Review
With an epic-sized budget and featuring some serious eye candy, “Troy” hits theaters with a lot of expectations to live up to, not the least of which is whether or not today’s audience will relate to the story. That issue - the relevance of Homer’s “The Iliad” in today’s world - is addressed pretty much immediately. Boiled down to its basics, “Troy” is a love story immersed in a world of burly men battling to restore their King’s wounded pride while capturing more land for their country to rule, set in a time when the world was run by men who worshiped mythic Gods such as Apollo and Zeus. That’s an easy enough story for contemporary moviegoers to get into. So fear not, if you can’t recall which Greek God is which, you won’t feel lost in the world of “Troy.”
Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana star as Paris and Hector, Princes of Troy. Hector’s older, wiser, and grounded. Paris is a wild playboy who acts without thinking. After a dinner celebrating peace between Sparta and Troy, Paris steals away with Helen (Diane Kruger), the most beautiful woman in the world and wife to Sparta’s King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). Honor dictates Menelaus must fight to get Helen back. Menelaus turns to his brother, Agamemnon, King of the Mycenaeans (Brian Cox), for support. The formidable armies controlled by Agamemnon are rallied to pursue Paris and Helen to Troy. Ruled by King Priam (Peter O’Toole), Troy has always been successfully defended from invading forces and is the one kingdom Agamemnon still longs to control. For love, lust, revenge, honor, pride - and greed - thousands will die and a city will be destroyed.
About halfway through “Troy” it suddenly dawned on me what bugged me the most about this epic drama: too many close-ups. “Troy” answers the question other movies never thought of asking: is it possible to show too many close-up shots of the oh-so-handsome faces of Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, or Eric Bana? Before you Bloom, Bana or Pitt fans bombard me with emails claiming there’s no possible way you can ever get too much of any of these hunks, let me tell you that prior to watching this movie I would have been right there with you, sharing your sense of outrage and disbelief at such a statement. But there comes a point not too far into the movie when you just have to say enough already. Enough with the close-ups, the lingering shots of Pitt’s handsome mug, the up close and personal look at Bana’s facial hair, and the extended shots of Bloom’s beautiful eyes. With marvelously crafted sets and intricately staged battle scenes – and with a cast of such high caliber actors - why was it necessary to rely so often on close-ups of the actors to telegraph emotions? It felt as if the director wasn’t confident enough he was evoking the response he wanted from the audience via the dialogue, and the close-ups were his out of control way to elicit the desired audience reaction by pounding home the drama and sense of doom through increasingly annoying close-in shots of his lead actors faces.
Besides the staggering amount of close-ups, I found the accents to be a little distracting. Eric Bana busts out in a full-on Australian accent at one point – and with the others it’s tough to tell what exactly they’re trying to pull off. And the score… I’m of the opinion a good score should be so well integrated into the film that once the experience is over, you’re barely able to separate the music from the film or vice versa. “Troy’s” score is intrusive, bombastic and overbearing. The music actually had the unintended effect of making me wince at one point.
Yet even with all the aggravations, “Troy” is still a decent movie and a film that’s tough to cast aside as just another overblown, big budget studio production. The buffed up Brad Pitt does a respectable job (despite the bad dialogue) of playing the confused mercenary, Achilles. Eric Bana shows he can handle himself physically as well as emotionally on screen in a role that might easily have been phoned in by others, and Orlando Bloom once again oozes animal magnetism. Even while playing the coward, Bloom is compelling and hard to dislike. But truly it’s the old guard who deliver the best performances in “Troy.” Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson, and Peter O’Toole seem to relish their roles, wrenching every last bit of flesh from the script. And let’s not forget “Troy’s” women. Diane Kruger and Rose Byrne are outstanding as the motivational forces behind Paris and Achilles.
Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana star as Paris and Hector, Princes of Troy. Hector’s older, wiser, and grounded. Paris is a wild playboy who acts without thinking. After a dinner celebrating peace between Sparta and Troy, Paris steals away with Helen (Diane Kruger), the most beautiful woman in the world and wife to Sparta’s King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). Honor dictates Menelaus must fight to get Helen back. Menelaus turns to his brother, Agamemnon, King of the Mycenaeans (Brian Cox), for support. The formidable armies controlled by Agamemnon are rallied to pursue Paris and Helen to Troy. Ruled by King Priam (Peter O’Toole), Troy has always been successfully defended from invading forces and is the one kingdom Agamemnon still longs to control. For love, lust, revenge, honor, pride - and greed - thousands will die and a city will be destroyed.
About halfway through “Troy” it suddenly dawned on me what bugged me the most about this epic drama: too many close-ups. “Troy” answers the question other movies never thought of asking: is it possible to show too many close-up shots of the oh-so-handsome faces of Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, or Eric Bana? Before you Bloom, Bana or Pitt fans bombard me with emails claiming there’s no possible way you can ever get too much of any of these hunks, let me tell you that prior to watching this movie I would have been right there with you, sharing your sense of outrage and disbelief at such a statement. But there comes a point not too far into the movie when you just have to say enough already. Enough with the close-ups, the lingering shots of Pitt’s handsome mug, the up close and personal look at Bana’s facial hair, and the extended shots of Bloom’s beautiful eyes. With marvelously crafted sets and intricately staged battle scenes – and with a cast of such high caliber actors - why was it necessary to rely so often on close-ups of the actors to telegraph emotions? It felt as if the director wasn’t confident enough he was evoking the response he wanted from the audience via the dialogue, and the close-ups were his out of control way to elicit the desired audience reaction by pounding home the drama and sense of doom through increasingly annoying close-in shots of his lead actors faces.
Besides the staggering amount of close-ups, I found the accents to be a little distracting. Eric Bana busts out in a full-on Australian accent at one point – and with the others it’s tough to tell what exactly they’re trying to pull off. And the score… I’m of the opinion a good score should be so well integrated into the film that once the experience is over, you’re barely able to separate the music from the film or vice versa. “Troy’s” score is intrusive, bombastic and overbearing. The music actually had the unintended effect of making me wince at one point.
Yet even with all the aggravations, “Troy” is still a decent movie and a film that’s tough to cast aside as just another overblown, big budget studio production. The buffed up Brad Pitt does a respectable job (despite the bad dialogue) of playing the confused mercenary, Achilles. Eric Bana shows he can handle himself physically as well as emotionally on screen in a role that might easily have been phoned in by others, and Orlando Bloom once again oozes animal magnetism. Even while playing the coward, Bloom is compelling and hard to dislike. But truly it’s the old guard who deliver the best performances in “Troy.” Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson, and Peter O’Toole seem to relish their roles, wrenching every last bit of flesh from the script. And let’s not forget “Troy’s” women. Diane Kruger and Rose Byrne are outstanding as the motivational forces behind Paris and Achilles.
WAtch Online
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