Re: Troy

[Tre]

Hi Nick:I saw Troy, but since I am very familiar with the Iliad, all I can say is Peterson has some kinda hubris to think he could rewrite Homer :-)It was a good, but not a classically good film, say like Lawrence of Arabia. It's never boring over it's nearly three hour run.Pitt is a good, but not great, actor. His performance wavers. It is hard to get past Pitt's nice guy persona. He lacks the edge and acting chops of a Russell Crowe. But for Pitt, this was a commendable effort and I know I tend to be picky about such things. Bana is the best of the three leads and gives a solid performance as Hektor and Bloome is fine in a role that is not the best one in the Iliad. The women were shall we say, as in the male roles, casted as eye candy with no meat to their roles at all. There is no reason to believe Helen of Troy was the most beautiful and most sought after woman in Greece, that's for sure. I admit to being rather annoyed at the portrayal of Patroclus as Akilles younger cousin. Granted, while in the Iliad there are no specific homoerotic overtones, that they were too alarmed to have close male friends is really weak and detracts from the drama of the piece.The fight scenes were fine - Pitt did excel in trying to move in such a way as to make Achilles unique and like no other warrior, but I'd have wounded his legs below the knees easily I suspect Peterson has intentions of doing the Odyssey as well in having you know who narrate the piece.Overall definitely worth seeing, but don't take it as a serious attempt to do the actual Iliad. The Iliad without the Gods is well, not the Iliad.Regards,Tre

[marcus]

OK, OK, OK... I was going to hold off mentioning this, but I just have to - can't keep it bottled up any longer...My biggest problem with the film, which really got to me, was nothing to do with the acting, the casting, the changing of the story, yadda yadda yadda; but...did anyone else notice that, in the film, the sun rose in the west? There were two specific sun-rises in the film, and each time they showed the sun rising over the sea. Now, as they had already shown a map of the Aegean, and placed Troy where Schliemann found it, the only water is to the north and the west. And judging by the way the Greek ships arrived and beached the sun *definitely* rose in the west.Oh, it was annoying!All the bestMarcus

[Tre]

There were even more annoying things - like how Achilles died. What about his special armor, what about, about...oh well, it's Hollywood...

[beausefaless]

Due to my busy schedule at this time of the year I'll have to wait for the DVD. I liked the trailers but are all of you saying there was absolutely nothing on Cassandra & Apollo??? Was there no part for Odysseus? If there was and they call him Ulysses I'll barf!

[Tre]

Hello Andrew:The "Sing to me o' muse, of the man of twists and turns, who was driven time and again off course after pludering the hallowed halls of Troy" which is easier for me to remember than spell his name :-)narrates the piece and gets Achilles to do Agamenon's bidding. And no Cassandra. They sorta play with the Breseis character quite a bit to my displeasure, but they had to give Achilles a female love interest if you know what I mean.Regards,Tre

[beausefaless]

Thank you Tre,That was beautiful, I will turn that into a ditty to help make my job of this(cleaning my horse stalls)day more bearable.Regards,Andrew

[jan]

I have not seen the film yet, but I read an article by the screenwriter in Creative Screenwriting magazine. It is quite interesting to read his commentary about trying to make it interesting for today's contemporary viewers, mostly teenagers and college students, so I have an idea of his mindset.I also watched all the t.v. shows on history channel, a&e, and discover channel pertaining to the excavation of Troy to prove that it really existed.I am disappointed to learn that the making of the shield for Achilles is omitted as that is great drama. I think that enough of the movie was shown in the a & e presentation last night to give me the gist of the movie. I like Brad Pitt for his taking muscle training to develop his biceps and pecs.Hopefully, the moving moment is not between Peter O'Toole and Brad Pitts as described. I hate to think that anything could ever top Hector and Achille's major fight! At least the t.v. shows were faithful to the story,including the Trojan horse study done on Discover. Trying to prove whether it was myth or fact also.And on that note, I just picked up A.B. Bosworth's book on Fact and Fiction on ATG today also. Cramming a lot of ATG into my cranium as I just finished reading Ian Worthington's God or Man study.

