Troy

[WCUgirl]

Oh. My. God. This movie was absolutely just awesome. I loved it.

Okay, Mr. Pitt's accent thing didn't bother me at all. I didn't even notice it really.

Orlando Bloom is so hot! But Brad is hotter! Orlando's a bit skinny for my taste in this movie. I'll admit it - Eric Bana (is he the one who played Hector?) is hot. The chick who played Helen is hot. They're all hot!

I would give my right arm to be the girl who played Perseius. Seriously. To have Brad Pitt laying naked on me while shoving his tongue in my mouth - who needs their arm? She just laid there anyways. And girls, you KNOW he was naked several times during the filming of that movie.

What was the name of the actor who played Odysseus?

ETA: how many Oscar nominations do you think this movie will get (if any)? Will it be "the big one" for Brad?

[TigerLilly]

I got to see the movie on Thursday. It came out a day earlier in Germany than in the States.

Since I saw it in German, I didn't get the experience of Brad Pitt's stupid accent. Oh well, better just to stare at him anyway. Him and Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana...yum.

Other than the eye candy, I was really impressed with the plot and everything in the movie. I usually get restless in movies and look at my watch to see how long it is until the end of the movie, but I didn't do that even once during Troy. I was completely wrapped up in the movie the whole time.

Question -- that priestess girl who hooked up with Achilles, does that character exist in the actual myth or no? I didn't know about that character.

[LeslieAGD]

Overall, well done movie...

This movie was very much about Achilles role and the battle scenes. If you can live with that, then it's a great movie. If you were expecting "The Illiad" in its classic form, or something similiar to every other adaptation of this story, then you may be disappointed.

For me, it started out a little rocky. I was slightly bored by the first half an hour because the storytelling was lacking (Achilles is an awesome warrior, Sparta and Troy make peace, Helen leaves with Paris, and let the war begin!).

It was slightly refreshing to see a version that wasn't really about Helen. Yes, she was the catalyst, but it was really about Agamemnon's greed. Yet, I still would have liked to have seen more of an introduction to the history of these characters and a better timeline of events. (They made it seem like the Trojan Horse was built overnight and that Troy fell 12 days after Hector's death). But, then again, if they included everything, the film would have been four hours long.

***

Originally posted by TigerLilly
Question -- that priestess girl who hooked up with Achilles, does that character exist in the actual myth or no? I didn't know about that character.

Yes, she does. From Sparknotes: "Achilles’ wrath at Agamemnon for taking his war prize, the maiden Briseis, forms the main subject of the Iliad."

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally posted by AXiD670
Oh. My. God. This movie was absolutely just awesome. I loved it.

Okay, Mr. Pitt's accent thing didn't bother me at all. I didn't even notice it really.

Orlando Bloom is so hot! But Brad is hotter! Orlando's a bit skinny for my taste in this movie. I'll admit it - Eric Bana (is he the one who played Hector?) is hot. The chick who played Helen is hot. They're all hot!

I would give my right arm to be the girl who played Perseius. Seriously. To have Brad Pitt laying naked on me while shoving his tongue in my mouth - who needs their arm? She just laid there anyways. And girls, you KNOW he was naked several times during the filming of that movie.

What was the name of the actor who played Odysseus?

ETA: how many Oscar nominations do you think this movie will get (if any)? Will it be "the big one" for Brad?

Yes. Eric Bana did play Hector. Definitly hot. Too bad he didn't have any nude/semi-nude scenes.

Odysseus was played By Sean Bean (I heart him too...yummm ). Sean Bean play Boromir (sp?) in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He can also be seen in a British drama Series, Sharpe's Riffles (that's where I fell in love with him ). I'm sure he;s in many other things, but those are the 2 I know him best in.

[Jadey28]

Me and the boyfriend are going to see Troy later on today. I'm so excited! There are so many good movies coming up this summer, but I guess that should be another thread!

I'll post once I return from the movie.

[WCUgirl]

Originally posted by LeslieAGD
Overall, well done movie...

This movie was very much about Achilles role and the battle scenes. If you can live with that, then it's a great movie. If you were expecting "The Illiad" in its classic form, or something similiar to every other adaptation of this story, then you may be disappointed.

For me, it started out a little rocky. I was slightly bored by the first half an hour because the storytelling was lacking (Achilles is an awesome warrior, Sparta and Troy make peace, Helen leaves with Paris, and let the war begin!).

It was slightly refreshing to see a version that wasn't really about Helen. Yes, she was the catalyst, but it was really about Agamemnon's greed. Yet, I still would have liked to have seen more of an introduction to the history of these characters and a better timeline of events. (They made it seem like the Trojan Horse was built overnight and that Troy fell 12 days after Hector's death). But, then again, if they included everything, the film would have been four hours long.

***


Yes, she does. From Sparknotes: "Achilles’ wrath at Agamemnon for taking his war prize, the maiden Briseis, forms the main subject of the Iliad."

I couldn't remember how to spell that chick's name. I thought it was prounounced "Per-say-us" so I just kind of went off that.

