What's your opinions on the movie Troy 2004 with Brad Pitt?

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Incase no one knows about the movie in question:


If anyone here has seen this movie, what did you guys thought about it? Is it the following words:

-HAVE MY BABIES GREAT!!!
-Okay-ishly Good
-Watchable and In-offensive
-Disappointingly Mediocre
-A WAR CRIME OF HOW NOT TO MAKE A MOVIE!!!

I have only seen this movie once and it was YEARS ago and I was not fully imersed in the overall story of the Trojan Wars and Ancient Greece in genersal, but I thought it was good, I remember liking the epic battles enough and found some characters endearing, but again this was years ago so I feel if I watch it again as I am now I would come out of it with a completely different opinion. Also side note David Beinoff of Game of Thrones fame was the screenwriter for this movie so make that what you will.

So what did you guys thought of the movie? I am feeling of watching this movie again, mostly to get my fix for war battles in movies.

 

[Squilookle]

It's actually my favourite of all the sword and sandal movies that followed Gladiator. I tried reading the Illiad once and it gets so bogged down in describing a spear thrower, who his father was and his father and so on for another 5 generations, and then which god decides to guide his spear throw and why, and how it impacts this other soldier, who is the son of such and such and another 5 generations explained. The pacing is just glacier-slow.

Now, I can totally get why some wouldn't like Troy for removing the direct involvement of the gods, but in my opinion it streamlines the story down to the human element, which is far more interesting anyway. All character's views and motivations are shown clearly, so when they make their decisions and deal with the consequences, it is 100% believable and understandable.

Not only that, but there's a physicality to the fighting that makes it look like these really are lifelong practiced soldiers rather than just actors flynning their way through fights. The duel between Hector and Achilles is so well done, with that haunting minimal drum backing (avoid the 2nd version of the soundtrack at all costs) allowing all the drama to come from the action itself, and it truly is a fight worthy of an epic Homeric poem. The use of CGI in the wide shots draws some criticism, but I think it's believable enough, and would much rather what we got over them doing a Dunkirk and trying to make 100 dudes look like 300,000.

The twists in the story are handled maturely (it would have been so easy to just exploit them for super shock value), and the casting seems perfect. Some would say that Brad Pitt is too much of a pretty-boy to be in an ancient history story, but does he not just utterly embody how Achilles would have been looked upon? I can't buy Orlando Bloom as Balian in Kingdom of Heaven but I can totally buy him as the lover-not-a-fighter semi coward that Paris was. Brian Cox hamming it up as Agamemnon works incredibly well and Sean Bean pulls off the impossible- a likeable Odysseus on the wrong side of the war. And c'mon, Peter freaking O'Toole as Priam? That casting is genius.

TLR it's a great story, told with consumate professionalism. They just nailed perhaps the most important scene in the movie, where Priam sneaks in to Achilles tent to plead with him. It's well paced, well acted, keeps the audience well informed and never bored, and feels like a true epic to sit alongside the Golden-Era greats like Ben Hur and The 10 Commandments.

And if someone doesn't like Troy, all I can say to them is...

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's fucking great.. probably for the wrong reasons.

I love how stupidly over-dramatic it is in how it talks about love, war, death, and honor. How a lot of the dialoge just oozes out of the actors' mouths thick as cheese. How Brad Pitt tries to not be Brad Pitt. How Legolas gets his candy ass beat by Brendan Gleeson. How Peter O'Tool says "Let me wash his body." It's all a joy to behold. It's also nice and violent.

It's just a really silly movie, and I enjoy every second of it.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

It's not a perfect movie, but having read the Illiad and Oddysey, I'd say Troy is for all intents the best adaptation we could reasonably expect to get from Hollywood. I'd go more in-depth, but Squilookle already pretty much covered everything I was going to say.

 

[WindKnight]

Eh, its wasnt bad per se. I was annoyed by the total removal of the gods, rolled my eyes at how they went about 'justifying' how the achilles heel legend came about.

Also, the way they went out of their way to paint Achilles as Noble And A Really Nice Guy, Totally Not As Much A DoucheBag As Everyone Else Really gave me some dry amusement, as did turning Patroclus from his lover into 'just like a brother'

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Eh, its wasnt bad per se. I was annoyed by the total removal of the gods, rolled my eyes at how they went about 'justifying' how the achilles heel legend came about.

