Modern look at the Classics: clumsy, rugged yet grand.

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2004)

Like the sacrificial ox burning to honor ancestors, TROY pays significant homage to the epics that have come before. For a 21st Century Hollywood Machine production on one of the Classics, and taking into account how LORD OF THE RINGS totally spoiled us when it comes to such adaptations, TROY doesn't fare too poorly. Perhaps a little clumsy and rugged at times, especially in the editing, but the well-done casting is able to polish a bit of grandeur onto the epic.
Wolfgang Petersen, along with screenwriter David Benioff, present not only a digestible rendition of Homer's poem crafted for the youth of today, but also craft the film as being historical fiction. Gone are the gods' roles and involvement and even Achilles' supernatural origins are obtusely dismissed. Brad Pitt's sculpted Greek form, however, puts him as close to gods as anyone on this mortal plane as his legion of worshippers will attest to.
TROY definitely slants to tale to show favor for the film's namesake kingdom. Peter O'Toole, in a much-needed award-winning role, plays Priam with benevolence and wisdom although with perhaps a little too much naiveté when it comes to the gods as opposed to the always- enjoyable Brian Cox's warmongering Agamemnon. Eric Bana's Hector is a warrior family man while Pitt's Achilles is indifferent, and even bored with battle and only fights to preserve his name. Even Helen, who leaves her rabble-rousing husband Menelaus for love and sanctuary in Troy, comes across as being innocent. Only Odysseus, skillfully acted by Sean Bean, comes across as a Greek who knows his place and station and merely wishes to survive. And if surviving means constructing a horse from the boat's lumber, so be it. After all, he has a date with Sersei and the Cyclops later on.
Of course the ultimate question is will TROY live on in eternity like Achilles so desperately sought after or will it be dismissed like the setting sun over the Aegean sea?