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Troy
Academy Award® Nominee
In ancient Greece, the passion of two of history's most legendary lovers, Paris, Prince of Troy and Helen, Queen of Sparta, ignites a war that will devastate a civilization. When Paris steals Helen...  View more >

Starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom...  View more >

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Reviews Summary


Please Note: Reader Reviews are submitted by the readers of The BigScreen Cinema Guide and represent their own personal opinions regarding this movie, and do not represent the views of The BigScreen Cinema Guide, or any of its associated entities.

May 12, 2004
May 15, 2004
Good but not great. It was long in many spots and not that exciting.
May 16, 2004
"Troy" sets a very, very high standard for itself within the first five minutes. The opening scene features a moment so breathtakingly cool that my jaw literally dropped and I just said, "Holy s**t!" This single moment of action is meant to give us a taste of what's to come, but in reality it gives us the single best moment of action in the movie right away. Nothing else in the movie can beat it except for maybe the battle between Hector and Achilles (Bana and Pitt). The result was that I kept waiting for something else that was jaw-droppingly cool and it just never really came. There are some very good action scenes in this movie, of course, but "Return of the King" still beats this movie in terms of the sheer scale of battles.

I have to commend this movie for its amazing cast. Brad Pitt is a much more badass Achilles than I ever thought he could be, Eric Bana shakes the uptight dust from his performance as Bruce Banner in "Hulk" to become a very noble Hector, Orlando Bloom is detestable for the most part as the snivelling, cowardly Paris. This is not Bloom's fault; Paris is just an unlikable character. Peter O'Toole, Brian Cox, and Brendan Gleeson are all wonderful. I was especially impressed with Gleeson, who doesn't go as over-the-top in his villainous portrayal as the perpetually sneering Cox does.

It must have been very difficult to make a movie about a man who fights for fame that doesn't glorify war, but somehow the filmmakers managed to do it here. With all of the swordplay, flying arrows, and great balls of fire in this movie, the message carried is the futility of war itself. Nobody can win when everybody loses something, whether it be comrades, family, friends, or land. The presence of a clear and present message was a welcome surprise.

"Troy" also seems to wrap itself up a little too quickly, although there is a nice allusion to the "Aeneid" included. If you know the story of "The Iliad," then you know that at the end we are left with Paris, and the movie doesn't seem to care much about giving him a proper sendoff, so we're left a little flat. The spaces in between the awesome opening and the disappointing ending are all good Hollywood entertainment with spectacular special effects (just try to tell which shots feature computer-generated armies and which feature some of the movie's 10,000+ extras), but it suffers from the same disease as "The Last Samurai" did for me: Post-LOTR Sydrome. For me, every big-budget, army-on-army epic must be measured against the Siege at Helm's Deep, Minas Tirith, and Pelenoor Fields in Jackson's trilogy. Trouble is, it will be a long, long time before a war epic can live up to that standard.

In the end, "Troy" tries hard but falls just short. *** out of four.
May 17, 2004
When you go to see this movie, be prepared for lots of talking between action scenes. Especially in the first half of the film, it seemed like every character had something to say, and was given the screen time to say it. That alone explains the long running time.

The imagery was very good, most notably was the Greek armada heading to Troy and the great walls of Troy and the beachhead on which the armada landed. Unfortunately, the large battle scenes suffer in comparison to the Lord of the Rings movies, which serve as the pinnacle of such scenes. Much better were the one-on-one battles that occur between some of the primary characters.

Speaking of characters, Brad Pitt does an acceptable job portraying Achilles. Eric Bana turns in the surprise performance as Hector, prince of Troy and brother to the stupidest guy in those times. Orlando Bloom doesn't have much to work with here, and the bad wig doesn't help him any. For being the most beautiful mortal woman in Greek mythology, the actress playing Helen had this creepy blank look to her that made her look slightly drugged. The cousin, Briseis, which becomes a conflicted sympathizer of sorts, is much more compelling.

One aspect I really didn't care for was the music. It seemed derivative from other films, and it kept taking me out of the story whenever I noticed it happening.

Overall, it's an OK action movie, but it's pretty devoid of plot that makes you care about the protagonists. Achilles has the most depth of any character, and the movie shoves aside one of the central groups to the myth of the Trojan War; the gods. From my memory of The Iliad, the gods played an important role on each side, and the Achilles' now-famous weakness was exposed by one of the gods to his opponents. Leaving out that element probably simplified the storyline, but it ripped out the interest that such a group would have supplied.

As a summer blockbuster popcorn movie, it delivers to moderate expectations. Just don't expect to see it mentioned come awards time.
May 20, 2004
Almost rates a good, but the film is just too long for too little in return.
May 20, 2004
I didn't think Brad was all that great, but I enjoyed the movie as a whole with all the other characters. You need to see this movie while it's on the big screen.
May 31, 2004
Jun 8, 2004
Jul 19, 2012
Oct 30, 2012
A very long very boring anbs very violent movie about the battle for Troy. Brad Pitt looks good, but can't carry the movie. There nare a few good moments in the movie but that's all I like. Want to study about the battle, I suggest that you read a book.

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