Brad Pitt's Achilles fascinating

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2014)

This is director Wolfgang Petersen's vision of Homer's epic poem of the Greek tragedy after Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) takes Helen (Diane Kruger) home to Troy. Her husband Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) provides his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) the perfect excuse to invade Troy bringing along his champion Achilles (Brad Pitt).
There is a lot to like about this movie. There are big action scenes. Brad Pitt's Achilles is absolutely fascinating. In many ways, the movie is dragged down by all the intrigue and the various other expositions. The movie is hamstrung by Wolfang trying to do a good and proper job explaining this story. It would be much more compelling if it concentrated on one character preferably Brad Pitt's Achilles. Nevertheless it's a grand overstuffed epic more reminiscent of another era.