Anyone see Troy yet?

[whosinpower]

Did you like it? Was it what you expected?

I saw it yesterday and am still a bit undecided whether to give it a thumbs up or down. Don't get me wrong, the performances of all was brilliant. I suppose I have been too well trained to cheer on the hero and have a happy ending. I came away from it hating Achilles (and who would WANT to hate Brad Pitt) admiring and feeling sympathy for Hector, even though he gets "it" rather brutally, despising Agamemmnon (rightfully so), wondering how Odysses could ever support Agamemmnon.(partisanship SHOULD have limits after all)

What were your thoughts on the flick?

[Pale_Rider]

1. It was alright ...

... though I felt that it was somehow made for television. It was an interesting adaptation from Homer's Iliad with the gods and goddesses largely removed from it, giving it a more human perspective.

[lindashaw]

2. I just went with the bigness of it, the sound and the scenery. The

old-timers were good, and so I just told myself, "Loosen up, it's only a movie."

Note: It takes a REALLLLLY bad movie for me not to like something.

[orestes]

3. I kind of think

that you're supposed to hate Achilles and like Hector. Even in the Iliad, Achilles was a grade A selfish asshole, along with Agamemmnon, while Hector was about as noble as anyone in that situation can be.

[Lisa]

4. I actually felt more sympathy for Achilles this time around ...

When I read the story earlier, he came across as a violent, spoiled brat. Pitt made him seem more thoughtful (e.g. his opposition to Agamemmnon).


I was willing to put up with them messing around with the story, for example who lives and who dies, since they did try to make a political statement about the manipulation required to take a nation to war. It's such an old, robust story that I don't think the alterations will damage it.

Dropping the gods and putting the responsibility on Agamemmnon and his brother was quite brilliant, I thought ... especially given the present-day situation!

Priam was played as a bit idiotic, but his rebuke to Achilles over the mistreatment of Hector's body was poignant. Especially given the Iraq prison scandal (which they wouldn't have known about at the time the movie was made). Just shows how observant Homer was about human nature in times of war, I guess.

[Merlin]

5. So I gather there is no sense of it being a parallel to Iraq?

I read recently somebody (MoDo?) suggesting Troy was a metaphor for Iraq. Maybe not...

[Lisa]

8. some parallels are there, I think

By making the Greek kings seem deceitful and manipulative, using the soldiers' sense of honour in order to conquer and loot a potential rival -- the movie was commenting on the motives for war (including the present situation).

And there's a very cynical scene where they put on a big showy funeral for the cousin of Achilles, to whip up the desire for vengeance (and get Achilles to fight). The leader comments, of the dead cousin, "That boy might just have won the war for us."

I can picture Rumsfeld saying that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Haven't seen it, but here's a less than complimentary review

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/reviews/story.jsp?story=521311

"Wooden horse, wooden acting, wouldn't bother if I were you"

[fameless]

7. Two Thumbs....

Way Down.

Destroys the book. Turns the book into a stupid action flick. Worst acting and casting in the past year. Boo Hiss Boo Hiss. Waste of my money.

[PeaceForever]

21. I think you miss the point of the movie

It's not about Troy. Troy is just an excuse. The movie is really an antiwar allegory.

[fameless]

23. The Point?

This movie blows.

[PeaceForever]

24. Oh well, sorry it didn't impress you dude n/t

[truthspeaker]

9. flawed but I enjoyed it

It was a lot like a 50s historical epic, and once I accepted the genre I could enjoy it. It was nothing special though.

I thought the music was badly melodramatic (and miscued in places) and the acting very broad.

I really didn't like Pitt as Achilles. Either he doesn't havr enough range for this kind of part or he couldn't figure out how to play him.

Really liked the guy who played Hector.

Orlando Bloom didn't impress me. Paris is such an impulsive little punk he's hard to play. I've liked Bloom in other parts I just think he was miscast or not directed well, like Pitt.

Sean Bean did pretty well as Odyseuss. He's such a different character than Boromir or Richard Sharpe and he pulled it off. At first I thought he was Kenneth Branagh.

I liked the battle and fight scenes best. I don't know how much is known about how ancient Greeks fought or how much research the fight coordinators did but they put a lot of thought into the details, like why the shields had those indentations, how they threw javelins, the size and shape of their swords, etc. If the horses had had stirrups I would have gotten up and walked out of the movie, seriously.

---

Theater annoyances:
2 crying infants (PG-rated movie at 8 PM)
1 exclaimer ("Wow!" "Oh, he's that guy!")

