Excellent Adaptation

Rating: Null/10 (22 May 2004)

The primary question about the Trojan War is do you take Homer's poetry as literal truth? For instance, did a goddess actually save Paris from being killed during his duel with Helen's husband or is the grain of truth in the episode that Paris somehow survived in a less than noble manner? Similarly, was Achilles' mother a goddess who dipped her son's body in the River Styx making him invulnerable in battle or is the grain of truth here - as some historians have suggested - that he had some of the first iron armor which could not be penetrated by the bronze weapons of his opponents.
As Homer did Troy focuses on the relationship between Achilles and Agamemnon and not the love story between Paris and Helen. If her face launched 1,000 ships it was because she was the pretext, not because she was the reason.
What Troy accomplishes is a very well done depiction of the human egos, ambitions, flaws, anger, and tragedy that lie beneath Homer's poetry. The acting is excellent, the costuming beautiful, the special effects are flawless, and the battle sequences are wonderfully choreographed. If you aren't interested in any of that then you can just relax and enjoy watching Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, and the rest of the cast.
Hundreds of years later Troy was still remembered in Homer's time because it was a clash between two great civilizations which went to war and destroyed themselves.