Whilst on a diplomatic trip into the Aegean Sea, a young Trojan prince, Paris, has embarked on a passionate affair with the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, Helen. Such is the strength of their feeling toward one another that they decide that they can no longer bear to be separated and when Paris sets sail in the morning with his elder brother Hector, Helen is stowed away on board. When Menelaus realises that his young bride has gone missing he quickly finds out that she has sailed away with the Trojans, and in a blind rage he engages the support of his brother Agamemnon to declare war on the Trojans. Agamemnon is fairly delighted at the prospect of further increasing the size of his empire and readily agrees to the proposal. But Agamemnon’s chief advisor is quick to remind him that his previous victories have generally been as a result of one warrior named Achilles. Without Achilles, Agamemnon’s chances are greatly reduced, but he and the impetuous young fighter remain estranged and neither is inclined to forgive the other. Finally, with the involvement of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, Achilles agrees to fight for Agamemnon and the stage is set for one of the greatest battles of all time – the siege of Troy. But victory for Agamemnon will not be the easy task that he suspects.

Other characters are also equally misplaced. Sean Bean’s continuing cinematic popularity continues to astound me and here he gives a fine performance of a Yorkshire-man cum Greek king. Hmm. Orlando Bloom is quite fetching as the young prince Paris, but I never felt as though he had any real conviction – he seemed to be there to make up the numbers. Eric Bana’s Prince Hector is infinitely more likeable than any of the other characters but this only means that his eventual demise is all the more distressing. To be honest, it was more the elder members of the cast that interested me. The war-mongering Agamemnon and his caustic commentary felt much more at home than Brad Pitt’s preening and posturing through an American accent that was held at bay only by his gritted white teeth.

The battle scenes ARE quite impressive. Hordes of Greek ships crossing the sea make for a stunning aerial shot and the scale of things simply has to be admired. I felt that the director’s vision was appropriate to the story and that whilst he was adventurous he was also realistic. The terrain is therefore used to great effect. There is one particularly effective scene, for example, where the Trojans use a couple of nifty tricks to bombard the Greek soldiers camped out on the beaches. The large-scale scenes of combat are also very effective although it has to be said that at times the action is so fast and noisy that you lose any real feeling of being able to see what’s going on. There is lots of swordplay, some quite brutal hand-to-hand combat and the usual devastation caused by hundreds of men running at hundreds of other men holding spears and spikes. These are battle scenes that thrive on quantity and chaos rather than detail and perfection.