Less than Adequate.

Rating: 3/10 (1 May 2006)

** Minor Spoilers if you haven't read the literature **
I have set about reading a fair majority of reviews on this movie and have a few things to say.
For one, so far as i'm concerned, this movie is not based on the Iliad. This is based on a Greek war on Troy, something with historic basis and uses the Iliad's characters.
I by no means qualify myself as a History buff, with only 2 years of classics under my belt, but the story is so far off, it is almost impossible to recognise. Some pretty key people die, who just shouldn't have, in fact ... most of the villains who die shouldn't have, and that is just too much to stomach.
Now, Brad Pitt. I could not have thought of a better person for the role, physically Brad Pitt looks utterly perfect, but I was simply not impressed by the quality of his acting in this piece. It can pretty much be summed up by his "emotions" during the scene when he is informed of Patroclus' demise. It is so poor it physically makes me cringe to just watch it.
The one, and probably only, saving grace of this movie is Eric Bana. He does the part of Hector flawlessly, looks the part and emotes correctly, unlike his Greek counterpart. Bana is nicely paired with Orlando Bloom which creates the correct contrast between the two very different characters.
I am particularly shocked by the complete lack of Honor shown by so many people in this movie, for a movie supposedly based on Epic Literature where honour is paramount, I was shocked to see Agammemnon, Hector and several others completely ignore it. I was baffled ... they certainly were not Homeric heroes.
For those who say that the various 'edits' of Homer's masterpiece were necessary for the conversion to the silver screen I have to ask, where were the Gods? What could be more spectacular and Hollywood than a group of swanky Gods, certainly the complete absence of them (and in turn they do not even mention the literary reason for the war) pushes this yet further away from the literature it is supposedly based on.
To finish, on a film note, I actually do not like the Zoom shots used in this movie. They felt very "Blaire Witch Project" and did not really fit with the flow of the movie - The fights always seemed to end up on completely stable shots. This effect can be beneficial - ergo Serenity - but here it just is not used correctly.
3/10. Sorry, I am willing to accept this as a movie and ignore the literature, but even then its just not that good.