Starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen

The epic is regaining popularity. But with so many out and more coming, is the quality decreasing? Considering the source material for Troy, it would take much effort to turn out a bad movie, and Wolfgang Petersen did manage to make a thoroughly entertaining (if a bit long) movie.

Taken from Homer's classic tale of The Iliad, Troy has drama to spare and as is required in these types of movies, a few passages of cheesy dialogue. Paris (Bloom), Prince of Troy steals a Greek king's wife, Helen (Kruger) and takes her across the sea. This enrages the King and wounds his pride. With his brother at his side, they decide to send the largest fleet ever to conquer to unconquerable Troy, ostensibly to recapture Helen. But the real reason turns out to be to take over the land as a jewel in the forthcoming Greek empire. The Greeks have the legendary (and very moody!) warrior Achilles (Pitt) on their side, whereas the Trojans have Paris's brother, Hector (Bana). Many battles are fought, culminating in the Trojan horse sequence that is just as I imagined it should be.

The battles are excellent, especially that between Hector and Achilles. The spectacle of seeing two armies clash together is beginning to lose its grandeur, however. Every movie of this type has it, and after seeing the Battle of Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King, I doubt any massive battle will impress me again. That said, the fight were still intense. The weakness is some of the dialogue. Why must everyone in period epics speak quasi-Brit and become overly poetic? A movie stacked with actors ranging from very capable to outstanding should have had better acting, but some hokey words brought them down a peg. Except for the excellent Eric Bana. Without his presence, Troy could very well have become disinteresting. He's the only sensible character; the only one who can see everything clearly. He wasn't too good in The Hulk (maybe cuz the whole movie was 'meh', it brought him down), but here, he's the star.

While the 160+ minute runtime may bore some, and the ending seemed a bit rushed, Troy is definitely a fun time at the movies that shouldn't disappoint.

DroopyMcC
Jack