Also, the way they went out of their way to paint Achilles as Noble And A Really Nice Guy, Totally Not As Much A DoucheBag As Everyone Else Really gave me some dry amusement, as did turning Patroclus from his lover into 'just like a brother'

Did the movie actually referred to that Achilles weakness is his heel? Because how I saw that one seen Paris fired at him in despairation to save his female friend and ended up getting shot in the heel. In way presented as more realistic, and I am sure anyone would the reaction that Achilles did when you get an arrow on your heel.

As for the lack of the God's involvement, I say it was kinda the point of the movie, they were trying to portray the Trojan War in a more historical, grounded in reality perspective so they remove the Fantasy. Like this is how the Trojan would be like if it was actuall historical fact rather then a Legend told by Homer.

Heck I would think Bible stories would be more interesting if their were no Fantasy elements.

 

[Jamcie Kerbizz]

It takes a very specific, ancient cuisine which is namely Homer's (arguably his but that's another story) epic poem
and turns it into pop-culture friendly pulp of a hamburger.
It's perfect for people used to digesting fast-foods and grossed out by unfamiliar tastes.

However it doesn't do justice to original nor it tells the same story, nor it has the same emotional charge of futility
and frailty of human existence nor it depicts Greek culture fairly. It's just another Hollywood action-flick.
Spears and sandals edition. Featuring slew of 'movie stars' from gossip magazines and portals.

But yeah, its a decent burger, no hate on that fact. I enjoyed 300 and that is pretty much the same shtick.
Just different epic gets gutted and thrown between the buns.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Eh, its wasnt bad per se. I was annoyed by the total removal of the gods, rolled my eyes at how they went about 'justifying' how the achilles heel legend came about.

Also, the way they went out of their way to paint Achilles as Noble And A Really Nice Guy, Totally Not As Much A DoucheBag As Everyone Else Really gave me some dry amusement, as did turning Patroclus from his lover into 'just like a brother'

While I agree a lot of characters got Hollywoodized in the translation to film, I get why it was done. Having a Greek heros act like they do in the original stories probably wouldn't go over very well with audiences. Most of them would at the very least be considered sociopaths by modern standards (see also Heracles). I do like that they kept in the Achilles is pretty much in it solely for personal glory and having his name be immortal.

One thing tho, Achilles and Patroclus were never explicitly described as lovers in the Illiad. Homer described their bond with the word philos, a term usually meant to denote general love or a deep connection between people. The more blantant homo-erotic subtext was added later by writers like Aeschylos and Plato. As was the whole 'Achilles heel' thing, btw. In the Illiad, it's never mentioned, nor is Achilles death. Then again, the movie isn't so much an adaptation of the Illiad as an adaptation of the Trojan War legend in very broad strokes.

 

[Jamcie Kerbizz]

Eh, its wasnt bad per se. I was annoyed by the total removal of the gods, rolled my eyes at how they went about 'justifying' how the achilles heel legend came about.

Also, the way they went out of their way to paint Achilles as Noble And A Really Nice Guy, Totally Not As Much A DoucheBag As Everyone Else Really gave me some dry amusement, as did turning Patroclus from his lover into 'just like a brother'

Did the movie actually referred to that Achilles weakness is his heel? Because how I saw that one seen Paris fired at him in despairation to save his female friend and ended up getting shot in the heel. In way presented as more realistic, and I am sure anyone would the reaction that Achilles did when you get an arrow on your heel.

As for the lack of the God's involvement, I say it was kinda the point of the movie, they were trying to portray the Trojan War in a more historical, grounded in reality perspective so they remove the Fantasy. Like this is how the Trojan would be like if it was actuall historical fact rather then a Legend told by Homer.

Heck I would think Bible stories would be more interesting if their were no Fantasy elements.

Heinrich Schliemann would feel offended!

This is just the way history has been passed on for centuries (Homer and his apprentices just put them on paper in rather glorious way).
It has a lot of whitewashing the facts (by victors), a lot of pc - censoring (so the story could be told to everyone), iffy parts were covered by supernatural heroes deeds or gods interventions, peppered with morale for youngsters.

