Biggest letdown since Phantom Menace

Rating: 6/10 (24 May 2004)

I went to see Troy with several expectations. First, it would better than the USA movie "Helen of Troy" of 2003. Better fight scenes, better dialogue, more truthful to the original story, and better cinematography. Second, Troy would be as complete in its characters as Peter Jackson's LOTR movies. Third, a great musical score. Fourth, a complete movie and not just a sequence of fight scenes.
My last two expectations were fulfilled. The musical score was perfect; orchestral - classical feel with grandeur and drama. The movie flowed well and had enough dialogue and character development to balance out the blood, gore, and special effects.
My first two expectations were unfulfilled. The movie was very unfaithful to the original story by Homer. Any adaption from literature must leave out stuff to save time and because some things cannot be shown, but only read. This I understand. I also understand if scenes are shortened, or shown out of sequence in order to aid the audience. But what I cannot fathom is why so much of the movie was very different from the original tale. The death of Menelaus on the 2nd day of battle? Achilles inside the Trojan Horse? Four arrows by Paris to kill Achilles instead of one? The absence of Cassandra and Hecuba, the two most important female characters in the story after Helen. And of course, the absence of any gods and goddesses to meddle with people's minds and hearts. Instead the movie became a vehicle for Brad Pitt, his body, his athleticism, and his plain acting. The movie should have been called Achilles instead of Troy. The emphasis of the story also changed, from the original grand political soap opera caused by one bad romance (Helen - Paris); to a tale of two ill-fated romances (Achilles - Brises and Hector - Andromache) and one unfinished romance (Helen - Paris).

Last, I was highly disgusted by the casting. Outside of Hector, everyone looked AND sounded like northern Europeans. This tale happened in the Mediterranean, yet I see British Bean as Odysseus, the German Kruger as Helen, Irish O'Toole as Priam, etc. What the hell? I didn't expect Troy to be as authentic as "The Passion" with all the actors learning Greek. But they could have taken a look at Hunt for Red October. Everyone on the Russian sub, including Sean Connery and Sam Neill attemped Russian accents. Get rid of Pitt, O'Toole, Bean, Bloom, and everyone else, and hire Greek and Turkish actors. Tcheky Karyo would have made a great King Priam, and he is Turkish, which is where Troy sits.
I give it 5 out of 10 stars; 1 for the music, 1 for the Hector-Achilles fight scene, 1 for the minimal gore to complement the great action sequences, and 2 for the great cinematography. Everything else was a waste.