movie review - Troy
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
I ran a horrible risk after seeing this movie. I told my brother that I'd been to see it. This was a risk because he holds a Masters degree in Classics, which means he studied stuff like Homer's work in quite some details. And he was quite prepared to go to some length to point out where Hollywood had taken liberties with the real story.
And apparently, those liberties were vast. As in, that young blonde fellow wasn't Achilles cousin....
But on to the movie itself. I liked it, for the most part. Brendan Gleesen is becoming one of my favourite actors, and if there's any justice, Eric Bana (who I first got to know while living in Australia) is destined for greatness. And Peter O'toole! With a supporting cast like this, it doesn't matter that Brad Pitt isn't in the least a Greek Warrior, or that they've modernised the tail all out of recognition (e.g. the Greek King in the original is duty-bound to engage in the war, not some Saddam-Hussain-esque despot). When O'toole, for instance, pleads for the return of his son's body, you could believe that it's really Pitt crying over the corpse afterwards, not his character. O'toole is just that good (hopefully Pitt noticed; I'm hard on the guy, and admit that he's done a great job in some roles, but c'mon!).
The females I saw this with (who all hate being named on this web site, though I can't understand it, especially with my penchant for mis-spelling names all out of recognition) thought that the scenes with warriors staring soulfully into sunsets were a little much. I put this down to Patersen's sense of the conflicted male. Other than that: a bit long, but it was a ten year war!
Recommended.