Could have been great

Rating: 6/10 (14 March 2006)

Troy was well paced, well edited, well written, well directed and for the most part, well acted. What went wrong? The soundtrack and Brad Pitt.
Mr. Pitt does not act, but rather poses his way through this lengthy adaptation of The Iliad, like some cross between a rock star and the vainglorious Achilles. Is this posing,superficiality and transparency supposed to symbolize Achilles' vanity and egotism? How then, do we explain his interest in Perseus, and his ability to inspire warriors in battle more profoundly than the greatest Greek kings? Pitt indulges a grand total of two facial expressions - disinterest and mild annoyance - throughout the entire recounting of Homer's epic detailing the Trojan war. The rest of the actors are quite excellent, making Pitt's flashy performance stand-out like a sore thumb.
Although this is probably a personal peeve, the soundtrack for this film really aggravated me. The score consisted of pseudo-classical meanderings-about a redundant theme - with tempos all too perfectly suited for the various battle scenes etc. My guess is that the music was supposed to heighten the excitement of these scenes. Unfortunately, for me, it only distracted me from them.
All considered, I enjoyed Troy. I think it could have been a much much better film, however, had Brad Pitt been encouraged to use more of his talent and less of his abs and pecs. The film easily would have achieved a rating of 8 or 9 from me had Achilles role been more competently handled - even with the tedious soundtrack.