Review of Troy (2004) by Dawdlingpoet — 24 Nov 2021

Troy is a depiction of a war epic, on a pretty big scale, so thats how I would categorise it as far as genres are concerned. It must have had a fairly high budget, given the cast, the special effects, the smooth cinematography and so on. Theme wise, obviously greek mythology plays a big part and the characters determination to fight and defend their land also applies.Of course there's also the more general theme of the devastation of war at play and of power in general.

From early on in this film, it felt like an epic. It features plenty of impressively wide, long sweeping camera shots, giving you an idea of the vastness of certain landscapes, the number of people involved and so on. I felt that it seemed quite immersive, with a good use of instrumentals accompanying 'filler scenes' with no dialogue, while we watch a character, or characters, move forward. It has quite an ominous feel to it, partly due to said music score - think banging drums and stringed instruments creating a sort of a marching beat.

While it is understandably/suitably serious in parts, there are some moments of which are more light hearted. It paints quite an image of what the people of the time may have been like - their hopes and worries during such an unstable time. I could feel the characters (both male and female) concern in how they talked - that is to say that the performances did seem quite realistic. Perhaps this is moreso the case with Orlando Blooms portrayal of Paris of Troy. I ocassionally felt like his performance seemed slightly contrived or overexaggerated but mostly I thought he did a good job overall. On the other hand, one of the other well-known stars in this film is, of course, Brad Pitt, who plays Achilles. I didn't feel that his performance was especially notable, either good or bad, as he seemed to mostly be straight acting and not providing a great deal of emotion - certainly not in the first half of the film anyway. Achilles does seem like rather an unfeeling type, although that does change as the plot develops. However, overall I didn't feel that Pitt's portrayal was especially memorable.

Carrying on, cast-wise and also present are Eric Bana, who portrays Hector, Brian Cox as Agamemnon and Diane Kruger as Helen (as in Helen of Troy). I felt that Diane Kruger did give a particularly good performance as well, with Helen seeming both frightened and concerned and also somehow headstrong, which impressed me.

I noticed that some of the action/fight scenes started surprisingly quickly, seemingly out of the blue on ocassion and as such took me by surprise. I think it'd be fair to say that this film isn't ideal for the particularly squeamish!. I liked the mix of battle scenes and the more subdued scenes, with characters revealing their concerns and emotional states inbetween.

Content wise, the film contains strong bloody battle violence, some mild profanity and some of the bigger battle, or fight, scenes seem quite intense and could frighten particularly young viewers. There are also some scenes of partial nudity (nothing very graphic) and one or two sex references. This film carries a 15 rating to reflect this. Criticism wise, about all I can think to say is that the film is quite long, running for a little over 2 and a half hours long. I do tend to prefer shorter films but I'd read/heard good things about this title and so I decided to make some time to watch it and I'm glad I did. Otherwise, obviously (as mentioned) there is some relatively bloody violence shown, which may upset or disturb some people but I can't really think of anything much else to add as far as disadvantages are concerned.

Yes I'd recommend this film. It is quite an 'epic', with good characterisation via a good cast, some great camera shots, a good use of instrumental music and fight scenes that really kept me on the edge of my seat.