Best big budgeted movie of the year so far

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2004)

Well, Troy is a very good movie. Possibly it's not an absolutely great masterpiece, but I think it was the best film what I have seen this year. It's a great epic but not exactly Gomer's epic. The screenwriters have changed changed many things but all of them were reasonable changes. This is war of heroes, not of the gods. not of gods. Wolfgang Petersen brought to the movie his point of view of war. War without right and guilty sides but war with kings-warmongers and ordinary soldiers who die on the battlefield. Whatever reason for it, war is absolutely horrible thing. And the Helen is just a cause (like it happens in many modern conflicts). Obviously many people were disappointed with Petersen's view of Homer's masterpiece but his Troy is reasonably adopted for modern viewer and much more realistic as an ancient war. That's quite memorable and unusual for Hollywood that Troy is almost free from clichéd stereotypes and dramatic elements which we can see practically in any Hollywood's product.
I heard that many people were complaining about acting but I really can't understand them. It was very good, particularly for such a large summer movie. Whatever people say there are no miscasts and all the actors did a good job creating memorable characters. Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, and Orlando Bloom are good as Achilles, Hector and Paris respectively. The first one is so much impressive as the greatest hero of all time (obviously he had to work so hard to reach an agreement with his character) and at the same time he is only a human. Eric Bana finally delivered the best performance of his acting career (though I don't think that means too much) as Hector, a real hero of this war, who only wants to protect his homeland and family from invaders, the strongest and most likable movie character. Among the supporting characters worth to mention excellent performances of Peter O'Toole (Priam) and Sean Bean (Odysseus). What about Helen can ask you? She's not the point. The point here is a cold reality of war, it's senseless and absurdity, a courage of people who become heroes. Finally all that is reinforced with terrific, exceptionally wise and memorable dialogs (thanks to writers and everyone involved). The battle scenes as all above mentioned are excellently shot and performed, dynamic and realistic.
Overall, an excellent epic movie, wrongly under-appreciated by movie critics, which instantly must become a classic. I also want to notice that practically all people who dislike Troy were complaining not about movie itself but about changes in immortal Homer's story. First of all it was just inspired by the poem and was created for us, not for Homer's contemporaries and Peterson's view deserves all the credits. I hardly can believe that all these people wanted to see the gods playing in dirty games with human fates as a part of the story.
My rating - 8,8 out of 10. Between A- and A. Excellent piece of film-making all the way.
Sorry for my bad English.