** / ****
Dir: Wolfgang Petersen
2004 Color English
Rated R for graphic violence and some sexuality/nudity.
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This was like sitting through the entire 10 year siege of Troy. I haven’t suffered this much in a theater seat since that infamous 1997 Brad Pitt movie ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ which felt like I spent seven years in the movie theater. It just felt s-l-o-w. Sure there were some great battle sequences (not nearly as good as the Lord of The Rings ones – not because they weren’t using cool weapons or weird gross warriors, but just the composition and direction of the battle scenes was blah), and some good scenery chewing acting (really there should be an Oscar for this category) by the supporting cast.
Brad Pitt? Well, he is much, much better in contemporary fare like Thelma and Louise, 12 Monkeys, Se7en, and Ocean’s Eleven. He is really ill-suited for epics. Sean Bean was much better as Odysseus than as Boromir, but Orlando Bloom’s Paris is no match for Legolas.
As for the script, I thought it did a nice job of condensing the whole story from Homer’s epic. I just think someone in the studio said “Hey, Lord of the Rings has these big battle sequences that everyone likes – let’s add a whole slew of them”. So we the viewing audience are treated to some poorly-directed battle sequences interrupted by some cheesy dialog.
In the end, Troy could have been so much more. I am sure lots of people will like it. Personally, I wish they would have gotten some better acting from the leads (really only Eric Bana as Hector was good), some better scripted battles, and a few less shots of Peter O’Toole looking shocked and horrified.
Rated R for a few shots of Brad Pitt in the buff and some graphic violence (mainly sword slicing, some shish-kabob-ing, and one nasty throat slice)
163 Minutes – Color- released by Warner Brothers – 2004