Fine entertainment - purists might have some issues,

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2008)

I happen to be quite fond of Greek mythology. Since I was a kid, I used to enjoy immensely the "stories of gods and heroes", as my book labeled them. Building on that, watching this movie I often found myself thinking : No, the war of Troy was not a blitzkrieg. Yes, Patroclus was Achilles' "young protégé", with all that this implies in the culture of the time, not his cousin. Yes, gods and divine messengers are overwhelmingly present in the Iliad, while they are nowhere to be found in this movie. Yes, ancient Greek, Persian and Roman cultures and histories seem to be mixed here in a colorful pastiche in pure Hollywood fashion. And so on.
I forgot to mention that maybe Greek temples have been temples at some point before being ruins, that Homer would have worked a lot more on the oh-so-corny dialogs that Paris and Helen are forced to utter in this movie, and that it is kind of childish to *always* make the bad guys utterly ugly, as well.
That being said, I enjoyed this movie a lot. After all, suspension of disbelief is (or should be, at least) easier to achieve in a fictional story based on another fictional story, than in a "true account"-type of work. And there are a lot of things in this movie that make it easier.
First of all, the cast. I was all prepared to dislike Brad Pitt's Hollywoodized portrayal of Achilles, but you can't help to be entertained by his amazing screen presence, "super-hero" aura (that does not prevent a handful of secret tears on Hector's body) and yes, even the bombastic lines he shouts from the Myrmidons' ship. I won't add a lot of words to the general praise that Eric Bana deservedly received for his charming, well-rounded portrayal of Hector. I will just limit myself to an enthusiastic agreement. Orlando Bloom is just as irritating and childish as he should be in his role as Paris. The ladies - Diane Kruger, Saffron Burrows, Rose Byrne and Julie Christie in a cameo as Achilles' mother Thetis - all do more than good jobs. In particular, I thought that Saffron Burrows stole every scene she was in in her relatively small role as Andromache, her beauty and intensity almost outshining Kruger (that does a very "human" and down-to-Earth Helen). Brian Cox and Brendan Gleeson as Agamemnon and Menelaus respectively, Sean Bean as Odysseus, and especially Peter O'Toole as Priam, all deserve their part of the accolades.
Secondly, the visuals - inaccurate as they may be with respect to techniques and fighting styles, the battles rock, especially the first one on the beach. They succeeded much more that the ones in "300" to involve my attention. And a special mention should go to Achilles' and Hector's duel, very skillfully choreographed and performed.
Thirdly, the costumes and scenarios - once again, fantasy has in more than one case yielded to faithful reconstruction, but one ends up not thinking a lot about it in the jubilation of colours and action.
All in all, I would still go for the great "Odyssey" brought to the TV screen by Dino De Laurentiis in Italy and Europe when my parents were kids. But "Troy" is not bad, looking at it with an open perspective. Not bad at all. Raise your hands, anyone who didn't feel some satisfaction at the moment in which Hector appears in front of Troy's walls to meet his rival? :)