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Movie: Troy
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Actors: Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Brian Cox, Peter O'Toole, Diane Kruger
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"Before my time is done I will look down on your corpse and smile."
Gladiator opened doors for other epic historic movies with muscular men carrying swords and sandals. Coming soon
Oliver Stone's Alexander, Vin Diesel's Hannibal and now in theatres Wolfgang Petersen's Troy starring Brad Pitt,
Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom and Peter O'Toole.
The story in a nutshell:
In 1193 B.C., Prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) of Troy falls in love with Helen (Diane Kruger), wife of Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), King of Sparta. She decides to go with Paris to Troy but they unleash a war between two nations. The Achaean Greeks led by Agamemnon (Brian Cox) and Achilles (Brad Pitt) lay a siege to Troy. Trojan Warrior Hector (Eric Bana), eldest son of Priam (Peter O'Toole), King of Troy must protect the city against thousands of warriors.
I'm still a bit confused how to write this review. Troy didn't overwhelm me the way Gladiator did but I can't exactly pinpoint the flaws of the movie. I loved Eric Bana as Hector, I sometimes liked Brad Pitt as Achilles but most of the time thought he was miscast to play the vicious warrior. Peter O'toole is perfect for the role of King Priam, I love his scene with Achilles.
The story couldn't grab me the first half of the movie but I finally got hooked after Hector's confrontation with Achilles and the events after the incident. The story needed some work on the structure, focussing more on a grand finale, building up tension could be a big improvement. Even James Horner's score, the man who also composed the wonderful score for Aliens, often didn't match the action or emotional scenes.
Director Wolfgang Peterson, who brought us In the Line of Fire and The Perfect Storm, did deliver some spectacular visuals, like the invasion of thousand ships and impressive set pieces. The Hector-Achilles sword fight is beautifully choreographed and is something you haven't seen before. So to sum things up, the movie is epic, the scale and size is huge, the story wasn't the emotional thrill ride I was hoping to see, casting Brad Pitt as Achillis... that could be a mistake.
Troy wasn't bad…but it wasn't good either.
Written by Reggy 27/05/04
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