Fine performances by Peter O'Toole and Brad Pitt

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2010)

This movie was better than I had expected. It works well as an action film, but it also has some convincing moments of genuine human feeling. The meeting between King Priam, played by Peter O'Toole, and Achilles, played by Brad Pitt, is touching. I just finished reading a fine novel based on that incident -- "Ransom" by David Malouf -- and it was easy to picture O'Toole as the grief-stricken king.
Also, the one-on-one confrontation between the Greek king Menelaus and the Trojan prince Paris, played by Orlando Bloom, was refreshing because it portrayed Paris as a coward. This was true to the legends about Paris, but I was surprised it made it into the movie.
My recollection is that "Troy" was treated pretty harshly by the critics when it was first released. I don't understand why.