A surprisingly well-balanced movie about the atrocity of war

Rating: Null/10 (13 May 2004)

With "Troy`, German director Wolfgang Petersen is entering Hollywood' s Olympus. After delivering American oriented action stuff like `Air Force One', Peterson shows convincingly that he is still able to make ambitious movies. The fall of legendary Troy is a well known classical tale, which Peterson modified for dramatic sake. His intention was not to stay true to Homer, but to defoliate an epic of intricate political complexity. He neither shows the ancient Gods in persona, nor does he present Achilles as invulnerable. He rather shows different groups of interest, fighting to follow their goals. It all starts with the abduction of Helen. Paris, Prince of Troy, falls in love with the wife of Menelaos, king of Sparta, who doesn't hesitate to leave her belligerent husband. This triggers a chain of events, not even the most considerate heads of both parties can stop. On the one hand there is Hector, Paris' brother, who is trying to tame the waves of excitement, on the other there is Odysseus, who is seeing through Agamemnons' motives of using his brother Menelaos' disgrace for his own plans of conquest. Achilles on the other hand is following his own agenda. Yet, intrigues, chance and wrong decisions soon lead to disaster. A good ensemble is adding to the depth of the movie. Above all, Eric Bana as Hector and Peter O'Toole as King of Troy provide an impressive performance, while Brad Pitt seems as inaccessible as the role of the outsider demands. Even though Petersen takes some historical liberties in telling the story of Troy, the film itself works out fine and catches the audience's attention for nearly three hours while giving them food for thought.
I would give it an 8 out of 10