CATRIONA PAUL at the movies.

TAKINGS AT the box office may have been disappointing, but this blockbuster is surprisingly good. Nowhere else but on film would the ancient worlds of the Med be recreated so richly. Brad glitters as Achilles; Eric Bana is convincingly noble as Hector. Yet it’s had nowhere near the success of its Roman forerunner, Gladiator.

The trouble with Troy? Its epic proportions get in the way.
 
The film is loosely based on Homer’s poem The Iliad. David Benioff’s screenplay has a more obvious baddie – Greek King Agamemnon, intent on the conquest of Troy. He needs the help of the world’s best freelance soldier, Achilles, if he is to win. The film spends most of its time impressing us in battle.

Benioff reduced the assault on Troy from 10 years to roughly a fortnight and cut the gods from the cast list. A pity that the ruthless edit didn’t continue. In Troy, they’ve allowed central characters to jostle for our attention. Thus, we form a serious attachment to none.

How you direct such a diverse looking – and sounding – bunch of actors without ancient Greece beginning to look like a Coke commercial (every smiley race represented), was a point overlooked by Petersen. Brian Cox in the role of Agamemnon was regrettable. A Scottish accent still traceable, Cox hamming it up horribly, and a ridiculous coiffure of ringlets adding to the delusion.

Pitt makes more sense as Achilles. As he swoops in for his first kill of the film, you become transfixed by his physicality – a golden warrior-athlete.

Troy works as a bitesize intro to the classical world for all those young-uns who know nothing about the Greeks and the Trojans. It’s a bold attempt to tell an epic, but the characters lack depth and the film tries to cover too much legend. Nevertheless, points for effort, budget and Brad.
 
TROY
General release, selected cinemas.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Writer: Homer (The Iliad); David Benioff (screenplay)
Stars: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Peter O’Toole, Sean Bean, Julian Glover, Brendan Gleeson, Diane Kruger, Saffron Burrows, Rose Byrne, Julie Christie,
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 163 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2004
 

© Catriona Paul, 2004