Epic, but far from Homer...

Rating: 7/10 (11 April 2012)

CGI gets its hands on The Iliad, in Wolfgang Peterson's long sword and sandal epic and propels into - and for - 21st century audiences.
It's not as much as a mess as it could have been, and while there are some dodgy castings and a varying level of acting success, it generally is a well-made (especially the battles scenes, both the one-on-one and large scale), has some interesting and nice looking people playing them and are quite watchable, thankyou.
Brad Pitt's (as Achilles) physique has never been leaner (on camera, I wouldn't know otherwise!) and a nice load of leading actors generally make decent characters out of their roles. Julie Christie and Peter O'Toole add their seasoned wisdom, Eric Bana, like Pitt, looks the part to a tee and even Orlando Bloom, who is often miscast as someone more macho than he can play, is fine as the pretty-boy lover of Diane Kruger.
Kruger is Helen, Queen of Sparta, whose affections get stolen from husband, Menelaus, played by Brendon Gleeson. Brian Cox, as Agamemnon is easily robust enough for his part as the leader of the Greek armies. Bana, as Hector is leader of the Trojans.
I wouldn't worry too much as to the actual history (I didn't), if you don't want to as it's nice to just let the actors do their bits and the action unfold. The story does get a bit ponderous and slow at times but then along comes another exciting bit.
Generally, I don't think too many people have a real problem with 'Troy' and whilst it can't quite reach 'classic' status, or being truly great, it does a good job of entertaining us.