Troy

Troy (2004)

Runtime: I saw the theatrical 163 minute version

Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen (RIP)

Starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Diane Kruger

From: Warner Bros.

RIP Wolfgang Petersen. He's a director whose films I mostly haven't seen at all or since before I joined Letterboxd. Yet for not having directed that many movies from '81 through '06, it was a quality quarter-century run where in Germany and the United States-no matter the budget-he was the director of financial, audience and/or critical successes; everything from Das Boot to this film. The reason why this was selected: recently on a messageboard several people discussed Troy and noted that they preferred the theatrical cut (available on Netflix) to the Director's Cut-I'll explain why later-I happen to have on Blu as part of a 3-pack; I heeded their advice and off to Netflix I went.

This is rather loosely based on Homer's epic Iliad poem-how unfaithful it was to that plays little part in my opinion although I am sympathetic to those that were highly irritated over all the deviations to the Iliad. In short: Helen of Sparta becomes Helen of Troy so the Greeks attempt to invade Troy to get her back to her Greek husband. We see this conflict from both sides and the key figure is Achilles, a great warrior who despises the Greek king so he is wary to help him out. Things happen and eventually, Achilles does battle w/ Hector, a prince of Troy. I'm not sure we're supposed to like Achilles or not, despite Brad Pitt playing the part; he's a real cocky SOB who is great and all but he's also a dick who at times does some unpleasant things. In fact, I'll say his arrogance was... his Achilles' heel.

The story was cliché and had various flaws-there aren't too many sympathetic characters which may be a problem for some-yet thankfully the cast was talented enough and the action exciting enough where my final judgment is: pretty good overall. By this time in August I hoped to have seen more sword & sandal films (along with other things) but alas... maybe later in the year. As for why I recently learned some don't like the Director's Cut-the only way to see this in HD on disc unless you have the HD DVD, and lol to that-because for some reason they changed at least parts of the James Horner score, to the point that the key battle instead borrows the music to... Danny Elfman's score for the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes?! As the music was another strong asset, it's a mystery to me why someone F'ed with that but I'm glad I did not see the Director's Cut.