By a narrow margin, succeeds as an epic

Rating: Null/10 (9 June 2004)

Haven't read Homer's Iliad. In fact, didn't know of its existence until the trailer for Troy came out a few months back. From the trailer alone, I thought this was another epic worth watching. I had to do a little research on Troy as neither the Iliad nor Greek mythology was ever taught as part of our curriculum, unlike in other colleges. Of course, it was all worth the researching and waiting when this film finally came out and I have to say I deeply regret that fact that it was not part of our English curriculum.
I must say, after being awed by the hugely triumphant Lord of the Rings trilogy, I was expecting more movies of that genre would come out... the ancient and epic type... In fact, I was highly anticipating yet another epic adventure to come out, it was just only a matter of a few months I said. And Troy was born.
I had no detailed prior knowledge of the story to which I could compare the movie as it unfolds so I guess the only benchmark to which I could consciously compare it from time to time while watching was the recent LOTR. True enough, there were a lot of similarities and I have to say at least they attempted to duplicate, if not rival, those pioneered by the LOTR such as the massive CGI army, the long and sweeping camera shots and angles, the elaborate costume, armour, and set designs, etc. There was not much WOW factor involved but it was good to see such feats again even for the nth time. While it lacked the more expansive camera sweeps and inherent thrill by the LOTR, it stood on its own. It was rather decent, neatly done, and believable. After all, you could not beat down the master, not for the next 5 to 10 years perhaps. That I have accepted. Aside from these few instances of forced comparison between the two epics however, the rest were original for Troy.
Well almost, except for Paris portrayed by Orlando Bloom. This boy simply does not know how to act well. He has a limited range of emotion and facial expressions that he keeps on repeating over and over again. Worst, he was given a bow and an arrow reminiscent of his Legolas days. Bad, bad, bad. But he did portray the cowardice and humiliation of Paris rather well, if it were the intended effect in the first place. I guess he didn't have to act them out with much effort for they were the actor's default expressions.
Oh yes, the scene stealer they say was Peter O'Toole. He did great alright, but it is without a doubt equally shared by Brad Pitt as Achilles. Although they didn't have to keep reminding the audience that he was the greatest warrior ever. They just have to show it and we'll pick it up if the portrayal was good. Fortunately, both the verbal reminder and the portrayal were top notch so I had not much problem about that. In fact, Brad Pitt imbued the character with the grace, skill, and action befitting a god-human warrior. This proves that Brad Pitt also has a place in action-adventure, not just dramas. Indeed, he displays remarkable acting range. He should however work on his accent though, thick tongue he got there.
I was particularly interested also on the actress who would play Helen especially so that her beauty was purportedly the cause of this great war. She was only briefly shown during the trailers and she looked beautiful. She still is beautiful now that I've seen the film in its entirety but that's just it. No uniqueness and greatness to her beauty. You could easily forget her face. In fact, she's just pretty. They got one of the best looking actor but they got lazy looking for a one-of-a-kind Helen.
Eric Bana as Hector was a big surprise for me. I did not expect he can also deliver such nifty performance. He was believably a really good father and son in the story, fitting the character very well. His facial expression when he unknowingly killed Achilles' cousin (or lover) thinking it was Achilles says and captures it all.
There's one avenue this film excels over LOTR: it's the individual fights. A lot of well-thought, well-prepared, and well-executed choreography are evident here, which I complained to be lacking in LOTR. I guess you just could not have it all eh. Particularly, the best scene belongs to the grand one-on-one fight between Hector and Achilles. Witness how Achilles uses his shield and the trademark "death leap". The most emotionally-charged scene is when King Priam secretly met with Achilles begging for his son's body. Peter gave a perfect effortless performance on this one and was well reciprocated by his younger colleague Brad.
In conclusion, the film relentlessly succeeds in being an epic adventure. There were no gods as one might expect but that was OK. I respect their decision so long as the film can still stand on its own. Rightfully it does. This is wrongfully rated as R18; a PG13 would have been more apt. Finally, as this film was very costly to make, I hope it will earn reasonably at the box office because it faces tough competition with other big films slated to be released this summer like Van Helsing, Shrek 2, and Harry Potter. A film as worthwhile as this, I just do not wish to lose financially. If you have money enough for just one movie, between Harry Potter 3 and this one, you can wait for the vcd or DVD of the former.