Troy (Special Edition) (DVD)

...sail and the siege of Troy begins.

I expect many of you are familiar with this plot if perhaps not all the character and place names or the political complexities of the story. It is a huge advantage for director Wolfgang Peterson that we know this tale, it is more of an advantage that we don't really know this tale. How many of us have actually ploughed through Homer's epic? Chances are though, if I say 'Achilles heel' or 'Trojan ...
...power hungry monster only attacking Troy to feed his own megalomania. So we want Paris and Hector to win and the Greeks to be sent packing, right? Well the situation's a little more complex than all that. Firstly we have the seemingly kind and noble King of Ithaca who is also fighting for Greece. That though is happily explained away by Odysseus' reticence to go to war and his disdain for Agamemnon. The only real problem here is Achilles. The audience ... more

The first blockbuster of the summer is a loose retelling of the epic poem 'The Iliad'. The tale is one of love, honour and patriotism; but mostly of warfare. The young Trojan Princes Paris (Orlando Bloom) and Hector (Eric Bana) are on a diplomatic mission across the Aegean Sea in the Kingdom of Sparta when Paris meets Sparta's young queen Helen (Diane Kruger). The pair fall in love immediately and being unable to bear parting Paris steals Helen away, much to the fury of her husband Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) and Helen of Sparta becomes Helen of Troy. Menelaus is determined to get Helen back (if only to kill her with his own hands) and so enlists the help of his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) who has already achieved his goal of ruling over all the Kings of Greece and seizes the opportunity to unite a force to conquer Troy. Agamemnon's previous victories have been largely due to Greece's greatest warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt). Reluctant to go to war for a King he despises Achilles is finally persuaded to fight by the King of Ithaca Odysseus (Sean Bean) not for Agamemnon, not for Greece and not for Helen but for himself, for glory and immortality. So led by their fiercest warrior the Greeks set sail and the siege of Troy begins.

I expect many of you are familiar with this plot if perhaps not all the character and place names or the political complexities of the story. It is a huge advantage for director Wolfgang Peterson that we know this tale, it is more of an advantage that we don't really know this tale. How many of us have actually ploughed through Homer's epic? Chances are though, if I say 'Achilles heel' or 'Trojan Horse' you will know what I am talking about. Peterson uses this recognition and what we get in 'Troy' is an amalgam, a mixture of the aforementioned Iliad, Virgil's Aenead and various other texts, which produces a kind of greatest hits package of the legendary Trojan War. As a narrative it works relatively well considering the unenviable task that faced screenwriter David Benioff; how do you make this work on screen? The legend is told as a history rather than a myth and perhaps the most noticeable difference between 'Troy' and Homer's work is the absence of the gods, there are no bearded men sat on clouds with thunderbolts in this film (which I'm sure will disappoint some of you).

‘Troy’ then is presented as a historical epic, not a mythical fantasy. Director Wolfgang Peterson, previously responsible for entertaining but uninspired work like ‘Air Force One’ and ‘The Perfect Storm’, has clearly decided to play this one straight (in every sense of the word, but I'll come to that later). Surprising then the first third of this film is actually very funny. From its opening with hokey captions (the funniest being '3200 years ago' - I expected '...last Tuesday' to pop up afterwards) and Sheffield tinged narration by Bean, this feels like a light-hearted actioner, where period and men in skirts just serve as gimmicks. This opening section of the film is extremely entertaining (if, in keeping with Peterson’s other work, uninspired) raising wry smiles and gasps at impressive stunts and feeling very much like 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'. The dialogue is far too modern, Pitt's performance seems full of irony (and his American accent doesn't help) and it plays like enjoyable hokum. Somewhere along the way though the tone changes totally and by the end we are watching a serious epic. This could have been jarring but the change is handled so deftly by Peterson you don't even notice it and it really makes for a far more rounded cinematic experience, seemingly combining both possible filmed adaptations. This said the action can still descend into pantomime on occasion.

“Where’s the Greek Army?”

(all together) “They’re behind you”.

What struggles more is the essence of the film, and its inability to relate to modern audiences' morals and perhaps more importantly cinematic expectations. To begin with we are given an obvious choice in the question of who to side with, the two stocky, middle aged, bearded brutes or the four deep, brown, sensitive pools that form the eyes of Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana (it's pretty clear which family has the better genes). It seems like a good versus evil no brainer, Helen was clearly poorly treated by her husband and forced to marry him in the first place, besides which Agamemnon is a power hungry monster only attacking Troy to feed his own megalomania. So we want Paris and Hector to win and the Greeks to be sent packing, right? Well the situation's a little more complex than all that. Firstly we have the seemingly kind and noble King of Ithaca who is also fighting for Greece. That though is happily explained away by Odysseus' reticence to go to war and his disdain for Agamemnon. The only real problem here is Achilles. The audience is told to love and admire Achilles, he is our hero the man on the posters, a demi-god of a warrior yet a just and honourable man (and of course the blonde haired blue eyed Pitt doesn't hurt his appeal) and he as well is fighting against the Trojan Princes. Roll on Patroclus (who in another notable change is now Achilles' cousin rather than his protégé and lover) who makes Achilles' fight personal and supposedly justifies his actions (though personally I think a lover would have given more justification than a cousin); which arguably complicates our alliances further still. So despite Benioff’s attempts to make this simple, as an audience you just don't know where your loyalty lies. A greater problem than all this however is the notion of the almost chivalric honour that drives most of the film’s action. In modern times it seems confused and ridiculous, causing unnecessary deaths and condoning the most barbaric acts whilst condemning others. It makes the story's climax (which I am sure many of you are familiar with but will refrain from mentioning for the benefit of others) frustrating and upsetting and leaves a modern audience wondering what the point of all this was. This is not Peterson or the script's fault, it just means this story may not be the best choice to adapt for a modern viewer.

