Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9858 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-10-25
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Box set, Dubbed, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Danish, English, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish
• Dubbed in: German
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 156 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
There are many reasons to recommend Troy as a good ol' fashioned Hollywood epic, especially if you've never read Homer's The Iliad. Dispensing with Greek gods altogether, this earnestly massive production (budgeted at upwards of $200 million) will surely offend historians and devoted students of the classics. But there's politics aplenty in the grand-scale war that erupts when Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) makes off with Helen (blandly beautiful German model Diane Kruger), wife of Spartan ruler Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), whose brother, the Greek king Agamemnon (Brian Cox) prods him into enraged retaliation. Greek warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt) brings lethal force to his battles (and there are many of them, mostly impressive), and his Trojan counterpart, Paris's brother Hector (Eric Bana), adds even more buffed-up beefcake to a film so chock-full o' hunks that there's barely room for Peter O'Toole (doing fine work as Trojan king Priam) and even less for Julie Christie, appearing ever-so-briefly as Achilles's melancholy mother. The drama is nearly as arid as the sun-baked locations (Mexico and Malta) that stand in for the Aegean coast, and many critics suggested that Pitt (who valiantly tries to give Achilles some tormented dimension) was simply miscast. But when you consider that Wolfgang Petersen also made The Perfect Storm, there's nothing wrong with enjoying Troy as a semi-guilty pleasure with a touch of ancient class. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
With soaring photography that circles from above then swoops in for the action, TROY is Wolfgang Petersen's majestic presentation of the classic Greek legend. It tells the story of an epic battle over Helen (Diane Kruger), the queen of Sparta, who is kidnapped by her lover Paris (Orlando Bloom), the prince of Troy. This infuriates Helen's husband Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), whose brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) convinces him to invade Troy and kill Helen. They recruit Achilles (Brad Pitt), the best warrior in Greece, whose bravery, quick feet, and remarkable swordsmanship (not to mention tan biceps, short kilts, and blond locks) have earned him a reputation that is almost as impressive as his ego. Achilles agrees to fight for Sparta, if only for the fame it will bring him. Even Achilles' mother, in a touching scene, advises him to forget mortal achievements and become a hero who will be remembered throughout history. Along with the invasion of Troy, a series of duals must also be fought: Paris, who is heartbreaking in his lovestruck naivety, must go up against the enraged Menelaus; and Achilles must settle a score with Hector (Eric Bana), who is fiercely dedicated to protecting his brother Paris and their father, the frail king Priam (Peter O'Toole). When the war finally ignites in its massive proportions, the action is awesome. And as the increasingly dramatic events play out, TROY earns its own timeless reputation among other action-adventure epics such as GLADIATOR and SPARTACUS.

Customer Reviews

Brad Pitt might be Achilles but David Benioff is no Homer
As a teacher of Classical Greek and Roman Mythology I was looking forward to "Troy." In the past I have put together a unit on the Trojan War that included not only Homer's epic poem the "Iliad," but also the plays of Euripides and Aeschylus and other ancient works on the stories of these characters. In other words I am familiar with this story to the extent that when Briseis showed up wearing a garment with long sleeves I was upset that we did not get to see the lovely arms that were part of her usual epithet. So, suffice it to say, that when characters who survived the Trojan War started dying in this film, I was not exactly happy. Consequently, the truth is that the less you know about the Trojan War of classical mythology, the more you will enjoy Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy."

I have no problem with the idea that Homer and the other ancients have to be adapted in making a modern motion picture about the Trojan War. The decision to eliminate the gods is appropriate, getting away from the idea that this was a ten year war makes sense, and if the alliance of the Greeks is now political rather than as part of an oath sworn by the princes who were suitors for Helen's hand, I consider that to be legitimate. I do not understand why Iphigenia, Cassandra, and Hecuba are all eliminated but there are not fatal omissions. But when you start rewriting who gets killed that is going a bit too far, especially when one premature death starts a chain effect that means Athens will never develop the jury system, which means we probably lose out on it too. David Benioff's screenplay was "inspired" by Homer's "Iliad," which at least is an honest way to characterize what he did in this script, but I still do not have to like it or endorse it.

The big selling point for this film was not Homer but rather Brad Pitt as Achilles. Stories abound about how Pitt worked six months to get in shape for this film, gave up smoking, and ended up hurting his Achilles tendon in one of those profound ironies that indicates that maybe the gods were not pleased with what was happening in this film. Pitt certainly looks good, not just in terms of taking several opportunities to display the line of his nude body, but in how he carries himself as Achilles. The whole idea is that this guy is the greatest warrior on the face of the planet and Pitt exudes that with the way he strides across the sands of Troy. Even more impressive is the choreography for the fights, because Pitt's movements are so smooth and powerful, especially compared with that of Eric Bana's Hector, that you do not doubt that this guy is in a league by himself as a warrior. I also like the way he uses the distinctive form of his shield when fighting. They thought this part out quite a bit.

The fight choreography was worked out by Simon Crane, the film's stunt coordinator and second unit director, who describes Achilles as fighting with a boxing style but with the velocity of a speed skater and the agility of a panther. They also come up with a nice touch in that Achilles looks slightly to the side at his opponent until he is ready to come in for the kill. The best fight sequences of "Troy" are when Achilles is fighting. The giant battle sequences of computerized soldiers are not as impressive, mainly because the camera is always in motion and the cutting is so fast that we are left with an impression of the battle rather than always being able to tell what is going on (which has become my constant complaint with most movies with large battle sequences).

