Troy (Blu-ray)

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Warner Bros. released two films depicting two legends of a similar historical era in a similar geographical area in similar epic form on the same day. The first film was Oliver Stone´s "Alexander: Revisited" that featured an additional thirty minutes of footage and was reorganized to better suit the story that the director intended to tell. Running at three and a half hours, "Alexander Revisited" was truly massive in scale. Not to be outdone, Wolfgang Petersen´s "Director´s Cut" of his epic film "Troy" featuring Brad Pitt weighed in at a hefty 196 minutes and allowed Petersen to finally allow audiences to see his epic Greek drama as he originally intended the film to be seen. Watching the stories of Alexander the Great and his predecessor Achilles in these two lengthy epics was a treat, a historical lesson and a test of one´s ability to sit in front of a high definition television.

"Alexander" had Colin Farrell, but "Troy" ups the ante and puts Brad Pitt in a skirt and sandals. Having fared slightly better with critics and pulling in a heftier take at the box office, Petersen and Pitt was more successful, but neither film reached the lofty expectations set for the pricey films. Both films were released in 2004 and each has followed a similar path on home video. However, "Troy" was previously released on HD-DVD and now finds itself dipping into the well again and also appearing on Blu-ray. Comparing the two pictures, my personal preference has always been slightly on the side of "Troy." I find the film to be better paced, more exciting and slightly more adept at telling its story. Both are entertaining and epic, but Petersen´s creation is the winner of the duel between the two historical heavyweights. Although I have a better opinion of "Troy" than many other critics, I still admit the film has its flaws and is far from perfect.

Brad Pitt is the Greek hero Achilles. He fights for the side of King Agamemnon (Brian Cox) as the Mycenae army moves through Greece and slowly incorporates competing armies into their own massive force. Achilles is considered a warlord whom is loved by the gods, but he is a man who enjoys pleasures of the flesh and the notoriety of his own conquests. Achilles is a warrior looking for personal glory and is not loyal to Agememnon or anybody else for whom he fights. As the war carries on, Agememnon approaches the Greek nation of Sparta and wages against the Trojan army. Agamemnon´s brother Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) has lost his wife Helen (Diane Kruger) to the Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) and Menelaus wants revenge and blood of the Trojan royalty. Paris´ older and wiser brother Hector (Eric Bana) is less than pleased with the actions of his brother and urges that King Priam (Peter O´Toole) force Paris into returning the woman to Sparta.

Agamemnon decides that defeating the Trojans and bringing Troy to its knees would allow him to rule the Aegean Sea and he amasses his army for a massive assault on the city. Traveling with Agamemnon is the eager and fame glory seeking Achilles and his younger cousin Patroclus (Garrett Hedlund). Achilles has been guided to battle by his mother Thetis (Julie Christie) who has foreseen a great victory by her son and notoriety and fame beyond Achilles´ imagination. Achilles and the warriors of Agamemnon quickly defeat the Trojan army on the beaches of Troy. During the battle, Hector´s cousin Brisesis (Rose Byrne) is captured and given to Achilles as a prisoner. Achilles finds amusement and an attraction for the young lady. When Achilles is reluctant to continue on with the war against Troy, Agamemnon takes Brisesis as his own prisoner and forces Achilles into action. This works against Agamemnon and Achilles refuses to fight.

As tensions escalate, Paris faces the war savvy veteran Menelaus, the man whose wife he stole. The prize of this duel is Helen and Menelaus accepts the challenge, but under false pretense. Although he states that he will end the conflict, Menelaus decides that he will continue on and destroy the city of Troy. The battle does not go well for the untested and outmatched Paris and he is nearly killed by Menelaus. Hector becomes involved in the personal struggle when his younger brother is nearly killed and Hector defeats Menelaus. This brings the battle between the sides to a furious fight and the city of Troy handedly defends themselves against the Greek army. When the Trojans gain a strong hand against the attacking Greeks, Agamemnon places his army in retreat and returns to the beach where he has kept Brisesis in captivity. There, Achilles discovers that Brisesis has been nearly raped by some of Agamemnon´s men.

