Troy ( 2004 )

Gladiator’s commercial and critical success re-awakened Hollywood’s taste for historical epics. Troy was the first of several big-budget films to be released in 2004 that aimed to repeat Gladiator’s success. Sadly, it failed to be anywhere as near a big commercial or critical success as Gladiator was.

Troy, as the title suggests, tells the story of the legendary Trojan War. Of course, this being a Hollywood film, the story has been re-written a bit to bring it down to the standards expected by Hollywood. As the film starts, a peace treaty has just been signed between the ancient nations of Troy and Sparta. However, the peace turns out to be short-lived after Paris (Orlando Bloom), one of the songs of the King of Troy, becomes infatuated with Helen (Diane Kruger), the wife of Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) who is the king of Sparta. Paris steals Helen away as the Trojans sail away to return home. Menelaus is outraged and declares war on Troy, enlisting the help of his brother King Agamemnon. Agamemnon raises a huge army from the Greek states under his control and they all set off to besiege the walled city of Troy. So begins the Trojan War. The rest of the film tells the story of an abbreviated version of the war (it seems to last about a month unlike the ten years in the original story). Each side has a champion, Achilles (Brad Pitt) is the leader of the Myrmidons, an elite fighting unit, and supposedly the best fighter in the world. Hector (Eric Bana) is the Trojan champion, Paris’ older brother who has a much stronger sense of responsibility, caring deeply for his people. By contrast, Achilles is obsessed with his own legend and his place in history and he doesn’t care much for the people who have to die to fuel his ambition. He also clashes with Agamemnon, believing that as the best warrior in the world he shouldn’t have to bow down to any King. This is all set up in the first hour of the film; the remainder consists of a series of reasonably impressive battles and duels, culminating in the infamous gift of the wooden horse from the Greeks to the Trojans.

When the script was being written a deliberate decision was taken to remove any references to the intervention of the Gods from the original story. This is meant to make the story more ‘realistic’, however this doesn’t suit the plot very well. By its very nature the story of the Trojan War has to be over-the-top, the point of the story is more focused on the conflicts between the legendary characters rather than the battles. As a result it still doesn’t feel particularly realistic, even by Hollywood epic standards.

The battles are reasonably impressive but strangely unmemorable. They are quite entertaining at the time, but at the end of the day they don’t stand out at all from the battles in any other recent historical / fantasy epic. The duel between Achilles and Hector is one of the highlights of the film, but even that isn’t really anything particularly special.

The script is probably the weakest part of the film. The dialogue is uninspired with only a few memorable moments; one of the most famous dramatic stories ever written really should make for more entertaining dialogue. Few of the characters are particularly interesting, and when some are interesting it is usually due more to the actors than the scriptwriters.

The quality of the acting is a bit variable. Eric Bana is excellent as Hector, the film has plenty of heroes but it is Hector that stands out from the crowd as the most heroic and likeable. Peter O’Toole is equally good as his father, King Priam of Troy, bringing a quiet dignity which is a welcome contrast from some of the more over-the-top performances in the film. Sean Bean as Odysseus, the smartest of the Greek military commanders, is also good enough to suggest that a film of the Odyssey with Bean in the lead role could be quite entertaining. Brian Cox is over-the-top in an entertaining way, Orlando Bloom is quite bland and overshadowed by some of the other performances, Diane Kruger doesn’t have much to do except look pretty and Brad Pitt’s Achilles is reasonably convincing but undeniably irritating as a self-obsessed arrogant legend.

Overall, the film is reasonably entertaining while it lasts but makes little lasting impression. A film with such illustrious source material really should do better.

Rating : 7 / 10