Tried to live up to Gladiator, turned out lame

Rating: 4/10 (23 January 2005)

Fascinating, how lots of decent people involved with this train-wreck didn't help it get over the finish line. This was more like a bad cartoon than an epic movie. I'm sure the studio believed they would capitalize on the success of historical epics, most recently Gladiator. What they failed to remember, as most of these boneheaded studios nearly always tend to, is that you need a script that tells a good story, and everything else gets attached to that.
But they decided to focus on Brad Pitts pecs instead of the richness of the story. The music sometimes, like when Achilles was shown on his island fighting with his cousin, reminded me of a spaghetti western. And all those beautiful people everywhere, geez, made we want to be an ancient Greek. I was truly impressed by everyones perfect manicures. Wolfgang Petersen has had some great accomplishments, as well as few stinkers, but this one has to be the biggest dud of his career.
Better luck next time