I watched Troy the other night. It was alright, but it could have been better.
Honestly I didn’t expect much from this movie. Taking an epic like the Iliad and converting it into a 2 ½ hour movie is a daunting task. Keeping the storyline on the same page as the epic and convincing a movie studio to produce it is near impossible.
The inaccuracies weren’t all unpleasant though. I really enjoyed the idea of the gods being intangible and, more or less, a “myth” in the context of the movie. Hector, obviously the most rationale character in the movie, often had a conflicting view point with that of the soothsayer. It was also a good twist to have Achilles death be a result of Paris’ arrow through his “Achilles” tendon rather than directly caused by it.
The bright spots didn’t make up for the background love story, the death of Agamemnon, the brevity of the war, or even the fact that Achilles was in the Trojan horse. I think that some of lack of continuity with the Iliad cost the movie the potential for an Oscar nomination. It was a beautifully filmed movie and well choreographed, however, the plot was much too generic “Hollywood” for it to be taken very seriously.
If you haven’t watched Troy and are in the mood for a fun, action packed movie, rent it some time. It is definitely a rental movie and not a must purchase.
By the way, if you read that last post you are a sucker...shit, even I didn't read all of Joel Durham's expose...the opening paragraph put me to sleep ;)
