an undivine tale of brotherly love and a warrior's spite for being born

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2005)

i have no doubt this is probably the last review you want to hear. the movie was excellent, the only reason it got a 9 is for a few misplaced actors, mainly just brian cox, but beyond that i found this to be story of the power of man without the gods' help. in the iliad there (in my opinion) dependence on the gods' for their strength (even in Achilles) was a sad look on mankind. that the gods do this and help here. if that is what you are looking for i am assuming that there is a 50's or 60's version that is just waiting for your good review. if you desire the limits of man vs faith vs man's compassion then this is it. every other actor is brilliant, the soundtrack goes perfect (except the end credits song, turn off the DVD player as soon as it is over god help me i wanted to tear off my ears for betraying me in accepting such backstreet boyz, i am going to sing off cue music to fall into my memory bank) i will apologize for the next couple of lines to any one who disagrees, but the detail the iliad gives characters in moments of rage and passion; it is lacking, i need those small details to come from human decisions from compassion, from love, not from the "gods" when one has faith, even though god has not spoken to them that is what faith is. if anything when you watch this movie base it on strength of our strength. and it is all about the eyes, they show the hate, guilt, rage without the rabbling of redundancy and the conclusions of speeches that have been explained lines before. to all that wanted the story to be told as the epic poem told it, look at what films did to Shakespeare when this was tried Hamlet 2000, Romeo and Juliet 1996, then add 8 more hours to involve every character with every background past. this was short, sweet, and to the point. without giving away spoilers, i would describe odysseus (in the movie) as the king of kings, pay attention to his lines, his persuasion, his battlefield manner. any who this is one's opinion among the "experts of films and plays"
"maybe your right, maybe i like to just swing my sword" Gutts, Berserk