*** Official TROY Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Joe Schwartz]

I thought it was an enjoyable popcorn flick, but I probably won't buy it on DVD. Here's the only question I have, for those who have already seen the movie:

When Hector kills Patroclus (who's posing as Achilles), is Brad Pitt playing Patroclus? I was totally fooled by that scene, wondering how Hector could have killed Achilles so easily.

 

[Nick Sievers]

No need for spoilers in this thread, Joe.

I couldn't tell if it was Pitt or not, but there weren't a lot of close ups in that scene. I've never read The Illiad so I was fooled until his throat was cut. But people in the audience seemed to think it was Achilles until he was unmmasked because I heard a couple of people say "Ohhhh it wasn't Brad Pitt".

Did anyone else find it strange in that scene that about 20,000 people were fighting but when Hector/Patroclus starting fighting everyone stopped to watch? I was half expecting the soldiers to start saying "kick his ass Hector".

 

[Tim Glover]

Hey Gary,
some of his acting is stiff. I think he's at his best when he has a strong supporting cast. But then again I thought Orlando Bloom was a little uninspired at times too.

Saw this tonight. Good, but not great. Perhaps I will see this again but felt kind of long for me. I like epic style movies too. Something was missing for me in this one. Surprisingly, the best performance was Eric Bana's role as Hector.

The battle sequences are very good. Some are terrific. the ones that really work elevate the film. The Achilles vs. Hector duel is the best of the film.

Some of the facial expressions that Pitt makes when the King of Troy visits him in the night are strange.

Brad Pitt seems to be a nice guy and he's a pretty good actor. I hope this film is successful for him, but something tells me this will not earn back what it cost.

 

[Nick Sievers]

Orlando's best scene was his fight with Brendan Gleeson's character, I loved the part when he is crawling away clutching onto Hector.

 

[ToddP]

I thought it was good, not great. In my mind it could have been so much more, and I was left feeling a little disappointed. After all, this was my most anticipated movie of '04. I thought Orlando Bloom was very weak in his role, and Brad Pitt has definitely been better. I'm struggling between 3 and 3 1/2 stars (out of 5). I agree that the score was very average. I heard blatent Braveheart ripoffs (a far superior score) at least a half a dozen times.

Again, I liked the movie, but was far from being blown away (as I had hoped to be). In my opinion, definitely not as good a movie as Braveheart or Gladiator...which seem to be the most comparible movies that come to one's mind.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

The unthinkable has happened !The city where i live at here in Greece actually got the movie at the local theatre yesterday !The reason i say that, is rarely do they have a premiere the same day as USA.It was a packed theatre , i would rank the movie about as good as gladiator.Except gladiator has a better score.

 

[Jeremy Allin]

Heh, I've got that beat Nick! Most in the audience at my showing last realized it wasn't Achilles when he was unmasked, but many didn't even notice it then! They didn't realize it wasn't him until Pitt showed up onscreen a few moments later!

Great movie, thoroughly enjoyed it. Couple of random thoughts.

1. Was the hulking brute at the beginning CG during his establishing shot (and obviously during the death blow)? He moved really odd. Maybe just because of his height.

2. Did anyone else's audience start chuckling when Achilles kept yelling, "HECTOR!" to call him out?

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Not at mine but I kept wanting to yell "In a minute!!"

 

[Matt Stone]

I echo the good but not great comments. I thought Pitt was good, but Bana really turned out a great performance. While I still think Gladiator is a better film (more of a visual style, better score, etc), I liked the character development in Troy more...I easily understood all of the character's actions. I also like the fact that besides Agamemnon, there really isn't a clear villain in the film. It left me enjoying the movie instead of rooting for one side or another.

 

[David Judah]

I liked the fact they didn't have the gods popping in and out of the story. Hektor's agnosticism too was refreshing. He seemed to speak of the gods when he was making his speeches so his men wouldn't lose heart, but as he commented, the gods weren't going to come down and defend Troy--it was them and only them who could save the city.

I'm glad too they left out the invincibility of Achilles. They alluded to it, but Achilles dismissed it by saying if that was true then why would he bother with the armor. It made his fighting all the more impressive since it was his skill and not some magical power making him the great warrior he was.

