A fair effort

Rating: 8/10 (31 January 2009)

Assorted thoughts, in no particular order:
1. The main music motif sounds as if it is lifted from the Stargate movie.
2. Brad Pitt is so buff I nearly found myself fancying him (but not quite).
3. Pitt showed me, for the first time, that he is an actor who can actually act: his Achilles is very 3 dimensional.
4. Peter O'Toole is outstanding.
5. The Achilles/Hector fight is one of the best fights of its kind ever put on film.
6. The film overall is a bit overlong.
7. Achilles' first kill is jaw-droppingly unexpected.
8. Orlando Bloom's Paris is a pain in the neck throughout.
9. Takes some liberties with the story as enshrined in legend (I thought Troy was supposed to be under siege for 10 years? They're there for about a month in this).
10. Where did the Greeks get provisions for their huge numbers?
11. Overall, a superior swords and sandals epic.