Had that been actual history probably it would be along the lines:
Foreigners came and we didn't murder them but invited to our city. They used that opportunity to rape our women, steal our shit and gtfo home with loot including our queen. We organized the crew to get back on them. Found them but turned out they had even bigger city and weren't stupid to let us just in like we did. Eventually, we bribed the guards to open gates at night and murder-raped everything and everyone, then packed up loot and burned down the city and surroundings. In fallout of this event, famous warrior that murdered fallen city ruler's children demanded more loot, so we corpsed that sick mofo and told his people enemies did it. On the way home we murder-raped on every single island we stopped by. One of generals was so engrossed in this pillaging that he didn't show up home for almost a decade. When he finally did, it turned out his wife was busy having fun with his neighbours which already took over his land. So he murder-raped everyone back at home as well, got new wife and pretended nothing had happened. The end.

Not so epic and heroic anymore, eh? Can't tell that to large gatherings with children and young man in times of peace cause they might get the wrong idea. Nor such legend would make them proud of their ancestors.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Eh, its wasnt bad per se. I was annoyed by the total removal of the gods, rolled my eyes at how they went about 'justifying' how the achilles heel legend came about.

Also, the way they went out of their way to paint Achilles as Noble And A Really Nice Guy, Totally Not As Much A DoucheBag As Everyone Else Really gave me some dry amusement, as did turning Patroclus from his lover into 'just like a brother'

Did the movie actually referred to that Achilles weakness is his heel? Because how I saw that one seen Paris fired at him in despairation to save his female friend and ended up getting shot in the heel. In way presented as more realistic, and I am sure anyone would the reaction that Achilles did when you get an arrow on your heel.

As for the lack of the God's involvement, I say it was kinda the point of the movie, they were trying to portray the Trojan War in a more historical, grounded in reality perspective so they remove the Fantasy. Like this is how the Trojan would be like if it was actuall historical fact rather then a Legend told by Homer.

Heck I would think Bible stories would be more interesting if their were no Fantasy elements.

Heinrich Schliemann would feel offended!

This is just the way history has been passed on for centuries (Homer and his apprentices just put them on paper in rather glorious way).
It has a lot of whitewashing the facts (by victors), a lot of pc - censoring (so the story could be told to everyone), iffy parts were covered by supernatural heroes deeds or gods interventions, peppered with morale for youngsters.

Had that been actual history probably it would be along the lines:
Foreigners came and we didn't murder them but invited to our city. They used that opportunity to rape our women, steal our shit and gtfo home with loot including our queen. We organized the crew to get back on them. Found them but turned out they had even bigger city and weren't stupid to let us just in like we did. Eventually, we bribed the guards to open gates at night and murder-raped everything and everyone, then packed up loot and burned down the city and surroundings. In fallout of this event, famous warrior that murdered fallen city ruler's children demanded more loot, so we corpsed that sick mofo and told his people enemies did it. On the way home we murder-raped on every single island we stopped by. One of generals was so engrossed in this pillaging that he didn't show up home for almost a decade. When he finally did, it turned out his wife was busy having fun with his neighbours which already took over his land. So he murder-raped everyone back at home as well, got new wife and pretended nothing had happened. The end.

Not so epic and heroic anymore, eh? Can't tell that to large gatherings with children and young man in times of peace cause they might get the wrong idea. Nor such legend would make them proud of their ancestors.

The Director's Cut of the movie certainly captured perfectly the sheer amount of murder-fucking that happened when Troy got breched and sacked:

 

[Jamcie Kerbizz]

Eh, its wasnt bad per se. I was annoyed by the total removal of the gods, rolled my eyes at how they went about 'justifying' how the achilles heel legend came about.

Also, the way they went out of their way to paint Achilles as Noble And A Really Nice Guy, Totally Not As Much A DoucheBag As Everyone Else Really gave me some dry amusement, as did turning Patroclus from his lover into 'just like a brother'

Did the movie actually referred to that Achilles weakness is his heel? Because how I saw that one seen Paris fired at him in despairation to save his female friend and ended up getting shot in the heel. In way presented as more realistic, and I am sure anyone would the reaction that Achilles did when you get an arrow on your heel.

As for the lack of the God's involvement, I say it was kinda the point of the movie, they were trying to portray the Trojan War in a more historical, grounded in reality perspective so they remove the Fantasy. Like this is how the Trojan would be like if it was actuall historical fact rather then a Legend told by Homer.