DJ

 

[Joe Schwartz]

Count me among the people who were fooled even when Patroclus was unmasked. That's why I asked if Brad Pitt played Patroclus in that scene. I guess I just wasn't paying attention.

 

[David Judah]

Was the high priest of Troy, the same guy who played Arthur in Excaliber?

 

[Nathan V]

Wow. I am very surprised at the positive reaction this is getting from HTF. I was rather disappointed when the credits rolled. I found Troy filled to the brim with pseudo-character development, surprisingly stiff acting, despite the excellent cast, amazingly poor direction from the normally talented Peterson, (If I see one more eye-level, standard close-up head shot...), uninteresting battle scenes, and an abominably shitty score. Let's not even mention that song that played during the end credits.

I feel bad harping on a movie everyone else seems to be enjoying, but I can't help myself. I guess I had higher expectations. Personally, I thought this made Gladiator look like Lawrence of Arabia; it certainly gave me a whole lot more respect for Gladiator.

I'll be back with details later.

For now, Roger Ebert's review- http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert...s-troy14f.html

Regards,
Nathan

 

[James T]

According to IMDB, there is a connection, but I don't remember the character's name, so my guess is you're probably right.

I thought the movie was pretty good. I didn't really Brad Pitt's fighting scenes except for the Hector vs Achilles fight. Besides the Hector fight, Brad seemed to move kinda slow for me.

For the people that read Homer's work, are there major differences? My friend said that Achilles was pretty much invincible(as someone noted in this thread) and that the arrow in Achille's achilles was guided by the gods.

 

[Paul Case]

Here is a rough summary of the differences provided by a user on another board:

For one thing, the Trojan war lasted 10 Years, not three weeks. Achilleus' death happened before the final invasion of Troy in the horse when Paris shot him in the heel with a poisoned arrow after falsely summoning him to a peace meeting. Paris was much more of a weasel, and dies before the end of the war. Menelaus and Agamemnon survived the war, and Ajax went crazy and killed himself when Odysseus recieved Achilleus' armor after his death. Helen is taken back to Sparta with Menelaus. However, I thought that the most glaring edit of the epic poems was Achilleus' battle with Hector. IN The Iliad, it went down much differently. First, the two armies were both battling, and Achilleus was killing Trojans by the hundreds and throwing their corpses into a nearby river. Then, when the Trojan army went into a full retreat, Hector remained outside the gates against his better judgement. However, he attempted to run when he saw Achilleus, who was at this point drenched in Trojan blood and sprinting at Hector. Achilleus pursued him around the walls of Troy until Hector finally stood his ground and got taken down pretty hard. And, just for clarification, Achilleus wasn't a Spartan. He was king of the Myrmadons.

 

[Paul Case]

Oh, and I'd just like to say that I really enjoyed this movie. It's no masterpiece, but it works great as a bit of summer escapism. Bana and O'Toole definitely own the movie, and the Achilles/Hector showdown was worth the price of admission alone.

 

[David Judah]

Thanks for the info. Paul. There were alot of additions and subtractions to be sure, but I thought it worked well to complete the overall storytelling arc of the movie.

Yes, he was dipped in the river Styx by his goddess mother, Thetis, at birth by the heel, leaving only that part vulnerable.

DJ

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

The good:

General direction...
Peter O'Toole
Eric Bana (he and Peter stole the show IMHO)
Set design

The bad...

Helen actress line delivery. Very pretty but needs acting lessons.
Storyline was rather weak given the richness of material. I felt I did not care for and get emotionally involved with any character except that of Hector (Eric Bana).
Special effects were a bit noticeably fuzzy in several places.

The ugly...

Brad Pitt. Good fighter but horrid, horrid line delivery. He's better than this.
The film score. Way too over the top. Too loud and obnoxious.

Still very entertaining, but this and Van Helsing lead me to believe that the story writers are on some sort of strike or have been exiled by Hollywood.

Why spend $200 million and work with such a lousy script?

 

[Steve_Tk]

Was Sean Bean Ulyssess (Odysseus)?

I don't know how I missed his name in the movie, and sorry if they are spelled wrong.

 

[David Judah]

Yep, he was Odysseus(Romans called him Ulysses).