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.

‘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.

(all together) “They’re behind you”.

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

Pictures of Troy (Special Edition) (DVD)

I just need to roll over the top of you slightly, you're blocking my light

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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.