The Epic Tale of Bronzed-God Pitt (minor SPOILERS)

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2004)

Where do I start? Do I start with all the short skirts and the burnished bodies (and that's just the men)? Do I start with a bland Helen that doesn't really look like she would launch a thousand ships? Do I start with the fact that the film, loosely based on the Iliad, proves to be very loosely based on the Iliad? Let's start out with the fact that Iliad-lovers could start to picket this film with all the liberties that it had taken with Homer's great epic. For one, people who shouldn't die end up dying, while some people who were killed off in Homer's opus live on. The story unfolded quite well, although parts of it were a bit dragging. The best thing for me, however, was taking out all the gods and goddesses. Granted that the immortal bickering was the majority of the fun of things but a war movie-cum-heroic epic seems better off this time without immortals playing the soldiers like chess pieces (anyone remember the wonderfully cheesy Clash of the Titans? I loved that movie, though). Troy now takes on the flavor of a historical--albeit overly dramatic--account that was later added mythological spice by Homer.
Orlando Bloom fan that I am, I was quite apprehensive that he was playing the spineless Paris; however, he has been able to create more depth for the character in that there was a realization, and a transformation. Depth was also created for Brad Pitt's Achilles' character, for which I have conflicting emotions. He doesn't really come out as particularly heroic, just vaguely troubled. And quite promiscuous, too. Pitt plays Achilles with what seems to be a gnawing sense of insecurity that he is trying to hide behind the fame and glory of war. It doesn't really hide the fact, though, that Brad Pitt seems to be bigger than Achilles, at least in this movie--we cannot get over that this is Brad-bronzed-god-Pitt and his character seems to suffer for it. This begs the question though--who else could have played the greatest Greek warrior if not Brad Pitt, and held his own in this movie? A lesser actor (icon) would probably have been eaten alive by the others in the cast.
The great O'Toole portrays Priam quite well and one of the best scenes in the entire movie is when he implores Achilles to return the beaten body of his son. ("Ah Brad, that there's what we call acting.") Sean Bean also turns in a solid performance as the level-headed and smooth-talking Odysseus--they should shoot the Odyssey with him, it would be quite interesting. Brian Cox is rightly menacing and calculating as Agamemnon. My favorite character in the Iliad, though, remains my favorite character here--Hector, Prince of Troy. Eric Bana is subtly effective as the doomed prince, conveying a stalwart nobility and honor that seems to be lacking from most other characters yet also being fearful of his impending battle with Achilles.
It is quite entertaining--there are sword- and spear-fights, there are great balls of fire, there are love scenes, and the wondrous Horse. The mano-a-mano fight scene between Hector and Achilles is worth re-watching. There is requisite action and drama, there are pretty girls and prettier guys. There is a clash of cultures--the conquering Greeks with their brash king and their shining, temperamental hero Achilles; and the more laid-back Trojans, with their god-fearing king and their pensive hero Hector. And, yes, there is a lot of man-kissing and hugging going around. I am especially touched by the portrayal of the brothers Hector and Paris--which is nonexistent in the Iliad because there they were not brought up together. Paris plays the perfect bumbling little brother foil to Hector's noble older brother; and although his little brother has helped launch the war that will bring their doom Hector, after an initial fit, stands resolutely by his side, until the death. His unfaltering love for country and family are part of what brings about Paris' own transformation; and ultimately seals his fate as the most admirable character in the movie (as he was, IMHO, in the Iliad).
There is an inherent problem in the production, though. I cannot place my finger on it--It may be the script, vacillating between being stirring and dragging. It may be that there was no sense of pathos, really, and no stirring emotion brought about by war and killing--but then that could just be desensitized me talking. It may be a lack of imagination in the filmmakers that is visible at times.
In any case, it's regulation Hollywood summer fare. There is something to be said about the views on war, though: the movie suggests a permeating melancholia about war--how war is sometimes waged on the pretext of something other than the actual reason (note that Helen's abduction merely gives the power-hungry Agamemnon his chance to sack Troy), how families are affected by war (cut to the haunting face of Saffron Burrows' Andromache), and how the greatest soldiers are sometimes the most troubled. There are also some points on religion, and Achilles' hubris. It may be a trying-hard epic mooching off an actual epic, a mean feat of over-acting by Brad Pitt, and quite dull in some parts; but it is quite a bit more than just a great movie for the summer. I suggest (for the girls especially) watching it twice--the first to ogle at Brad, Orli, Eric, Sean, etc., and the second to actually watch the film. Both instances would be quite popcorn-worthy.