[whosinpower]

10. Maybe that is what I dislike

Achilles is a charactor to be hated....and I just don't want to hate Brad Pitt. Maybe that is the crux of my indecision whether to like the film or not.

I agree, the guy who played Hector did a really good job. In fact, I think it is his performance that carries the film...moreso than Achilles posing strategically and melodramatically.

[Lisa]

11. with you on the stirrups thing ...

I was willing to put up with Pitt's quasi-Corinthian helmet, even though that style of armour was several centuries after the story supposedly took place. But I would have burst out laughing if they'd had stirrups on the horses.

Some (way more accurate) Bronze Age armour reconstructions:
http://www.larp.com/hoplite/bronze.html

The costume designers probably rejected the Dendra "bronze dress", figuring that not even Pitt could look pretty in it.

Eric Bana was quite good as Hector -- probably the most sympathetic character in the film. Not so his little brother. I have to admit that I was actually hoping that someone would take out Paris before the end of the picture! And why must they play up the archery thing with Orlando Bloom -- if I wanted to see Legolas, I would have watched the Lord of the Rings on DVD!

[Bryan]

12. Bit of a mixed bag

I think it depends partly on what you want out of a movie about the Trojan War.

If you want a rollicking epic with plenty of humor, unambiguous heroes, and big crowd-pleasing moments like the Rings movies, you're going to be disappointed. If you want to see a movie that wallows lovingly in the minutiae of Bronze Age culture, you're going to be squirming in your seat and fighting the urge to correct the filmmakers by way of shouting at the screen. If you want a scrupulously faithful mounting of the Iliad, down to exact plot details, having the pantheon as active characters, and hexametrical dialogue, your brain is going to explode.

But if you want a civilian-accessible movie that briskly condenses the story to the choices and emotional responses of the major characters and never ignores the human cost of war, I believe you'll find it worthwhile. If we've gotta have bowdlerized Hollywood epics, we'd be lucky to have more that are as solemn and adult as this.

[Kellanved]

13. not yet

While I tend to like Peterson's movies, I don't like Toga -Movies.

The global premiere in Berlin and Peterson's anti Iraq-War comments earned the movie brownie points in my eyes, but not enough to get me running to the cinema.

[ForrestGump]

14. Here he is

[lachattefolle]

15. I went to see Pitt and Bloom

and came away even more captivated by Bana's performance. Helen was the most wooden character and as for Andromache, if my husband ever did something so stupid as to go out and fight the champ when he didn't have to, I'd have killed him myself. Okay, not really, but I did think Paris' retreat in the face of certain death was totally realistic. Yes, I admit, I'm shallow, but I went for the guys and wallowed in eye candy.

[warrior1]

16. My brother

saw it. He said it was good up until he noticed Pitt's inoculation scar on his arm. Said it made it look un-real.

I said, oh did they speak greek? Bro: No. err O..kay..

[lachattefolle]

17. What innoculation scar?

I'm afraid my eyes were focused a little lower, tehe.

[mainer]

18. It had Iraq War themes all the way through it!

e.g.,

Achilles tells his cousin, "if you're going to fight as a warrior, make sure you follow orders from a worthy king."

Odysseus says, "Wars are fought by young men, while old men do the talking."

My husband and I kept looking at each other and thinking: "Iraq."

[PeaceForever]

19. I thought it was really powerful and highly recommend it

War is shown as totally futile. At the end of the movie, what did the victors really win? Nothing.

The movie throughout showed the stark sadness of warfare. It showed how pro-war rulers (like the one who rules the US) don't do their own fighting, instead preferring to send others to die.

Achilles, the most powerful warrior, an alpha male, breaks down and cries. Fuck, it was powerful.

I highly recommend this movie for its antiwar theme.

[Shananigans]

20. No, but I intend to go and see it sometime soon...

maybe next weekend...

[PeaceForever]

22. Troy is the modern version of All Quiet on the Western Front

Seriously, watch either version of that movie (or read the book), and then watch Troy. The movies have similar images, dialogue, and themes. This movie couldn't have been timelier. (Well actually, it would have been nice for it to come out before the Iraq invasion.)

This movie is a nice break from all the pro-war, pro-violence imagery that comes from Hollywood. I was holding back tears at times when the movie showed the brutality and sadness of the killing. There is no glorification of violence in Troy--it's exactly the opposite.

[ACK]

25. Homer-erotic film about men in skirts swinging their phallic symbols

For now, I shall pass.

_