Troy
Film 05/24/2004 |Prairie and I saw Troy this weekend.
That wasn’t supposed to be a comedy, was it?
So, so disappointing.
For the longest time, I didn’t think much of Brad Pitt. His acting didn’t impress me much in many of his earlier films, and he always struck me as little more than a pretty boy with long blonde hair for the ladies to drool over. Then came Fight Club, and suddenly it became clear that the man could act, and could do a damn good job of it, too. Unfortunately, with Troy, he seems to have gone back to the “pretty boy” routine. Strike a pose onscreen, look good, pout a lot, and try to let that carry the movie instead of actually acting.
I was, however, amused by the constant camera angles that highlighted a nearly naked Brad Pitt putting the very bottom of the shot just barely above where it would otherwise have been indecent. I’m not entirely sure what amused me more: that this shot was a recurring theme, or hearing Prairie beside me muttering, “Just a little bit lower….”
Also, during the big fight sequences, Achillies had one particular move that was featured in every major fight: a leap into the air, twist to the left, and stab downwards with his sword. My thought each time was that that’s got to be his hidden “power move” — left-right-left-down-A-A-B-A, and WHAM, Achilles wins again!
I think I’ve figured out why Helen was considered such a prize. Apparently — at least according to this film — she was the only blonde woman in Greece.
Other than that…bad dialogue, bad music, and overall, some pretty bad acting. A few pretty pictures, and only one halfway interesting fight (Achilles vs. Hector), but that was about the most it had going for it.
Honestly, I can’t even recommend it as a rental.
iTunes: “Ave., The” by Run-D.M.C. from the album Together Forever: Greatest Hits 1983-1991 (1990, 4:07).
[See also: Troy | Kilts, not skirts! | Troy in 15 Minutes | Quickies! | Why We Had to Move ]
14 Responses to “Troy”
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fpz
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May 24th, 2004 at 1:15 am
You didn’t like Brad Pitt in “Interview with a Vampire?” “Fight Club” was good, but so was “Interview…” I thought. Thanks for the review, wasn’t really planning on seeing “Troy” anyway, now my mind is cinched.
What? You’re not seeing any of the SIFF flicks? Saw “Dig,” pretty revealing and lots of great music (it’s a documentary about Brianjones Massacre and Dandy Warhols - covers ‘95 through 2003 years - lots of evolution and devolution).
May 24th, 2004 at 2:10 am
Interview has always left me with incredibly mixed feelings.
It took me three tries to read the book, and it’s easily my least favorite of the series (Lestat’s a dick, and Louis is a whiny git), though I did enjoy all the rest of the books in the series.
The movie, while overall fairly well done, was ridiculously miscast. I still see Brad as in his “I’m so pretty” phase; Lestat should have been tall, lithe, and catlike (I always thought that Julian Sands would have been perfect), and not Tom Cruise; Armand should be around ten or twelve, and not Antonio Banderas; and Claudia should be around three or four (though I can forgive them for raising her age a bit, as it would have been impossible to find an actress who could have pulled off Claudia as she was portrayed in the book…and besides, it introduced me to Kirsten Dunst, who just keeps getting yummier).
So while I enjoy watching the movie when I have a chance, it’s very hard for me to really sit back and enjoy it, as I’m constantly grumbling about the casting.
Incidentally, I have this same problem with Dracula: Gary Oldman was wonderful, but Keanu? And I’m sorry, but as much as I enjoy looking at Winona Ryder, I haven’t really liked her in anything other than Beetlejuice and Heathers.
May 24th, 2004 at 2:13 am
Oh, and unfortunately no, no SIFF for me, due to a combination of scheduling, finances, and the simple fact that I just kept forgetting to look into schedules/tickets before things were actually in progress. One of these years…
May 24th, 2004 at 3:05 am
I thought Troy was great! Definitely a DVD buy for me. Of course “Troy in 15 minutes” just added to the whole thing by taking this grand “historical” epic and firing it of an elastic band catapult against the wall like soggy paper!
May 24th, 2004 at 5:36 am
I have avoided Troy and likely will not get out to see it… but this is due to the horrible miscasting and the fact that they are trampling all over the Iliad. I am not at all amused with a thoughtful Achilies, killing off Melelaus and Agamemnon, AND NO GODS! Gah.
But on the subject of Brad Pitt, he was just simply miscast in Troy. I doubt his acting is the reason the film sucks. From what I have heard, the attempted to make Achilies a likable hero and that story really doesn’t translate well into a modern film. I think it could make a good action movie, but it doesn’t sound like Troy even achieved that.
Kalifornia is my evidence that Pitt can act. He blew me away in that film. I also adore Interview with a Vampire as I I have avoided Troy and likely will not get out to see it… but this is due to the horrible miscasting and the fact that they are trampling all over the Iliad. I am not at all amused with a thoughtful Achilies, killing off Melelaus and Agamemnon, AND NO GODS! Gah.
But on the subject of Brad Pitt, he was just simply miscast in Troy. I doubt his acting is the reason the film sucks. From what I have heard, the attempted to make Achilies a likable hero and that story really doesn’t translate well into a modern film. I think it could make a good action movie, but it doesn’t sound like Troy even achieved that.
Kalifornia is my evidence that Pitt can act. He blew me away in that film. I also adore Interview with a Vampire as I I have avoided Troy and likely will not get out to see it… but this is due to the horrible miscasting and the fact that they are trampling all over the Iliad. I am not at all amused with a thoughtful Achilies, killing off Melelaus and Agamemnon, AND NO GODS! Gah.
But on the subject of Brad Pitt, he was just simply miscast in Troy. I doubt his acting is the reason the film sucks. From what I have heard, the attempted to make Achilies a likable hero and that story really doesn’t translate well into a modern film. I think it could make a good action movie, but it doesn’t sound like Troy even achieved that.
