Director Wolfgang Peterson, who gave us Das Boot (AKA The Boat) and The Perfect
Storm, among other films, now tackles The Trojan War. Based on Homer's epic poem
The Illiad, Troy deals with the legendary story that had been assumed to be myth
for many centuries, until the remains of Troy were discovered in what is now
Turkey in the 19th century.
Several thousand years ago, on the shores of the Aegean Sea, the Trojan king
Priam (Peter O'Toole) secures a peace treaty with the Spartan king Menelaus
(Brendan Gleeson). Priam's two sons, the princes of Troy, Hector (Eric Bana) and
Paris (Orlando Bloom) are guests of Menelaus' at an extravagant celebration.
However, Paris has been doing a little celebrating with Menelaus' wife Helen
(Diane Kruger) on the side. When the Trojans return home, Paris sneaks Helen
back with him. Although Hector thinks stealing the Spartan King's wife is a very
bad idea, he reluctantly continues sailing for Troy in the hopes of convincing
his father, the King, to have Helen sent back to Sparta. However, Priam not only
accepts the union between his son Paris and his new love, but he practically
adopts Helen as the daughter he never had. Hector, the sensible warrior, abandons
all plans to send Helen back home and starts prepping Troy for the invasion to come.
As expected, an enraged Menelaus goes to his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) for
help in getting his wife back from the Trojans. And Agamemnon agrees--however,
his motives run far deeper than just helping his brother save face by avenging an
unfaithful wife. Having united the warring city-states of Greece under his banner,
Agamemnon now seeks to expand his growing empire across the Aegean Sea, and Troy
would make the perfect foothold for his conquest of those distant shores. And so
a massive invasion fleet bearing fifty thousand soldiers sets sails across the
Aegean for Troy. And while Troy, surrounded by high, thick walls, is considered
to be an impregnable fortress, Agamemnon also has an ace up his sleeve: the
legendary warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt), a man who is so skilled in combat that
it is said that he is protected by the gods themselves.
Troy is a welcome return to the old "sword and sandal" flicks that Hollywood used to
churn out years back. It is an epic story featuring larger than life characters
that is told in bold, broad strokes. The battle scenes are very well done,
especially the hand-to-hand combat showdown between Achilles and Hector. When I
first heard about this film, I wasn't sure if Brad Pitt could pull off the part
of Achilles, the ruthless warrior. However, not only is Pitt very good, but also
he makes Achilles a very interesting person to watch, thus becoming the
centerpiece upon which the entire story rests. And Pitt's other cast mates are
no slouches, either: Peter O'Toole is superb, as is Brian Cox and the
ever-dependable Brendan Gleeson. And Eric Bana gives another sturdy performance
as Hector. Oddly, Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger have very little chemistry in
their roles as Paris and Helen, which is strange, since these two are playing
characters who were basically the whole reason the Trojan War was fought in the
first place. But instead of delving deeper into their motives beneath the surface,
we're stuck with the lame excuse that they are just a pair of crazy kids who are
madly in love, which makes them pretty shallow, considering all of the bloodshed
they've caused. The grist for some great drama has been
squandered here.
Director Peterson and writer David Benioff have eschewed the original mythic
story, which had the Greek gods themselves as supporting players. Instead they
chose to try to present the real story (or at least as close to the real story
as modern day conjecture can create), in a gritty, earthier flavor, without
magic or any interference from the great god Zeus and his pantheon. But bear in
mind that this is still an adaptation of the Homer story, with one of the major
changes in the film dealing with Agamemnon's fate. Yet putting aside the notion
of whether or not this film is historically accurate, it still works very well
as a piece of entertainment. The Computer Generated Imagery is flawless; I had
to look twice before I realized that I wasn't really seeing a vast fleet of
Greek warships sailing across the Aegean Sea. And as mentioned before, the
scenes of combat are appropriately spectacular, with CGI-enhanced sequences
where thousands of troops clash on the battlefield, all over a single woman. And
let's not forget the infamous Trojan horse; this is a splendid design by Nigel
Phelps, the film's production designer, who more than eloquently answered the
question I always had as a kid: where did the Greeks get the wood to build this
thing?
The two-disc DVD of Troy has ample special features, including several "making
of" documentaries. "In The Thick Of The Battle" looks at the overall production,
while "From Ruins To Reality" examines the production design, comparing the
movie version of Troy to the actual site known as Troy. "Troy: An Effects Odyssey"
pulls back the curtain to reveal the special effects magic used to convincingly
portray this era. "Gallery Of The Gods" is a CG-produced section that examines
the gods of Ancient Greece. Strangely, there are no audio commentaries by either
the cast or crew. --SF
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