Even those who know no history have heard of Helen of Troy reportedly the most beautiful woman in the world, once bride to King Menelaus, she was either kidnapped by or willingly accompanied the Trojan Prince Paris, who took her back to his fathers kingdom. Menelaus and his brother, the warlord King Agamemnon, sailed off with the Greek armies to get Helen back. However, Troy was surrounded by an impregnable high wall and defended by some pretty formidable fighters. The ensuing conflict lasted for over a decade.
In most of the old mythology, the whole situation is caused by quarreling gods. Here, the gods only appear in the dialogue. Paris (Orlando Bloom) and his elder brother, respected warrior Crown Prince Hector (Eric Bana), are in Sparta to negotiate a peace treaty with that countrys ruler, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). Paris and Helen (Diane Kruger) fall for each other like a pair of puppies. After Paris smuggles his love aboard the ship bound for Troy, Hector is appalled, but recognizes that any attempt to smooth things over will get his beloved little brother killed, as Paris refuses to send Helen back alone. While Troys King Priam (Peter OToole) welcomes his younger sons lover, Menelaus is bellowing for vengeance. As Menelaus brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) has managed to conquer and absorb all of the smaller neighboring kingdoms into Greece, he is overjoyed at the excuse to take on Troy. Agamemnon doesnt perceive his biggest problem in this endeavor to be the historically impregnable walls of Troy, nor Hectors fearsome reputation as a warrior. Greek warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt), leader of the ferocious Myrmidons, despises his nominal leader and frequently refuses his orders; his defiance is a constant source of fury to Agamemnon. Even so, at the urging of the persuasive King Odysseus (Sean Bean), Achilles voyages to Troy with the rest of the Greek armies.
There are many things to enjoy here, including some excellent swordplay and a few really interesting riffs on the nature of heroism and decency. Kudos also to whoever thought of casting Bana and Bloom as brothers; they are strikingly similar here in appearance and exude a convincing sibling bond. To an almost equal extent, the same is true of Cox and Gleeson. The clash of armies is impressive though for at least the foreseeable future, every movie in the ancient warfare genre is going to find itself compared to LORD OF THE RINGS.
There are, however, some odd departures from every known version of this story, starting with the length of the war Hectors infant son is still an infant at the end of the film, which means that a siege famous for its back-breaking length is now tidily wrapped up in a relatively short period of time, which in turn alters much of the meaning of the tale. When we dont see Queen Hecuba or Princess Cassandra anywhere, we will be correct in guessing that story elements that led to Euripides THE TROJAN WOMEN will likewise be absent.
In fact, TROY emerges as overall surprisingly non-tragic its a serious drama (at least, when it doesnt get unintentionally funny in its dialogue), but it mostly lacks the gut-clenching epic misery associated with this legend. On the other hand, the filmmakers do come up with a few scenes that resonate when OTooles Priam begs a favor of an enemy, TROY does hit a note of epic sorrow, while Helens soothing explanation to a despondent Paris of how and why she can love a less than courageous man is psychologically sound. Then again, sometimes you have to wonder what on Earth the filmmakers were thinking: a line like If they tell stories about me is dicey enough without giving it to Odysseus (Sean Bean), a figure who has an entire style of storytelling named for him.
It helps that Bana gives a really magnetic performance he is convincing as a principled man who has spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to be a good leader and a loving sibling and is having Hells own time reconciling the two. Bloom is good as the nave and tentative Paris. Cox conveys wily aggression and ambition as Agamemnon and Gleeson does a good job of balancing Menelaus own ferocity with deference to his brother, setting up an interesting skewed mirror effect between the Greek kings and the Trojan princes. Bean is convincingly subtle and wise, while OToole tackles Priam as though hes doing Shakespeare. Kruger is suitably lovely, while Saffron Burrows makes the most of Hectors worried wife. However, Brad Pitt as Achilles, while he looks great in the role, seems firmly American and contemporary, which has a jarring effect on the mood in places.
There are moments of glory in TROY, moments of sheer loopiness, and a lot of good if not groundbreaking spectacle in the middle. Its not great, but its certainly watchable.
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