Kalifornia is my evidence that Pitt can act. He blew me away in that film. I also adore Interview with a Vampire as I I have avoided Troy and likely will not get out to see it… but this is due to the horrible miscasting and the fact that they are trampling all over the Iliad. I am not at all amused with a thoughtful Achilies, killing off Melelaus and Agamemnon, AND NO GODS! Gah.
But on the subject of Brad Pitt, he was just simply miscast in Troy. I doubt his acting is the reason the film sucks. From what I have heard, the attempted to make Achilies a likable hero and that story really doesn’t translate well into a modern film. I think it could make a good action movie, but it doesn’t sound like Troy even achieved that.
Kalifornia is my evidence that Pitt can act. He blew me away in that film. I also adore Interview with a Vampire as I <3 Neil Jordan, although the ending still bugs me. That film redeemed Tom Cruise for me and now I have much more respect for Cruise. and now I’m babbling…
May 24th, 2004 at 9:58 am
Nothing wrong with babbling, I certainly do it on a regular basis.
And damn skippy on Kalifornia. What a wonderfully twisted little film, and yes, that’s definitely another one where Brad does a good job.
At the time it came out, though, my friend James and I had a fun little discussion regarding Brad and Juliette Lewis. I wasn’t a big fan of Brad (who James liked), and James didn’t think much of Juliette (who I like), but we both decided that we liked seeing them in Kalifornia — primarily because they were playing “dumb hicks”, which fit our respective mental images of the actor’s abilities.
May 24th, 2004 at 5:52 pm
I adore Juliette Lewis. Although, I liked her much more before I saw her on a talk show. Wow, she is so California, so valley girl California. A little disturbing… but she certainly can act. Too bad we don’t see much of her these days.
June 18th, 2004 at 11:49 pm
dude seriously think about what your saying about the movie troy i agree with you about brad pitts acting before this movie but its more to it to me it was a movie made for men its a mans mans movie and i am a mans man i don’t like chick flicks i don’t understand women but i do show some of the characteristics that he has in that movie he relates to the comon guy because in some ways the comon guy would like to be that version of achilies and i say that version because USA network showed the movie helen of troy and they focused mainly on what went on between helen the prince and the king and portraied achilies to be a big a$$ jerk which when i saw that i didn’t like him but after seeing troy that movied moved me. say what you want but i recomend that every mans man should buy this movie when it comes out because its worth it but thats my opinion
July 11th, 2004 at 7:29 pm
Although Brad Pitt may not have been the best actor for the part, I feel he carried the part of Achilies well. The film is just that, a film.
The myth-legend-story-history of the battle of Troy, lasted for more than 10 years, and many hundreds of thousands died on each side, although the Illiad is largely covering the final 6 months of the Trojan War.
The film is condenced with the better parts of the Illiad and some of the earlier parts of the Odysee [the bit pertaining to the Trojan War] but some bits are rearanged and changed in order of events, to make Achilies die at the end, when in more historically accepted accounts, he dies just after Patrocles.
Even though it happened at the end of the Bronze Age [Bronze Alloy swords, with Lamenular, Leather & Metal Scale Armour etc], the soldiers of the time were as physically fit, if not fitter than todays “techo troops”. The history of this Earth has always been written in blood.
Some depictions in this film are just what ifs, others, like the weapons & armour, and tribe/region names are correct. The fighting moves, are modern interpretations, but with a nod to the historical uses and design functions of the weapons being used [the swords were largely used for stabbing/thrusting, as the Bronze Alloys they were made from, could be brittle in slashing edge to side/flat, metal to metal contact] but in the middle of a melee, the one who can defend the best, lives long enough to kill more, when fighting en-masse.
As for some peoples disguist for seeing Achilies [Brad] pouting or almost all of him, some of this is more than likely a reflection and in respect to Ancient Greek Art [lots of nudes of each & any sex], & the Pantheon of the Gods Religion [and to represent the thoughts, which we cannot read, of man trying to show his turmoil of the people his killed, and thoughts of stratagies, tactics and humanity and that then, people did know that when your dead, you are just that]. The Ancient Greeks and other powerful nations knew the World was round, Tasitus [or of a similar name, even measured the spherical size of the Earth, which was less than 2000 miles out [an error of 2%], in about 1000 BC.
This film is based upon the Illiad, not representative of it, though its probably closer to the actual nugget of truth of the Illiad than any other earlier films of it.
As for the Trojans, they depending on which historians, past and present, were the peoples living in and around what would become Northern Turkey, before the Persians, on the South Eastern mouth of the Dardenelles Straight.
Well never know when exactly it happenned, as it happened just before the current known birth of writting IN Ancient Greece, but as far as we can tell it, happened atleast before 1000 BCE [Before Common Era/Before Christs Execution], if not, as far back as 1500 BCE. If the Great Libruary of Alexandria hadn’t have been burmt down in 270 BCE [by natural disaster or early Christian fanatics], we would surely know much more about the War and the events and people around it.
Here are some interesting sites to check… http://www.iit.edu/~agunsal/truva/truva/truva.html http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/troy.htm?tqskip1=1 http://www.omhros.gr/kat/History/Ancient/Troy.htm http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=Ancient+Troy
July 12th, 2004 at 5:49 am
If you wish to view the Iliad, its at this site.. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~joelja/iliad.html
July 12th, 2004 at 4:59 pm
http://www.crystalinks.com/greekwars.html
July 12th, 2004 at 4:59 pm
http://www.crystalinks.com/greekwars.html
January 4th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
i thought try was awesome and FYI brad pit can act!
September 9th, 2006 at 12:55 am
troy achilies