____ Troy
Achilles-Brad Pitt
~A Godforsaken Epic~
By Todd Karella
May 14, 2004
  Even though the gods may have forsaken the new movie Troy, many moviegoers will happily choose a side and join in on one of the most famous wars in history.
   While only inspired by Homer's Iliad, the movie incorporates all of the familiar aspects of the Trojan war, with the one exception being the Greek gods.
   It's hard to believe that a movie about ancient Greece could exist without some kind of divine intervention.  At the minimum, it needed an explanation of Achilles and how his mother held him by the heel and dipped him in the river Styx as a baby, thus making him invincible except for the infamous Achilles' heel.
Hector-Eric Bana
Helen-Diane Kruger
  Even without the presence of the gods, Troy does a good job of telling the familiar story.  There's less scenery in the movie than expected, as most of the action takes place on the beach outside the city of Troy.  Even so, the armada of 1,000 ships, the battle scenes, and the city itself were all impressive.
   Compared to the Trojan war that took more than 10 years before the Greeks managed to sack the city, this version took only a few weeks.  This may annoy some historians, but it did not detract from the overall story.
   The acting was quite solid, with the best performances coming from Eric Bana in his portrayal of the Trojan hero Hector and Peter O'toole as old King Priam.  The weakest performances came from Brian Cox as the sometimes
over the top King Agamemnon, and Brad Pitt as the brooding Achilles.  While not terrible performances by any standard they were certainly outperformed by their Trojan counterparts. The character of Helen (Diane Kruger) whose face launched a thousand ships was fairly nonexistent as the movie focused more on the war and the conquest for power being the real motivation behind it.
   The two sons of King Priam, Hector and Paris (Orlando Bloom) are sent to Sparta to make peace with King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson).  While they are there, Paris ends up falling for the lovely Queen Helen who he smuggles aboard his ship as it returns to Troy.
Paris-Orlando Bloom
  Feeling betrayed, Menelaus turns to his brother Agamemnon to join with him in his voyage to Troy where he plans to sack the city and take back his queen.  This plays directly into Agamemnon's plans as he is more interested in empire building, with Troy being the last elusive piece.
   Following the two princes back to Troy, the Greek army takes the beach and lays siege to the city.  Even though the Trojans are outnumbered 2-to-1 the Greek army finds it impossible to take the city by sheer number.  Their hero, Achilles, is more concerned with personal glory and fighting for his own personal reasons than fighting for a king that he has no respect for.
   While the Greek army flounders in its attempts to take the city, the Trojans take their military tactics from what signs the temple
priests see.  Hector is the only voice of reason as he knows what the costs of a war are and how it should be fought, but his father ignores his pleas and allows his army to follow what they believe to be the will of the gods.  This strategy ultimately brings about their downfall as Achilles, who up to this point is refusing to fight, is angered when he hears about the death of his cousin at the hand of Hector. 
   In order to avenge the cousin's death, the two great warriors fight to the death at the city gates.  Knowing his fate, Hector plans for the escape of his family.  He knows that once he falls, Troy will soon follow.
   There are numerous clashes between the two armies, but the individual combats are the most powerful.  The fight between Paris and Menelaus is another magnificent scene as the two battle with brute strength and do not conform to today's choreographed fight scenes mixed with acrobatics.  It's dirty.  It's ugly.  It's great.
   It isn't until the famous Trojan Horse trick is employed that the Greeks are able to enter Troy and ransack the city.  The soldiers burn the city to the ground as the citizens flee in terror, only to be cut down in the streets.  There is no happy ending as nearly everyone dies except for Paris and Helen who escape through the tunnels that Hector had shown his wife.
   The only negative aspect to the movie is the soundtrack.  In particular, there's one woman that sings vowel sounds over every dramatic moment, giving it a cheesy Xena: Warrior Princess feel.  A small price to pay for a good movie that keeps you entertained for nearly three hours.