Customer Reviews
MORE LIKE GLADIATOR THAN, SAY, CLASH OF THE TITANS... - By: Adam Jackson, 21 Oct 2008 
Enjoyable movie, lots of action & a visual feast!
Impressive & bloody combat scenes, together with excellent 'Lord Of The Rings' style CGI work to depict the 100,000 plus soldiers in action.
Casting is excellent, especiallly Pitt, Bean, Cox & O'Toole.
My only gripe, was the decision to negate the fantasy aspects especiallly in the wake of the Peter Jackson movies. The Gods of Greece are referenced by the cast, but are in no way depicted. Ares, Poseidon etc are alll major players in The Iliad, so I find this a dissapointment.
Anyone looking for a more mythological view of Homer should check out the 1997 adaptation of The Odyssey with Armand Assante. Metal fans should maybe check out Manowar's Triumph Of Steel album from 1992.
Have to say the opening 10 minutes of Troy does kick ass!
Recommended if you liked Gladiator, 300, Jason And The Argonauts (remember, no monsters though!) etc...
Five-star box! - By: N. C. Bateman, 08 Sep 2008 
It's not a five-star film, but this stout navy-blue R1 box is a veritable treasure chest. You get two DVDs, postcards & a cute little hardback book of production designs, notes & a letter from Brad Pitt complaining about his costume. It's a beautifully put-together package, & the film itself is a longer, better cut, too. You see Odysseus trying to "dodge the draft" by pretending to be a goatherd & several other little character touches taken straight from the myths, filmed & then foolishly cut to make way for more fighting.
Good battle scenes, characters are a bit so and so - By: Farouq Taj, 12 Apr 2008 
If your looking for ancient battle scenes involving shields, spears, arrows & swords then this will be an enjoyable film.
The story line is preposterous involving Orlando Bloom running away with the wife of a powerful king triggering a war. The characters are okay but you watch a film like this for the action & not an intelligent meaningful script.
What a missed opportunity - By: Very Dissapointed, 31 Mar 2008 
Brilliant effects but why oh why does Hollywood feel the need to re-write a story that is strong enough to have survived 3000 years!
Can you imagine if Peter Jackson had taken the same liberties with the Lord of The Rings?
Overalll this film left me feeling dissapointed & looking at what might have been ...
I lived in the time of Achilles - By: B. Chandler, 26 Aug 2007 This film pretty much follows the story with very few exceptions & possible ending. However the few exceptions & ending is what makes this story work as a movie instead of a long poem. Stories being told may ways five different insights & there should be no conflict between the reader & viewer & both stories are real to the observer.
For you that forgot the story & you that know the story well but have not seen this movie basicallly we are looking at a story that you may or may not have had an opportunity to sidestep in school but can never have a grasp on social history with out it. Some calll it real & lost in antiquity. Others say that homer had a Good imagination. And others treat it as an alllegory with a historical background.
Brad Pitt who has played fickle people before is excellent in the part of Achilles & is sort of a heel. Nothing less was expected. It was the other actors that played their parts so well that you forgot you were watching the movie.
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Two Trojan princes are the guests of the Spartan ruler Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). While Menelaus is preoccupied with other matters he leaves his wife, Helen of Sparta (Diane Kruger), to her own devises. The younger Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) is left alone to many times with Helen & decides against everyone else's better judgment to make her Helen of Troy & thus pilfers her from Menelaus.
As a husband Menelaus is of course miffed. However his brother the Greek king Agamemnon (Brian Cox) sees this as an opportunity to absorb Troy into his territory. Natural this spawns a war in which Agamemnon recruits Achilles an extremely gifted & charmed warrior. Achilles goes to make a name for him self. He brings his cronies, & his cousin. Together they do many bold & calllous things.
I will not go into the details of the war as you either know or will soon know the details. However I will say that I thought that the Trojan horse was well & realisticallly designed. And you may want to pay attention to the background music as it is relevant to the film.