What also represents choices with mixed success is the film's casting. The three stand out performances are from the male members of the Trojan royal family Hector, Paris and their father Priam (Peter O'Toole). Huge praise goes to Bana for creating a full and rounded hero, the only true hero of the film. Bana presents utterly believable nobility and wins over the audience totally. Orlando Bloom proves his mettle here for me. As a teen heartthrob with a reputation for playing the kind of matinee idols that girls everywhere fall for, Paris is an extremely clever choice of role on his part. Paris is a man who women love a Prince who has never had to prove himself and when the chance finally comes he fails, totally. Bloom creates a weak and callow figure filling Paris with a childlike petulance and unfounded arrogance. There is no attempt to cover up the fact it is Paris’ cowardice and selfishness that lead his country into a bloody war (although he does turn into Legolas before the film’s end). So then a pretty boy with no substance who hides behind a stronger man: This is exactly the sort of criticism levelled at Bloom (substitute man with film or actor) by (probably jealous, male) film critics and that's why I think casting him is genius. Ironically, it is in this performance that Bloom does prove his worth and it should hopefully silence those dissenters. O'Toole is just wonderful and a joy to watch, for me he is vital in securing our Trojan sympathies (even with his constant kissing of everyone). I of course have to talk about Pitt's performance, which is unfortunate, as for me it was adequate but underwhelming. In a film full of English accents he is the token American hero (much like Costner's Robin Hood) and his ineffectual and extremely knowing performance leaves Achilles far from being the hero of the piece when compared with the more complete and believable Hector. The rest of the cast are successful to varying degrees (Brian Cox great, Sean Bean laughable) with the only obvious stinker being Diane Kruger's uninspired and lack lustre turn as 'the face that launched 1000 ships'. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but in a film full of beautiful women I expected something more spectacular. She has no sparkle and as such Paris' actions seem inspired by youthful stupidity rather than true love (you just don't feel she would inspire such strength of emotion). The worst thing about her performance is her pronunciation of Menelaus, I'm getting annoyed just thinking about it.

Visually there are two memorable things about 'Troy': realistic, brutal and brilliant battle scenes and copious amounts of male nudity. The special effects are handled beautifully, getting the balance totally right between huge, sweeping CGI shots and close up hand to hand combat (complete with lots of blood packs and some almost balletic fight choreography). The battle scenes are hugely entertaining and will not doubt have you wincing as spear meets flesh. That other visual theme is astonishing, I have never seen a film so worship the male form and in an medium where you normally have long adoring shots of female flesh while the man stays fully clothed this is certainly refreshing. The film is almost a love letter to biceps, deltoids and pecs (mostly those belonging to Mr. Pitt and Mr. Bloom) and had my jaw on the floor in admiration more than once. If you're watching this for the boys, you won't be disappointed. In fact considering all references to homosexuality have been cut from the plot, the film is still extremely homoerotic, both in its Top Gunesque camaraderie and its lingering shots of sweaty men (and they do an awful lot of kissing over in Troy).

The rest is exactly what you would expect from a film rumoured to have topped the $200 000 000 mark. The sets are lavish, the props numerous and authentic and the costumes beautiful. To help us be sure we know who's on our chosen team Costume Designer Bob Ringwood has created two very different looks for the opposing armies, the Greeks are simple and warlike and the Trojans ornate, almost Aztec in appearance. Moreover all throughout the city of Troy we are treated to an extremely elaborate and complete world. There may be no gods in the film but Troy itself looks like a land fit for the deities, right down to the Princesses' golden laurels. The production design team has really gone to town and it helps give the film a sense of gravitas that it is being treated like an epic on every level. When it comes to music, Composer James Horner mixes more traditional sweeping orchestral movements (best known from his Oscar winning Titanic score) with middle eastern flavours and most interestingly a lot of percussion, which works particularly well in the fight between our two heroes Hector and Achilles. In fact sound in general deserves a mention when discussing ‘Troy’ the Foley Artists have done a fantastic job creating some jaw cracking, face squelching sound effects that give the fights an impressive rawness and reality.

A flawed film then, that has some difficulty telling a tale about pointless war filled with acts of unnecessary pride and misplaced or confused acts of honour. A film that takes a 10-year siege and condenses it into what feels like three weeks. A film that ends with an event most of us know is coming; but that still feels devastating and lacking in any of the honour everyone’s spent the last two hours harping on about. A film that can be so unintentionally funny that it's almost embarrassing (if anyone can sit through Odysseus looking at one of his men whittling a little wooden horse and the look on his face when a light bulb basically appears above his head and not laugh, or not once shout "Go for the heel!" then I'll give them a tenner). A film, however that is so consistently entertaining for its entire 163 minute duration that to penalise it for these flaws seems like petty folly. This is four star entertainment and you're going to love it (despite what the highbrow press tell you). I wholeheartedly recommend a trip to your multiplex.

Rated 15 for some violent battle scenes and the previously mentioned nudity (sorry girls it’s not full frontal). 

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