The summers biggest... disappointment?

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2004)

TROY (2004) *** Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson, Sean Bean
There are movies of epic proportion, and there are epics; this movie tries to be a movie of epic proportion based on Homers epic  The Iliad. Sadly it fails.
Certainly its eye-catching, there's plenty to look at and lots going on, but when you cut through the glitz, when you look for the acting', TROY runs out of steam.
Peter O'Toole, though brave to take on such a role at his age, delivers a performance worthy of a television soap opera, not a massive budget `block-buster'. His performance alone damages the film almost beyond redemption. Not since Jeremy Irons, in his role as Profion in `Dungeons & Dragons (2000' has such over-acting been forced on a paying audience. Then there's Brian Cox, usually a quality actor in every role I've seen him in, yet the megalomaniacal delivery of his role as Agamemnon is even a bit too over-the-top for such a famous sociopath.
One of the questions I found myself asking, even after leaving the movie, was this `Can Orlando Bloom actually play a role other than Legolas? And if so, when is he going to start?
Kudos go out to Brendan Gleeson who gives a solid performance and demonstrates his versatility in yet another role. Sean Bean continues to demonstrate why he's in such high demand, but the real star of this movie is Eric Bana. Relatively unknown (at least in North America) prior to his role in `Hulk (2003)', Bana steals the show with his performance as Hector.

Brad Pitt, typically, is spot on with his performance, and should not be discounted as the Lead. His solid portrayal of the chaotic Achilles makes up, at least in part, for the shortcomings of others.
The fight choreography is spectacular, the score is breathtaking and the costuming and props are stunning. It's quite likely they'll get Oscar nods in these areas and stand a good chance at winning. Sadly, however, I'm sure the academy will consider O'Toole for a nomination just because he's been in the game so long. The prospect of that reviles me and if he were to actually win an academy award, where Ian McKellen failed to garner one for his role in `Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001)', my faith in the entire voting process for the Oscars would collapse once and for all.
Of course I'm sure the film will take in massive box office receipts and won't disappoint many, but given the hype I was expecting a lot more. At least the DVD will allow you skip over the many, many skippable sections.

The only way you could get me to see this film again, in a non-matinee/cheap day setting, would be to sneak me into the theatre in a giant wooden horse.