Brad Pitt miscast

Rating: Null/10 (19 May 2004)

I slogged through over two hours of this movie. It is far inferior to Kubrick's Spartacus. The homo erotic aspects to the story were whitewashed as only Hollywood knows how. The central relationship between Achilles became a cousin/cousin relationship and this enormously reduced the movie's potency for me. The music by James Horner seemed to plagiarize symphonic music by both Shostakovitch and Rachmaninov. Brad Pitt proves that his skill lies in contemporary roles rather than classical roles like this. He vies with the Wooden Horse and is upstaged by it! Perhaps a wooden Oscar? The supporting cast only served to show up the younger stars perhaps Orlando Bloom coming off slightly better than Eric Bana. Good performances though brief from Julie Christie and Peter O Toole who will probably get a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Brian Cox plays pure evil in a perfectly fitting role. He has a great acting range. The movie is lacking in tension and the CGI are laid on heavily with a trowel to cover the cracks in the storyline. For a comparison see Becket and The Lion in Winter....both with O Toole or watch Spartacus incredible even though made in 1960.