Heck I would think Bible stories would be more interesting if their were no Fantasy elements.

Heinrich Schliemann would feel offended!

This is just the way history has been passed on for centuries (Homer and his apprentices just put them on paper in rather glorious way).
It has a lot of whitewashing the facts (by victors), a lot of pc - censoring (so the story could be told to everyone), iffy parts were covered by supernatural heroes deeds or gods interventions, peppered with morale for youngsters.

Had that been actual history probably it would be along the lines:
Foreigners came and we didn't murder them but invited to our city. They used that opportunity to rape our women, steal our shit and gtfo home with loot including our queen. We organized the crew to get back on them. Found them but turned out they had even bigger city and weren't stupid to let us just in like we did. Eventually, we bribed the guards to open gates at night and murder-raped everything and everyone, then packed up loot and burned down the city and surroundings. In fallout of this event, famous warrior that murdered fallen city ruler's children demanded more loot, so we corpsed that sick mofo and told his people enemies did it. On the way home we murder-raped on every single island we stopped by. One of generals was so engrossed in this pillaging that he didn't show up home for almost a decade. When he finally did, it turned out his wife was busy having fun with his neighbours which already took over his land. So he murder-raped everyone back at home as well, got new wife and pretended nothing had happened. The end.

Not so epic and heroic anymore, eh? Can't tell that to large gatherings with children and young man in times of peace cause they might get the wrong idea. Nor such legend would make them proud of their ancestors.

The Director's Cut of the movie certainly captured perfectly the sheer amount of murder-fucking that happened when Troy got breched and sacked:

History turned and we are at the point where we specifically include back in story parts ancient artists tried to cover up and call it art Amusing isn't it?

 

[WindKnight]

Eh, its wasnt bad per se. I was annoyed by the total removal of the gods, rolled my eyes at how they went about 'justifying' how the achilles heel legend came about.

Also, the way they went out of their way to paint Achilles as Noble And A Really Nice Guy, Totally Not As Much A DoucheBag As Everyone Else Really gave me some dry amusement, as did turning Patroclus from his lover into 'just like a brother'

Did the movie actually referred to that Achilles weakness is his heel? Because how I saw that one seen Paris fired at him in despairation to save his female friend and ended up getting shot in the heel. In way presented as more realistic, and I am sure anyone would the reaction that Achilles did when you get an arrow on your heel.

If I remember correctly, Achilles ends up a pincushion at one point, and one of his last acts is to break off all the arrows in his chest, leaving just the one last arrow left in his heel. As if to say 'oh, they only saw this one arrow, and not all the others, that's why they thought/said it was that his heel was his single vulnerable spot'. Just felt a little too on the nose for me.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

I actually watched this film just the other day for the first time.

I was neither happy nor unhappy, neither bored nor entertained. I find myself forgetting it quickly after the fact.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It was alright. I missed the gods.

 

[Squilookle]

I'd also say it's one of those few examples where the standard cut ends up actually being better than the extended director's cut.

 

[ChupathingyX]

It's a cheesy, overly dramatic, action packed and highly entertaining epic action movie that has given rise to many inside jokes between me and my mates. I love it.

Also Brian Cox was great as Agamemnon.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Eh, it was okay. It didn't have the same epic atmosphere as Gladiator, but it was a lot more interesting and better to watch than Alexander and didn't have the same slapdash TV movie feel of King Arthur.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Eh, its a movie I'd watch again if it happened to be on TV but not one I'd go out of my way to find or buy

 

[Elfgore]

It is a Friday night movie. Easy to understand filled with drama, good action, and a well-paced plot. It's also over-acted to all hell in my opinion, so gravy on top there. I don't view it as a cinematic masterpiece, but it's a damn enjoyable movie for me. Probably one of my highest watched if I'm being honest.

 

[MetalDooley]

Went to see it in the cinema when it came out. Perfect big screen movie. Was fairy enjoyable but the lack of the supernatural elements was slightly annoying. A bit like the King Arthur movie that came out around the same time

I remember watching Troy thinking "Bloody hell Jesse Ventura is looking good for his age". Only discovered when I rewatched it a few years later that it was Tyler Mane not Jesse Ventura that player Ajax