Trojic

Rating: 4/10 (15 May 2004)

You surely have to try pretty hard to make such an abysmal job of a script that starts with a classic such as Homer's Illiad. Here, Brad follows his mesmerising and commendably varied roles in 12 Monkeys, Seven, Snatch, True Romance, etc. with a disappointing and, yes, Pittiful performance surrounded by a host of other incompetents. Orlando Bloom was his usual wooden self, and Peter O'Toole could think of nothing better to do than simply bulge his eyes. Passable showings from Cox and Bana could not rescue the flick. A total lack of character development made me utterly ambivalent about the outcomes to any of the protagonists.
Could it have been any more transparent that the producers simply aimed for Lord of the Rings IV/Braveheart II with a touch of Pitt-perving thrown in? The musical direction was almost identical, the casts simply a merger, though here the battle scenes and choreography were totally uninspiring. Even if one is to suspend disbelief for long enough to allow for the grave historical (or at least mythical) inaccuracies and complete lack of plausibility, this is still a phenomenal waste of time and money.
But I bet it *still* makes a killing at the box office.