Bookworms - Give it a rest already...

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2005)

I need to make something clear to the literati here. For what it's worth, a lot of us have read the Illiad and heck, many even enjoyed it. But - and here's the kicker - THIS IS A MOVIE. A MOVIE. I have every suspicion that portraying the events as they 'actually happened' would make a fine MINISERIES. But of necessity for the medium, they chopped up your beloved epic. And if we *really* wanted to get down to it, the events you so desperately seek aren't found only in the Illiad either. Get over it. To the question of whether this is a great movie - no, it's not a great movie. But it isn't a 'bad' movie either. The central characters are portrayed as they needed to be - flawed and invariably compromised by their actions. Nobody's acting to eat the scenery; things are played in a rather straightforward manner. I respected the effort put into the movie and mostly the fact that the "Bradster" wasn't allowed to run away with things... which the studio would have loved. Yes, the movie has flaws, but it is neither a disaster nor an classic. This movie won't be fondly remembered. But it ought not be completely dismissed either. It warrants a 6-7 out of 10 simply for being able to keep people attentive to the goings on (please oh wise literati, show us *your* even moderately coherent script comprising dozens of characters) and maintaining at least a semblance to the material. If it gets someone turned on to the old Homie's epic (epics actually - The Odyssey and the Illiad), then I say good on ya Wolfgang. I'll also point out that the studio that produced Lord of the Rings *guaranteed* 3 movies. Wolfie and his crew got 1. This is a good effort at making a mainstream movie from exceptionally difficult material. And besides, even Herodotus was skeptical about the stories he heard. So give it a rest, bookworms. Everybody knows movies and books are *VERY* different animals - why don't you lot?