Rolling hay that's on fire? "Spartacus". :D

Actually, flaming arrows were also used in Braveheart, which, of course, was before Gladiator. ( Now, watch John come in here and tell us they came from some old classic like Ben Hur or something. lol :D )

I did like the flaming trick they did with the giant balls of hay in Troy. That was a cool trick how they used the flaming arrows to light the giant balls on fire. Once they were rolling around burning everything in sight, I was up on my seat laughing like Dr. Evil.

I saw it on Sunday of opening weekend.

You know what? My reservations about the movie were not a problem. I can't believe that I'm saying this, but this is the movie adaptation of "The Iliad" for which I have been waiting. Not explaining much about Achilles's background still bothers me a little bit, but everything else was great. They even figured out that Hector is the real hero. :D

By the way, Tim, there was only ONE elaborate tent, and it was set up for Agamemnon, the head king of the Greeks. You would expect that kind of efficiency for the big guy, wouldn't you? (Besides, it was mostly constructed on top of his ship, which was pulled on to the beach.) :)

Hey now! Even Achilles abode was put up rather fast considering the type of construction and material. You go from the big beach battle and the next scene he's camped out in some tent eating grapes. No matter though, I just thought it made the perspective of time a little hard to swallow. Other than that, I really enjoyed the film as a whole. Flaming arrows, burning balls of hay, massive fleet of ships, subtle shots of naked women, epic battle scenes, how could I ask for anything more? :)

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Brian Cox and Brenda Gleeson were great as usual, and I thought Peter O'Toole was great as well, even though every time he was on screen it looked like he was going to keal over. I liked Pitt's character very much. He was such a bast, but you liked him anyway. The ending kinda makes me want a another adaptation of the "The Odyssey" with Sean Bean.

Yeah, someone should really just finish the "trilogy" with "The Odyssey" and "The Aenead". Okay, I know that Virgil wrote "The Aenead", but still.

By making Troy more historical, it would be rather difficult telling the story of Odysseus and his stories of facing a cyclops, sirens, and witches wouldn't it?

Not necessarily. The sirens are easily transformed into super-sexy girls who can sing. It's not unheard of to have men turn into mush by lust. Witches could be adapted the way that Briseis and Priam's religious advisor were. There are religious/cult/mystical figures in every society with no real superhuman powers, and we could see a "historical" "Odyssey" de-bunking old Greek superstitions (the way that Hector did in "Troy"). For cyclopses, just have a race of big men who blind one of their eyes as some sort of initiation ritual. Other things that are too fantastical can be left out of the movie (as were the Greek gods in "Troy").