[marcus]

Odysseus was there, using his Greek name, too. He was played by Sean Bean (with a slightly unflattering hairdo, too)... hence young Sean still being alive at the end of the movie. He was also allowed to use his normal, Yorkshire accent, rather than adopting a faux-plummy accent that diluted his performance in Goldeneye (and, indeed, The Lord of the Rings)... allowed his acting ability to come through.Top marks to Tre for the quotation! :-)All the bestMarcus

[marcus]

Hi Jan,If I had to choose between the Priam/Achilles interplay and the Achilles/Hektor duel, then you can take solace in the fact that I choose the duel. The Priam/Achilles meeting was fine, but I couldn't help wishing for a bit more emotion in the whole thing (Come on, O'Toole, you're a greater actor than that!).(Having said that, I saw the infamous O'Toole Macbeth back in... whatever year it was... and he proved that he could be truly terrible at times)All the bestMarcus

[Nicator]

Agreed, he was also terrible in "The Night of the Generals"...But fantastic in "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The Lion of Winter". I guess it's safe to say he's a bit inconsistant.later Nicator

[EAC]

This is what I wrote at another forum...What a half-assed attempt to an epic! I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but it was an utter and complete dissapointment.The sheer cheesyness is amazing! Apart from taking too many liberties with the screenplay, ommiting really serious things from the Iliad, it lacks depth on every front.The acting is below on average, except for Eric Bana (Hector) who too isn't at his best and Peter O'Toole who is much more genuine than the rest. The music is TERRIBLE! I mean, cheesy 80's synthesizer crap, mixed with Indiana Jones, on a movie that screams for a Hans Zimmer-esque soundtrack. (I was again surprised since James Horner has done some excellent scores in the past-Legends of the Fall and Enemy of the Gates come to mind).It seems they are rushing to tell as much of the story as possible, and cram it into a three hour movie, when what they should have done is make a trilogy (a la Lord of The Rings).The guy who plays Agamemnon is also a bit over the top in his acting-portraying the character as too much of a warmongering greed-infested monarch. The battle cry he lets loose at one of the battles is a movie classic. It had me rolling on the floor for at least two minutes! (The rest of the theater too-simply ridiculous!)Brad Pitt is just a pretty face in armor. He completely lacks emotion and fails to protray the heroic aspect Achilles. His interpretation calls for a homocidal maniac who even at the death of his comrade (not cousin), Patroklos is simply pissed. (Achilles' grief and mourning of his friend is a monumental aspect of the Iliad). Orlando Bloom portrays the pussy-character of Paris quite well. I'm not sure how much of that was intentional.In short, it's just eye-candy (and very good at that either). There's a lot of "grit" missing, and it could never-ever compare to The Gladiator. It just has this fake feeling, a shiny-Hollywood overcoat that drains all of the emotion depth a movie like this should have.I give it 2 stars out of 5.P.S.: Sean Bean is actually quite suited to play Odysseus, and his performance is good. (Character doesn't call for any great scenes in the movie)P.S.2: There are some pretty good swordfights and duels in the movie which although are not historically correct (opponents would stand at a distance and threw spears at eachother while remaining still, before engaging with the sword) are very entertaining. Look for Achille's signa

[jan]

I decided to see the movie after the great discussion, so forewarned is forearmed. I did miss the making of the shield, but since the entire plot is so twisted and turned, realizing that this is not a remake of the Iliad, I got a grip, and let the movie play itself out. It did remind me of Adele Geras's children's book when the horses are released from the stables at the finish of the film.I saw some resemblance to her great book.I do believe that Peter O'Toole will get an Oscar nomination for his performance, and if not, then the academy is crazy! He should as he is the most believable and credible performer in the ensemble.I like Brad Pitts as Achilles, and agree with Nicator that he could have made a great Alexander.Diane Kruger has an interview in the May 12 issue of Paris Match. She is strikingly beautiful as the daughter of Zeus, but she has no real dramatic role in this glossy movie.All in all, Oscar Petersen gives us great close-ups, interesting costumes, and unusually beautiful set designs. I noticed the sunset that Marcus had mentioned, but I don't know east from west in that movie so it didn't really bother me. I was too smitten with Pitt's muscular arms and leaps when striking down an opponent.

[amyntoros]

Regarding the musical score, take a look at:http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Mov ... Apparently, the score was originally written by Gabriel Yared and Horner's music was a late replacement! It does make you wonder what they were thinking.Regards,Linda Ann