Bana does a good job of capturing Hector's nobility without turning him into a marble statue, while Peter O'Toole fills the role of Priam naturally. On the Trojan side the problematic character is Paris (Orlando Bloom), again because of the writing more than the performance. Priam has negotiated peace between Troy and the Sparta of King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), but that is destroyed when Paris persuades Helen (Diane Kruger) to run away with him. Both Hector and Priam know that Paris is wrong and their reasons for supporting him and thereby dooming Troy ring hollow (the less than stellar "Helen of Troy" television miniseries did a nice job of providing a solid motivation for the Trojans to protect Helen).

It you want to draw a clear distinction between Homer's story of Achilles and that of Benioff it is that the former is about the rage of Achilles (see the first line of the "Iliad") and the latter adds an equally strong love element. The one character whose role is most inflated in this version is that of Briseis (Rose Byrne), the Trojan slave girl who comes between Achilles and Agamemnon (Brian Cox), the king of kings for the Greeks. This change becomes the reasoning behind how the film rewrites the end game of the Trojan War, although I still do not understand why some of the key characters get to live happily ever after. But since Pitt's performance dominates the film and he is clearly the horse that director Wolfgang Petersen is riding to make the whole thing work, it makes sense that he has to be around until the very end.

The good news is that when I teach mythology after this DVD comes out my students will probably enjoy attacking Benioff's changes in the original stories of Greek mythology in their papers. I think this will definitely help them understand why the writings of Homer and the other ancients are considered classics.

It's not The Illiad, but it is impressive
One of the best of the recent spate of epics, Troy isn't a faithful version of Homer's Illiad by any means - the Gods are ommitted, Petrochlus becomes Achilles', er, 'cousin,' while Achilles lives long enough to climb the walls of Troy in its death-throes while other characters meet premature ends - but for me at least the changes in David Benioff's really quite impressive screenplay are far from objectionable and often make emotional sense. Unlike Oliver Stone's Alexander, Benioff's screenplay is able to marry big, mythical themes, most notably the need for immortality through killing that drives many of the characters to their deaths, with strong storytelling and good characterization. Sadly, the cast aren't always quite up to the words, but they're still lightyears ahead of the miscasting contest in Robert Wise's 1955 Helen of Troy (which compensated with real rather than digital extras and a much cooler wooden horse).

Rather than focussing on Helen (not a bad thing with Diane Kruger unmemorable in the role), it centers on Achilles' lust for glory and his conflict with Hector and his own leader Agamemnon. In many ways its more about conflicting codes of honour than the traditional big romantic adventure treatment the story usually gets, but the wildly inconsistent Wolfgang Petersen does one of his better jobs here, balancing impressive spectacle and action sequences with a convincing human drama to deliver an intelligent and exciting epic. He even manages to elicit good performances from usually erratic supporting players like Sean Bean and the oft-wooden Saffron Burrows. Some of the digital effects look a lot less impressive on the small screen than they did on the big one, but not enough of them to detract.

Uninspired by the Iliad
As a version Homer's Iliad this is a travesty, as other reviewers (both on Amazon and elsewhere) have noted the filmmakers have played fast and loose with the source material. This is not a terminal problem: all films adapt the source material in some way and in the past, good, even great, films have diverged significantly from the source material (although maybe not quite to this extent).

In all fairness the Iliad does require considerable work to meet the demands of cinema. Anyone familiar with the poem will be aware that even the book shows it oral roots - a huge cast of characters (that the reader is assumed to be already familiar with), lots of repetition of key phrases. The problem is the way it has been adapted. The film feels like it has been written by committee and then filtered through endless focus groups - the resulting script is timid and reliant on cliché. They seem scared to make any tough decisions. They cannot make any sense of Achilles motivation so they reduce it to a dull love story (with captured Trojan, Briseis) and only sketch his relationship with Patroclus. They cannot bear to not have Brad Pitt on screen so the death of Achilles is held over to the finale. They water down the ending so that Andromache, Helen and Hector's son amongst others escape. The extended timeline of the story is shortened to a few days and many of the most interesting characters including the gods are not included.

The film is (partially rescued) by some very good battle scenes and some very good performances. The (largely British) supporting cast makes excellent use of the sketchy material: Peter O'Toole as Priam, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Saffron Burrows as Andomache even Orlando Bloom as Paris are all wonderful although they are all rather under utilised. However, the star of the film is Eric Bana as Hector - he is the one fully realised character amongst a host of underwritten clichés - a warrior, a father, a statesman - he is a revelation and holds the film together. I have no problem with the portrayal of Achilles as a 'pretty boy' and Brad Pitt is actually rather good although he suffers most from the woeful script as his motivation is confused at best. More disappointing is Diane Kruger as Helen, she is rather bland and insipid (it is probably not a good idea to have the allegedly most beautiful woman in the world standing next to the lovely Saffron Burrows).

If you love the Iliad and are looking for a faithful adaptation, then this will disappoint. If you are looking for a fun action movie packed with plenty of male and female eye-candy then maybe, just maybe, you will be satisfied with this.