Don't listen: It's great! PART 1

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2004)

All film buffs spend a good deal of time imagining what movies they would make if they only had a chance. For years, I've been thinking up various cinematic adaptations of The Iliad, which is probably my single favorite work of literature. I would not have come up with the same film Wolfgang Petersen has, but I am satisfied with it. In fact, regarding its reception by critics, both amateur and professional, I would say that my expectations were wildly exceeded. I quite loved the film. Yes, it is far from perfect, but it succeeds beautifully. I was especially pleased and impressed with the impeccable casting. I think I'm the only one who feels this way, but there is not a single character, not one, who is miscast.
Yes, that includes Achilles, played by Brad Pitt. Pitt has received all kinds of flak, but he is as good an Achilles as I could imagine. I don't even like Pitt as an actor generally; the only other performance of his I like is in Twelve Monkeys. That, although it served its purpose well, was a performance of twitches. This performance shows more maturity than the actor has ever demonstrated before, and perhaps suggests that he might someday be a truly formidable actor, instead of the pretty boy star he is always dismissed as. You can just feel the violence oozing off of Achilles' body as he charges into battle after deadly battle. Pitt has the presence to make Achilles the lion that he says he is. But it's not only the presence that Pitt has. He also successfully demonstrates Achilles' existential dilemma throughout the picture. I really do think Pitt gives an Oscar-worthy performance.
Eric Bana plays the film's second lead, Hector, and the film works just as well under his performance. Bana is definitely an actor who will figure prominently in the years to come. He was fine in last year's Hulk, but here he doesn't have to compete with a CGI version of himself for dominance. Orlando Bloom, who is also suffering a lot under the critics, is Paris, and, in my opinion, is perfect. His fight scene with Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson, one of my favorite current character actors) is the film's greatest moment. Brian Cox, who never disappoints, is Agamemnon. Peter O'Toole is fine as Priam, and, although I didn't think he was given quite enough to do, his confrontation with Achilles near the end of the film is as powerful as the scene in the Iliad. Rose Byrne plays Briseis, a character who figures more prominently in this film than in the original poem. This works well, and Byrne's scenes with Pitt are excellent. Sean Bean (Boromir from The Lord of the Rings) gave my favorite performance of the film as Odysseus.
Perhaps the only real disappointment is Diane Kruger's Helen. A German, she makes the classic acting blunder of fluctuating in her accent. She seems like an American at first, but then her German accent starts slipping in from time to time. Kruger may have fared better if the screenwriter, David Benioff, had handled Helen's character better. As far as the characters go, Helen is the only one who isn't handled very well in the script. It's easy to see how Helen could get lost in the proceedings; after all, she's a difficult character to figure. Even the Greek authors after Homer had a difficult time dealing with her. They never really understood her role in the story, nor her intentions. Of course, that's not true when you're actually dealing with Homer's two epics; I think Helen comes off as a very strong character in both The Iliad and The Odyssey, and her character is consistent between the two.
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(further comments were destroyed by jackass IMDb editors)