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. | Troy
(2004) |
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Troy and Sparta - two warring states – have finally come to a truce. To cement the new relationship, Menelaus, King of Sparta hosts the Trojan princes Hector and Paris. Unfortunately, while peacemaking is going on, Paris, the younger Trojan prince is busy arranging to steal the King’s wife from under his nose. On discovering that his wife has been secreted away by Paris – unknown even to elder brother Hector – Menelaus calls for the support of his own brother - Agamemnon, King of the Greeks. With his imperialist ambitions burning bright, Agamemnon seizes the opportunity to launch a full scale war against Sparta. This leads to the great siege of Troy and catapults the Greek’s greatest warrior, Achilles, into confrontation with the Trojan champion, Hector. Wolfgang Petersen has taken the source material for his film (Homer’s Iliad) and pared it down considerably. This was inevitable considering the time scale involved in the Iliad and the complexity of the material. He has also quite rightly omitted the Olympians from the film – incorporating the Greek gods into the film without making the film into a kind of Clash of the Titans remake would have been problematic. Petersen also succeeds in keeping a long film (163 minutes) moving at a good pace and his set piece battle scenes are wonderfully executed. The more sparing use of CGI is used to good effect as the attempt to give the clashes a brutal reality is effectively conveyed. But more involving than the large battle scenes is the combat sequence between Paris and Menelaus and the showdown between Hector and Achilles both of which are simply but excellently choreographed. Where Troy stumbles is in the performance of its lead artists. Helen of Troy – the face that launched a thousand ships and the war – is played insipidly by Helen Kruger. Brad Pitt is burdened by the fact that his Achilles is a complex hero, almost an anti-hero – arrogant and brooding, ruthless and largely unsympathetic. Frankly, Pitt is unable to handle this level of complexity and the result is bland and uninspiring. Eric Bana, in contrast, has the author backed role of Hector but his performance is uneven – wooden in some scenes, suitably noble and sympathetic in others. Probably the most impressive of the main cast is Orlando Bloom whose portrayal of the callow Prince Paris is the opposite of his dashing, heroic Lord of the Rings persona. Some of the shortcomings of the main cast, however, are covered up by the far more impressive supporting cast. Peter O’Toole lends class and gravitas as King Priam of Troy and Brian Cox as Agamemnon is wonderfully spiteful. There are also strong showings by Sean Bean and Brendan Gleeson. In the end,
Wolfgang Petersen has put together a perfectly respectable film
– far better than his watery Perfect Storm. There are
even some efforts to convey the futility of war to give it some
present day resonance. But while it is a spectacle it never
rises to the level of Gladiator which was elevated by Russell
Crowe’s dynamic performance. In contrast, Pitt’s
chiselled body and face cannot make up for the lack of substance
in his performance and ultimately in Troy.
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