Review of Troy (2004) by Filipeneto — 13 Feb 2018

A great epic with a confused script.

This film is an adaptation of Greek myths and legends surrounding the war between Greeks and Trojans. According to legend, Troy was besieged for ten years and only fell when the Greeks deceived them with a wooden horse. The film also tells the mith of Achilles. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, this epic film has screenplay by David Beniof based on Homer's Iliad, and a good cast with the participation of Brad Pitt (as Achilles), Eric Bana (as Hector), Orlando Bloom (as Paris), Diane Kruger ( as Helen), Brian Cox (as Agamemnon, the Greek king), Brendan Gleeson (as Menelaus, the Spartan king) and Peter O'Toole (as Priam, the Trojan king).

This type of epics, whether mythological or biblical, has an important feature: the whole script, scenery and costumes must be carefully written and planned because the audience knows the story beforehand and is waiting for something consistent with what she know. And this film managed to comply with this feature, although its too far from Homer at various moments. Visually, the film is excellent, with great costumes, scenery, photography, sound and visual effects. Some of the performances also surprised by the depth and drama, like Peter O'Toole in the role of Priam. Brad Pitt also performed very well, although his character doesn't leave room for him to show all his talent.

The big problem of this movie is the script, which tries to mix various Greek myths with the story of Homer's Iliad, ending up lost and confused by too much information. Consequently, there are characters in the film that have great relevance but hardly appear in the myth (Briseis and Patroclus for example), whereas other characters that mythology values ​​will end up virtually disappeared in the film (Cassandra and Ulysses are obvious examples). Another "victim" of this poorly thought out script was Achilles, a central character in the film, beautifully played by Pitt but a shadow of mythological Achilles, which has a much greater depth and psychological wealth, something that the script didn't know or didn't want to explore. I'm sure that Brad Pitt would have been up to the challenge if writer had followed that path. Unfortunately, he chose to value other things, almost creating sub-plots that then kills at birth by not giving them continuity. There are also characters and situations that arise and only those who know the Greek mythology understand why, because the film doesn't give them any explanation or follow-up. For example, the sudden and momentary appearance of Aeneas at the end of the movie... only who knows the mythology will know that Aeneas is one of the names associated with the founding of Rome.

This movie is a good movie, with good actors and a good story. It would be an even better movie if script was better but, nevertheless, worth seeing it.