Today was something of a fairly big day for me. It was that day; the day when I acquired a ticket to see the film that was sure to be the film of the year. Over the last 3 years that role has been taken up by a certain fantasy trilogy that I'm sure everybody is now aware of, and while their place as film of the year has never really been kept I can still claim that for the last 3 years I have remained pleased with what I have witnessed. This year however I was to be disappointed; this was the year I was to watch Wolf Gang Petersons Troy, a true epic of love, honor, romance and tragedy and the first really big swords and sandals epic (a genre I consider myself a big fan of) since Ridley Scott's seminal Gladiator.
Unfortunately while Troy is a film that succeeds in a lot of areas; a film that does manage to capture a lot of the promised grandeur, it fails in a lot of areas that cheapen the experience as a whole.
The story is certainly epic; chronicling a number of different plot branches without ever really getting itself muddled. You know the score here, big bad king Menelaus is celebrating peace with the Trojans when he has his misses stolen from him by spunky young prince Paris. Now this wife Helen is not now remembered as the face that launched a thousand ships without good reason. See Menelaus was just a little ticked off at this and so went to his brother Agamemnon and launches a fleet of a thousand ships against the Trojan nation. Fighting for the Greeks is the bad boy warrior Achilles; a man said to be un-killable and generally the guy you want on your side in a fight. The Trojans wont give in without a fight though; they believe in their gods, have their supposedly impenetrable walls and have their own bad boy in the shape of Prince Hector who will fight to the death to defend both his country and his little Bro.
To go along with the biggest war in history are at least 3 separate love stories, 2 major rivalries, hundreds of men trying to find honour and the greatest military tactic in history (or the most idiotic mistake in history; you decide), which is just one of a number of legends given birth by this story including the already mentioned "Face that launched a thousand ships", and the moment where Achilles heel became his; well his Achilles heel. So like I said the plot is certainly an epic one and something with all the hallmarks of a modern classic; if only this big budget film was able to actually do it justice.
The cast for example is split straight down the middle between some fantastic actors, and some just downright poor performances. Brad Pitt manages well as the tough guy Achilles. His brooding personality and honest eyes are perfect for the character, and while there were times in the battles where his presence would falter; usually when he was supposed to be being his hardest, I would still say that he did well. Rose Byrne was even better, her eyes were just so much more expressive than you could ever wish for them to be, and so even during her moments where she has no lines; meaning most of her screen time, she still managed to get across every mixed feeling and every nuance that her character requires. Diane Kruger's Helen Of A Troy was simply stunning, not just in a "Damn she's hot" type of way, but genuinely beautiful in the same way as a work of art. Again her performance went well physically, not only in capturing the beauty that legends are made of, but in her expressing the emotions she is feeling. Sadly her character had far more dialogue scenes and a lot of the time I found her performance to be very mixed.
On the other side of the coin were a number of fantastic actors that have decided to hide their talents for this film. Admittedly Sean Bean had very little to work with in the role of Odysseus (You know that dude Homer Simpson played that time) but I don't think it's unreasonable for an actor of his caliber to try and introduce a little personality into the preceding. Brendan Gleeson was just a little too comical in the role of Menelaus, never really convincing you of this rage that led to this slaughter, but then he never really has to try that hard since his nemesis is Orlando Bloom. Now pretty boy Bloom may make for a perfect elf, but a confident and noble prince he aint. In his initial scene with Helen you're supposed to believe that he's this confident prince whose not only stolen a wife in every port, but has been able to secretly seduce the kings wife on numerous occasions. Yet the moment she actually disrobes for him he gives her the look of a guy who's not quite sure what he should do next. Then later on he's just too much of a pretty boy to really hold your attention, I mean I know the character is supposed to be inexperienced, but skinny ladies man Bloom against big fat Brendan Gleeson is hardly a clash of the titans is it. Must have run in the family though, because as much screen presence as Eric Bana brought the role of mighty Hector you still could never quite understand why he was trying to play an Irish Trojan. Not the actors nationality so there seemed to be no reason for his strange accent, unless that was how the Trojans actually talked in which case everybody else sucked.
Of course this a film about much more than just actors, and yet even stylistically the film is a mixed bag. The soundtrack is superb, absolutely dripping in the perfect atmosphere whether it's trying to portray despair, honour or love it actually works. I admit that the drum beat that played out in one of the major battles didn't really fit, but other than that one little bit it was superb.
Visually the film had some great costume design, not the best I've seen by a long shot, but these costumes were more than believable enough to immerse you into the film. It's just unfortunate that this level of quality couldn't be kept up in all aspects of the film. Some of the cinematography; usually involving either a fleet of 1000 ships or an army of 50,000 soldiers are genuinely impressive, but then outside of these shots there is absolutely nothing remarkable about the camera work that never really succeeds at getting in close to the emotional moments and is just a little too close during most of the major battle sequences.
Did I actually mention the battles yet? Fantastic, at least some of them were. The big military battles were jaw dropping; really brutal without resorting to any unnecessary gore. So hard hitting and realistic in portraying the kind of atmosphere that only a modern swords and sandals adventure can provide. Sadly the smaller battles; the one on one fights that should contain most of the atmosphere are just; and believe me when I say that I hate to say this, they're just too obviously choreographed. They never feel unpredictable enough as they are so obviously planned out that they really detract from the believability. This kind of intricateness may work for something like Star Wars, but in such a major historical epic it felt wrong, especially this one move Achilles insists on using that wouldn't look out of place in a Jet Li flick; or maybe Troy the videogame, just not the major motion picture.
I can't really complain about the film without at least giving mention to its worst feature; its dialogue. This stuff was really mixed. It often would start out really well, before rolling downhill in the same sentence. Lines like "I want to see my son grow tall; I want to watch the girls chase after him." were such an uneven mix of period sayings and modern expressions that you really have to question what the writers were thinking at the time.
What it really comes down to is whether I would recommend Troy to a viewer. Well I would say yes; sort of. It succeeds in the areas that it succeeds in, and does them superbly. It's just that when it does mess up it pulls no punches and messes up royally, it's not enough to ruin the whole film but you will need to ask yourself whether the films 3 hour run time will be as endurable with all of its flaws.
Comments & Responses
More Theatrical Reviews
"For the most part this is a war story and one that remains as relevant as ever. Mostly it is a story about character and the perils of greed, vanity, arrogance and bloodlust. You remember character? Well, if all you see are movies -- maybe not." ByBlake Snyder
"An enjoyably engrossing experience, which entering into a summer season no doubt filled with mindless sequels and CGI-saturated comic book adaptations, might just be enough." ByKelly Dumouchelle
"Screw Van Helsing! This movie marks the true start of the summer movie season, and it's definitely worth the extended stay in the theater.
" ByBrian Gallagher
Top Stories
125 Comments
