Just saw "Troy".

[MoonRiver]

It was a wonderful movie! My husband was upset because he thought it portrayed war and warriors as glamorous. His point was that due to the current horrific state of affairs in Iraq we hardly need such imagery. I agree but I like it nevertheless.

Btw, Brad Pitt absolutely SIZZLED :nuke: as Achilles! Yowza!! Ladies watch the movie just to ogle this hunk! :P

[Cleita]

1. Well, I have read the Iliad, in several translations quite a few

times during my life starting when I was twenty. Of course the Iliad is a small part of the whole story, which the bards wrote about. I have read all of it including the Tragedies. I am looking forward to seeing this new movie about Troy. However, I understand that they don't bring the gods into the story that much. I think the gods were the best part. IMHO.

[MoonRiver]

2. They do bring the gods in. The gods are pivatal to what happened

to Troy. Troy's king was quite religious, and followed his priests' advice even in defiance of military intelligence and his beloved sons' opinions. The king's reliance on religion actually doomed Troy. He brought in the "horse" on the priests' advise that it was an offering to the gods. His son was highly suspicious and wanted him to burn it. The rest is history, according to Homer.

[Cleita]

3. It;'s not the way in the stories. The gods affected the outcome

because the were taking sides and affecting the outcome. It's not the same as someone relying on the gods too much and doing the wrong thing. In the Homeric tales, the gods were in charge and it was destiny. It really was a tale of the gods having it out with each other. The humans were chess pieces.

[MoonRiver]

4. Oh, I see what you mean.

(Excuse the ignorance of a psychology major!) No, that was definitely not part of the story, except in paranoid ideations of the players.

[Liberal Christian]

5. I saw it last week

And thought it was one of the worst movies I'd seen in years.

It never got away from telling the audience, "Look at me! I'm An Important Epic Film!"

I thought the writing was horrendous, the dialogue stilted.

Aside from Peter O'Toole and maybe Eric Bana, the acting was terrible. Brad Pitt looks good in a leather miniskirt, but he cannot act his way out of a paper bag.

Orlando Bloom's Paris was spineless, weak, and completely ineffectual.

Helen, "the face that launched a thousand ships," might have been beautiful enough to crack a bottle of champagne over the bow of a sailboat in a Connecticut yacht club, but that's about it.

Peter O'Toole, in one brief scene, decided to be a professional actor. He showed us why the rest of that cast were merely celebrities.

(edited for typo)

[AlCzervik]

6. I thought is was horrible

"Helen's left....with the Trojans!" That did it for me, i thought for a bit it was going to be the Airplane of the sword and sandal movies. Peter O'Toole must have needed the money.

[wickerwoman]

7. But Paris is spineless, weak and ineffectual.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but my take on the character is that he's a bit of a pretty boy over-shadowed by his macho brother, Hector.

[MoonRiver]

8. That's correct. Hector is the good guy he-man. Very cool.

Paris is a cowardly but outwardly appealing womanizer, who snatches Helen from her elderly Spartan husband. Achilles is the born to kill, but inwardly tortured and ethically conflicted, philosopher of life. Plus, a hunk a hunk a burning love!

[kid_nz]

10. OH THANK YOU!

I've been surrounded by people saying things like, "oh, I thought it was alright" and "no, it' was good fun!".

Honestly, have our film standards stooped so low as to completely overlook not only, as you say, bad acting and writing, but a whole HOST of film no-nos, even for Hollywood!

1 you could be a complete musical idiot (*raising hand*) and recognize that the score was heavy handed and inept,
2 the editing was completely ridiculous
3 the directing was positively amateurish
4 last but not least, my DOG could have done a better make-up job.

For pete's sake, where did all the money go??? The ships weren't THAT impressive.

Honestly, if it hadn't been for Eric Bana's performance, there would have been little reason to keep watching the film. Unfortunately, he dies 3/4 of the way through, and then I only stayed to watch the rest just because of how much a flipping ticket cost me.

The 'celebrity' factor was painfully apparent. In fact, I realized about 30 min. into the film that the big name actors were really only in there woodenly delivering (and clearly believing in) their own hype in place of actual acting.

There's 2+hrs of my life I'll never get back.

[Liberal Christian]

15. Out here in the hinterlands

You can get into any movie before 6pm for $4.75. At least my friend and I who spent the three hours in the theater on this piece of crap didn't pay too much. I just wish we'd picked a better restaurant for dinner, though. Oh well.

[oasis]

12. "wet" paper bag (n/t)

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[K8-EEE]

11. I Heard One Critic Say That This Actress's Face...

was good for one or two ships, tops!

OUCH!

[CaptainClark23]

13. Homer rolls over in grave.

Menalaeus dies.

Achilles dies within Troy's walls, while trying to find a pretty slave.

Helen and Paris ESCAPE and presumably live happily ever after.


This film is an insult. Some cool sword fights, I wouldn't toss Brad Pitt outta bed for eating crackers, but I am enraged.

OK< long time fan of the Homeric Epics, couldn't you tell? I believe in creative license when adapting works to film, but this is beyond the pale.

[Cat Atomic]

14. So much of it was... I don't know... "pop-ified".

The best example I can think of was how Achilles was this brooding, disaffected rogue sort of guy with insights into the human condition, and a healthy mistrust of authority.

That's a modern anti-hero. It's not very 1000 B.C. This Achilles would be at home on 21 Jump Street.

And there were all sorts of other things like this. Characters were simplified to the point that they had all the depth of a puddle. Menalaeus was a cartoon- an absolute cartoon.

But you know what the worst thing is?

I enjoyed it, too.

:D