Initially Skeptical, But Now Predicting This Movie Wins Best Picture 2005.

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2004)

I hesitantly went to see this movie because I couldn't find anything else worth seeing right now, and my husband likes action/adventure movies. Having watched most of "Helen of Troy" last October on USA network, I must admit that I feared seeing a regurgitation of a storyline I'd already seen and couldn't believe the playtime of nearly three hours, but I went anyway.
If I had to sum up my review for this movie in a single word, it would be `Wow!' I predict that both Brad Pitt and Eric Bana will be nominated for Oscars next year for this movie, and it will win the Oscar for Best Costumes and Best Picture. I also believe that history will write this epic movie on the scale of "Gone With The Wind," "Cleopatra," "The Ten Commandments" and "Titanic." The only thing that will hurt the `classic' status of this movie is the R rating; though in hindsight, I can't help but think they were aiming for a PG-13 and just missed.
After watching some of the promo interviews, I was kind of nauseated by Brad Pitt's disgust over the fact that the interviewer wanted to talk more about his physique rather than his role in the movie. The phrase `don't hate me because I'm beautiful' just kept popping up in my mind. But after seeing the film, I must say that I believe that this film will be the defining performance of his career. The only performer that `wowed' me more was Eric Bana who played Hector, and I have to give an honorable mention for Peter O'Toole as well. The stunts, the costumes, the settings, the screenplay, the cinematography, the casting (with one exception noted below), and the performances were nearly flawless.
One other group that may be disappointed in this film is the one going to see blood fly and body parts severed. This movie makes Gladiator look pale in comparison, with the exception that the focus is on a well-planned plot and not on showing as much bleeding and carnage as possible. It does have many grand fight scenes and blood *is* shed, but the focus is on plot-necessity, not gratuitous gore. I count this a plus, but I know some will not appreciate this omission. I followed one viewer out of the film whose immediate response was, `That movie was so boring, but I'm sure it will win a lot of awards.' My guess is that she would fall in this aforementioned group of viewers.
I am having a hard time coming up with criticism for this film, though I did find a couple of points. The movie is merely `inspired' by the original poem, `The Iliad.' While I think the `rewrites' are clever and add to the plot of the movie, I'm sure that history buffs will be annoyed by the introduction of `facts, not in evidence.' Also, whomever hired the *very* brightly blue-eyed son of Hector ought to be taken out and shot. Both Hector and his wife have *very* brown eyes, and this baby is much too large to be passed off as a newborn. The kid's cute, but the least they could have done was change the eye color in post-production. If I were Hector, I'd be wondering, `Who's the daddy?' because it definitely couldn't have been him. There's even a greater than 80% chance that the mom isn't his either, if you follow the genetic probabilities.
Historically, I've not been a huge Brad Pitt fan, but I must say that this film is now in my Top-10 list of all time. And, believe it or not, I left wishing they had *added* five minutes to the movie to solidify the fate of one of the main characters but understand that the focus of the movie wouldn't allow for this clarification.