A few pluses, a lot of minuses

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2004)

Do blue-eyed flaxen-haired bronzed Brad Pritt and Diane Kruger really resemble Greeks, ancient or otherwise? Can you really thrust a sword or a spear through pieces of armor plate, front and back? Did Troy really look like this place? You could go on, and in fairness there are a lot of questions about the historical basis of the Iliad on which this is very loosely based. How possible would it have been in Greece, for example, with its denuded hillsides (munched by goats) to find enough wood to build 1000 ships? But back to the film. I agree with those who say Brad Pitt was the wrong person to cast as Achilles, while Peter O'Toole puts in a good performance but which in no way compensates. I also had misgivings about Orlando Bloom. Most of the other actors are adequate, nothing more. The realism of the battle scenes varies a lot, sometimes good, sometimes ridiculous. Ditto for the accompanying sound effects. At times the film manages to resurrect fleetingly the feel of historical epics of the past ("Ben Hur", "Cleopatra" etc), and that is one of the pluses. Another plus is that some people might be inspired to investigate the classics and/or ancient Greek history. But overall there are just too many faults and too much lacking. 5/10.