the film, now, in my opinion, The Hulk was a bad film, but you cannot blame that on Bana, because he wasn't in it enough, the screen was taken up mostly by a big green thing which didn't seem to fit into his surroundings at all. But, in Troy, when Bana was on screen, I was taken by his performance and not thinking, 'When's this guy gonna turn into The Hulk?' Oscar worthy? Hope So. As for the casting of his younger brother, the cowardly, ladies man, Paris, I think Orlando Bloom was perfect for this role. Because, lets face it, the ladies love him and he is the 'big' thing at the moment. After starring in the Lord of the Rings, as a fearless Elvish hero, and being sidelined by an amzing Depp in Pirates of the Carribean as a fearless 'pirate' hero, it came as a nice change to see him play a coward, a character who loves ladies, and ladies love him back. I think he did the job very well but most of the time he was on screen, it was already taken by Bana or O'Toole (King Priam). Oscar Worthy? Not really, his character is too limited but still a great performance. Sean Bean was another good casting as Odysseus whos previous best effort came as the cold hearted human, Borimir in the Lord of the Rings. But, let us not forget the great performances by Peter O'Toole and Brian Cox (Priam and Agamemnon respectively.) As for the film, I think it was very well done and the battle scenes were nothing short of amazing, not one acotr stood out as a poor performance and the script too, hardly seemed to have any flaws. Its exactly how I imagined it. The scenes which stuck out to me were, when we first see Achilles laying amongst two other women and then half-heartetly getting up and going to the battle for a one-on-one which lasted mear seconds, the thousands of ships crossing the sea, the arrival of Achilles on the beach, the storming of the greek camp at day break, the fight between Hector and Achilles as Hector's whole family watched on, and the final scene with the Trojan Horse. In fact, the whole film stood out to me. Especially when Achilles talks to his mother who tells him that going to war will be his ticket to immortality. You know when I film of this length, 160 minutes, is good when you don't get a sore rear sitting down for this long, and you don't look at your watch once or have to think, 'When is this going to end?'
As for the final questions... Is this film worth $200million dollars? Yes. Is it enjoyable from start to finish? Yes. Did I overrate this film going into it thinking it would be the greatest film I ever did see? No. This is a masterpiece and should be up there with the best of them. I know this film has had mixed reviews but who cares? I don't. Critics gave Lost In Translation a great review and it was pretty bad and rather boring, and thats just one example. I could give you many more, I know its opinion, but I honestly can't see what they saw in that movie and haven't seen in this one. And anyone out there, if you are looking to see something extemely entertaining, with a great story (Perhaps the greatest) and some good acting, Don't go and see Van Helsing, this is the movie you want to see. If Homer (If he really did exist as one man) was able to see this movie, he should be honoured that his story was brought to life with such grace. Peterson did a great job and deserves nothing but positive reviews anything other should merely be cast aside with the reviews for Lost In Translation.
Best acted part: Eric Bana.
Best scene: 'Immortality, take it, its yours!' Achilles and his men then storm the beach and the temple, destroying everyone in their path and then his first meeting with Hector outside the Temple, 'It's too early to kill Princes.'.
Oscar Worthy?: Yes! It better be. It's still early in the year mind you, but I have a feeling it will be overlooked.
Verdict: I'm sure there was some sort of glue on the screen which simply stuck my eyes to it... 10/10.