Troy by Wolfgang Petersen

Rating: 4/10 (9 May 2020)

The ancient poem Iliad by Homer is still recognized, as one of the most important and especially as one of the greatest poems of all time. For being an emotional and thrilling story, which has unforgettable as well as unexpected moments, to be impactful from the beginning to the end. The story follows the Trojan war, which takes a long time that would spread blood on the ground, while the heroism and the courage of the main characters, are directly shown in all the way. As they would never give up, in what they are going to face during the battle. During the long decade battle of Trojan War, the gods of Ancient Greece judge for what they are seeing. The filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen seems to be intrigued, by directing an adaption of the poem. After a long time of work, in 2004 came out Troy by Wolfgang Petersen with Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom. The movie's plot: The prince of Troy, Paris (Orlando Bloom), has an affair with the Queen of Sparta, Helen (Diane Kruger), as they both would run away together in Troy. But it would cause the armies of the Greece, to declare war on Troy, by filling the fury of the King of Sparta, Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). The brother of Paris, Hector (Eric Bana), guides the armies of Troy, without expecting, to face the most ferocious warrior of the armies of Greece, Achilles (Brad Pitt). The movie seems to give a lot of surprising expectations, as the poem is still studied by the students in the schools. The poem is still discussed, both in negative and in positive way, by giving it a massive importance. Instead the movie disappointed, the audience and the critics, by not elaborating the movie to be completely like the poem. The story does not contain any gods of the Ancient Greece, by trying to focus only on the war and conflict between the characters. As the filmmakers tried to elaborate the story, by including only the human characters with less supernatural elements. Even it does not work by excluding the supernatural elements, which are very important in the story. As the gods of Ancient Greece are absolutely fundamental in the story, to see if they would react either in the positive or in the negative way, about how the war is proceeding. Brad Pitt did an interesting performance as Achilles, a warrior who is so powerful that can be killed only by wounding his heel. Achilles does not have any mercy with anybody, during the battle and there would be so much blood around. Even there should have been more specific details, about how does the body language of Achilles, expresses for his ferocity during the battle sequences. Instead to describe like in the movie, Achilles being so powerful to kill quickly the opponents, which does not make clear about his emotions during the battle. Eric Bana made a well done performance as Hector, the brother of Paris, who would do anything to take the right choices during the battle. Hector is aware for how much the sacrifice of the armies, does cost in the war, even he would never give up, no matter how long does the battle take. Even there should have been more emotional details, about how close is Hector to his family, what are his biggest fear for the future of Troy, as well as his doubts for the future of his family. Orlando Bloom did an interesting performance as Paris, the prince of Troy who would cause the war, declared by the armies of the Greece. As the bond between Paris and Helen, is so strong to be inseparable. Even there should have been more details, about if Paris might think he did take the right choice, or if he might think it was the wrong one to feel more doubtful. The production design has been elaborated, to let the audience feel, how did the characters lived and which kind of places they lived, at the time where the story is set. The costume design has been elaborated, to see what kind of costumes as well as what kind of amour the characters did wear, in every details and in the specific colors of the costumes. The camera has been used to shot the most spectacular sequences, by making the movie epic in every single camera movements, as well as in every single camera angles. The score by James Horner has been elaborated, to let the audience feel the atmosphere of the story, in every single musical notes to be unforgettable. But still these positive notes do not justify, the negative sides of the movie. Including how the screenplay has been elaborated, which was supposed to be clear about the story, from the beginning to the end. But it does not include the most important elements of the poem Iliad, which makes the movie incomplete and not clear enough with the main characters, neither with the main themes of the story. Troy is one of the most entertaining movies, even it should have been elaborated better with some important elements, which some of the main themes of the poem should have been included in the movie, to be much close to the original material.