I pretty much agree w/ your review. I knew the movie wasn't going to be true to the Iliad, so I wasn't disappointed like I usually am when I see a movie based on a book. I definitely agree they could have spent a little more time in the beginning developing some of the characters. I was disappointed, esp. after Hector died, about the lack of Helen and Paris' presence. I mean, they could have spent a little more time showing Paris and Helen's reaction to Hector's death, etc. And another area where I was a bit disappointed was they didn't show very much about Paris preparing to fight Menalaus...I mean, I had no idea whether or not he had even been substantially trained to fight (from the convo b/w him and Hector at the beginning on the boat where Hector asks him if he's ever fought and he says no it made me wonder what kind of training he's had).

One thing this movie did do, which really surprised me, was conflict me on who to "root for." I mean, I knew Troy was going to fall, Achilles was going to die, etc. but I was just so torn...I wanted Achilles and Hector to become friends and kill Agamemnon together or something. I don't know. I wanted to rewrite the story I guess because the movie inspired such loyalty to both characters.

[LeslieAGD]

Originally posted by AXiD670
One thing this movie did do, which really surprised me, was conflict me on who to "root for." I mean, I knew Troy was going to fall, Achilles was going to die, etc. but I was just so torn...

My boyfriend and I were having this conversation too, and I totally agree. Most "battle movies" are usually partial or do not do a very good job of portraying both sides of the story. The writers/director did a great job of making the audience sympathetic to both the Greeks and Trojans (excluding Agamemnon). When Patroclus died, you felt bad for Achilles...When Hector died, you felt bad for Priam, etc.

[James]

Ebert: http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert...s-troy14f.html





BY ROGER EBERT

"Troy" is based on the epic poem The Iliad by Homer, according to the credits. Homer's estate should sue. The movie sidesteps the existence of the Greek gods, turns its heroes into action movie cliches and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies. Better a couple of hundred sweaty warriors than two masses of 50,000 men marching toward one another across a sea of special effects.

The movie recounts the legend of the Trojan War, as the fortress city is attacked by a Greek army led by Menelaus of Sparta and Agamemnon of Mycenae. The war has become necessary because of the lust of the young Trojan prince named Paris (Orlando Bloom), who while during a peace mission to Sparta, seduces the city-state's queen, Helen (Diane Kruger).

This action understandably annoys Helen's husband, Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), not to mention Paris' brother Hector (Eric Bana), who points out, quite correctly, that when you visit a king on a peace mission, it is counterproductive to leave with his wife.

What the movie doesn't explain is why Helen would leave with Paris after an acquaintanceship of a few nights. Is it because her loins throb with passion for a hero? No, because she tells him: "I don't want a hero. I want a man I can grow old with." Not in Greek myth, you don't. If you believe Helen of Troy could actually tell Paris anything remotely like that, you will probably also agree that the second night he slipped into her boudoir, she told him, "Last night was a mistake."

The seduction of Helen is the curtain-raiser for the main story, which involves vast Greek armies laying siege to the impenetrable city. Chief among their leaders is Achilles, said to be the greatest warrior of all time, but played by Brad Pitt as if he doesn't believe it. If Achilles was anything, he was a man who believed his own press releases. Heroes are not introspective in Greek drama, they do not have second thoughts, and they are not conflicted.

Achilles is all of these things. He mopes on the flanks of the Greek army with his own independent band of fighters, carrying out a separate diplomatic policy, kind of like Ollie North. He thinks Agamemnon is a poor leader with bad strategy and doesn't really get worked up until his beloved cousin Patroclus (Garrett Hedlund) is killed in battle.

Patroclus, who looks a little like Achilles, wears his helmet and armor to fool the enemy, and until the helmet is removed everyone thinks that Achilles has been slain. So dramatic is that development that the movie shows perhaps 100,000 men in hand-to-hand combat, and then completely forgets them in order to focus on the Patroclus battle scene, with everybody standing around like during a fight on the playground.

Pitt is a good actor and a handsome man, and he worked out for six months to get buff for the role, but Achilles is not a character he inhabits comfortably. Say what you will about Charlton Heston and Victor Mature, but one good way to carry off a sword-and-sandal epic is to be filmed by a camera down around your knees, while you intone quasi-formal prose in a heroic baritone. Pitt is modern, nuanced, introspective; he brings complexity to a role where it is not required.

By treating Achilles and the other characters as if they were human, instead of the larger-than-life creations of Greek myth, director Wolfgang Petersen miscalculates. What happens in Greek myth cannot happen between psychologically plausible characters. That's the whole point of myth. Great films like Michael Cacoyannis' "Elektra," about the murder of Agamemnon after the Trojan War, know that and use a stark dramatic approach that is deliberately stylized. Of course, "Elektra" wouldn't work for a multiplex audience, but then maybe it shouldn't.

