Troy, Best Comedy of the Summer

Rating: Null/10 (17 May 2004)

Having recently read the Fagles translation of the Iliad, seeing the Hollywood translation was really quite an amusing experience. I have to say, I laughed so hard I almost cried, apologies to those in the audience.
I'd say if you have never read the Iliad, this is a great flick to see; it's pretty, glossy, plastic, popular entertainment in a true bread and circus fashion. If you've read the book, I think it may still be a great movie to see, at least in the context of a parody on a great piece of literature.
I'm still not sure why the gods were left out. It seems to me that one of Achilles most powerful decisions, choosing a path that he knows will lead to his own death but with glory (ordained by the gods) over a path that will lead him home to a happy long life without glory, only had certainty with the presence of the gods. Without the gods, and without that conscious decision, Achilles loses his own divinity, and much of the force of the story is lost. The gods were the spirit of that time, they commented on humanities foibles, and were the parody of us, and without them the story remains empty.