The best scene in the movie has Peter O'Toole creating an island of drama and emotion in the middle of all that plodding dialogue. He plays old King Priam of Troy, who at night ventures outside his walls and into the enemy camp, surprising Achilles in his tent. Achilles has defeated Priam's son Hector in hand-to-hand combat before the walls of Troy, and dragged his body back to camp behind his chariot. Now Priam asks that the body be returned for proper preparation and burial. This scene is given the time and attention it needs to build its mood, and we believe it when Achilles tells Priam, "You're a far better king than the one who leads this army." O'Toole's presence is a reminder of "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), which I saw again two weeks ago, and which proved that patience with dialogue and character is more important than action in making war movies work.

As for the Greek cities themselves, a cliche from the old Hollywood epics has remained intact. This is the convention that whenever a battle of great drama takes place, all the important characters have box seats for it. When Achilles battles Hector before the walls of Troy, for example, Priam and his family have a sort of viewing stand right at the front of the palace, and we get the usual crowd reaction shots, some of them awkward closeups of actresses told to look grieved.

In a way, "Troy" resembles "The Alamo." Both are about fortresses under siege. Both are defeated because of faulty night watchmen. The Mexicans sneak up on the Alamo undetected, and absolutely nobody is awake to see the Greeks climbing out of the Trojan Horse. One difference between the two movies is that Billy Bob Thornton and the other "Alamo" actors are given evocative dialogue, and deliver it well, while "Troy" provides dialogue that probably cannot be delivered well because it would sound even sillier that way.

[LeslieAGD]

Originally posted by James
Ebert: http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert...s-troy14f.html

BY ROGER EBERT

Chief among their leaders is Achilles, said to be the greatest warrior of all time, but played by Brad Pitt as if he doesn't believe it. If Achilles was anything, he was a man who believed his own press releases. Heroes are not introspective in Greek drama, they do not have second thoughts, and they are not conflicted.

Pitt is a good actor and a handsome man, and he worked out for six months to get buff for the role, but Achilles is not a character he inhabits comfortably.
... he brings complexity to a role where it is not required.

Geez, Ebert's ripping into Brad Pitt as if Pitt wrote and directed the movie, instead of starred in it. Ebert only makes one comment about how "director Wolfgang Petersen miscalculates." I'm sure that Pitt did not interpret the character of Achilles the way Ebert describes...the script obviously painted him that way!

[James]

Crush on Brad much lol?

What you are saying is true, but the script is not a static thing, the actor has a lot of input. Also . . .if he was up for best picture h would get the credit for character development etc . . so when it goes bad . . he gets the blame.

Originally posted by LeslieAGD
Geez, Ebert's ripping into Brad Pitt as if Pitt wrote and directed the movie, instead of starred in it. Ebert only makes one comment about how "director Wolfgang Petersen miscalculates." I'm sure that Pitt did not interpret the character of Achilles the way Ebert describes...the script obviously painted him that way!

[Sistermadly]

To quote Blaine and Antoine: "Hated It!"

This movie was so bad, I don't know where to begin. Brad Pitt was uninspired, cold, and just plain dull to watch. He might've had a bit of redeeming value if he'd camped it up a bit, but he just seemed deeply uncommitted to the performance. It's as if the only direction Petersen gave him was to glisten and glower, and while he did enough of that for two-and-a-half FREAKING hours, he was about as emotive as the beige paint on the walls of my apartment.

Even Peter O'Toole couldn't hide the fact that he was aware that he was knee deep in a stinker, but the scene between Achilles and Priam was touching.

If it weren't for Eric Bana and Brian Cox, I probably would've walked out on the movie much earlier. Oh, and Orlando Bloom still looks like a chihuahua, although he was perfectly cast as a love-sick punk who thought more with his hoo-hoo than his brain.

I want my $8.95 back.

[Sistermadly]

Oh, and the best part about the movie happened after the Trojan horse bit. Someone in my theatre actually gasped in surprise.

Is there anyone alive who doesn't know this story? Hello? Hasn't EVERYONE heard the phrase "Trojan horse"? I wanted to smack the girl who gasped upside the head with my copy of the Iliad, instead I think I'll save that for any possible encounters with the screenwriter.

I still want my $8.95 back.

[Sistermadly]

Originally posted by AXiD670
ETA: how many Oscar nominations do you think this movie will get (if any)? Will it be "the big one" for Brad?

Dear G*d, if this man gets nominated for this dreck, I'll have lost what little faith I still have in the Academy.

[James]

LMAO Sistermadly Please tell us what yoiu really think, stop holding back so much!

[James]

Well when Hecto died, I felt bad for Hector . . .

But I thought that wasa good scene. You could see that Hector didn't expect to win, he had mentally lost before he went outside.

You could kind of feel how bad that must have been.

What do you guys think of Paris running away from the personal conflict with menelaus? Was he a coward? Masculine virtues says he should have stayed and died, but perhaps women would see it differently? Maybe he just took the commom sense route?

Originally posted by LeslieAGD
My boyfriend and I were having this conversation too, and I totally agree. Most "battle movies" are usually partial or do not do a very good job of portraying both sides of the story. The writers/director did a great job of making the audience sympathetic to both the Greeks and Trojans (excluding Agamemnon). When Patroclus died, you felt bad for Achilles...When Hector died, you felt bad for Priam, etc.