With Achilles falling for the lovely Brisesis and taking to her wishes of not engaging the Trojans, Patroclus decides to don Achilles´ armor and wage a war against the Trojans. The Greek army believes him to be Achilles and the army follows him into battle. There, the formidable Hector also believes Patroclus to be Achilles and engages into a one-on-one battle with the young boy. Hector easily defeats the boy whom he believes to be Achilles and takes his life. When he removes the helmet of his victim, he discovers the body to not be Achilles, but the young boy Patroclus. This puts Achilles into a vengeful state and Achilles stops at nothing to fight Hector, including hurting those remaining that he cares for. Achilles marches towards the Trojan gates and challenges Hector to a fight. Hector agrees and moves out to battle the warlord. After a furious battle, Achilles defeats Hector and then drags his lifeless body behind a chariot in a show of victory against the Trojan onlookers. King Priam meets with Achilles and negotiates the return of Hector´s body and for the return of Brisesis. A twelve day period of peace is also negotiated.

The time of no hostility passes and the Greeks put into action a plan to infiltrate Troy. Their plan is to present to the Trojans a gift. The gift is a large wooden horse and within the horse is a small force of Greek soldiers who will open the city to invasion after nightfall. The Troy citizens celebrate and accept their present from the Greek invaders. After they have been exhausted from their long day of celebration, those housed inside the horse quickly open the city gates and allow the Greeks to completely pillage and destroy the city. Nearly every citizen is killed and the Greeks burn the majority of buildings in Troy. While the fighting goes on, Achilles sets of to find his love, Brisesis. He eventually does find the Troy woman, once again under the capture of Agamemnon. Achilles frees Brisesis from the tyrant king, but comes under the attack of Paris and is left mortally wounded.

"Troy" is an engaging story that brings to life the Greek legend of Achilles. The epic sets and lavish depiction of Sparta and Troy are breathtaking. The battle scenes are immense, bloody and thrilling. The cast includes Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Peter O´Toole and other familiar faces. It is a solid cast and I was especially pleased to see Eric Bana in the film. In fact, I believe that Bana would have been a more formidable Achilles and perhaps allowed the film to reach loftier heights as I consider the casting of Brad Pitt as Achilles the film´s primary weak point. Pitt is not bad as the glory seeking Achilles, but he never once gives the impression that he is Greek and serves as more of a distraction than anything. Sometimes, big name actors do not benefit a film and "Troy" is one of those films that is hindered by having a larger-than-life actor try to slip into somebody else´s skin.

Wolfang Petersen has crafted another masterful film with "Troy," although it cannot compare to his other noteworthy epic, "Das Boot." That early film from the renown director was easily his best work and "Troy" is his second most ambitious creation, but lacks the humanity or edge-of-seat tension that heavily populates "Das Boot." "Troy" looks and feels massive and a good depiction of the legendary fight for Troy. Until this film, the only memorable sequence involving a Trojan invader was "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." It was about time for Hollywood to bring the legend of Achilles and the story of Troy to the big screen and Petersen made his case that he was the right man for the job. Pitt´s involvement does hurt the overall appeal of the film and the decisions to base so much of the story on romance and broken hearts takes away from the tremendous battles that could have been more of a focal point.

The "Director´s Cut" feels a little too long. Part of the reason may have been the long night I previously spent with "Alexander Revisited," but a film that is over three hours in length can never be called short. The added sequences seem to center more on the romantic relationships held during the film and a little more character development between the primary characters. A few additional scenes were added to the massive battles that included a little more blood and gore than what was seen in the theatrical release, but these did not add anything overly important to the film´s large scale fights. The film more-than-likely would have trouble securing an R-Rating with this new cut, and although nothing major is added to the story, it is a harsher telling of the tale. I´m not sure of which version of the film is superior. The trimmer theatrical version tells the same story, but the added sex and violence does flesh out the film a little bit and allows Petersen to tell the story he intended to tell.

Video:

Not surprisingly, "Troy" continues to look very strong on high definition video. My HD-DVD copy of the theatrical release was a visual feast and the new Blu-ray release of the "Director´s Cut" is an identical twin. What is nice in relation to this new longer version of the film is the fact that the spliced scenes are of the same strong quality as the remainder of the film. Back in the days, before digital was big, jump cuts and other anomalies plagued alternate versions of films and oftentimes, the quality was not nearly as strong as the theatrical footage. This is not the case with "Troy" and the film is even and consistent throughout its three hours and fifteen minutes of length. Warner Bros. has mastered this release with VC-1 encoding and the 2.35:1 picture is definitely a crowd pleasure, which is quite fitting this epic film.

The level of detail is extremely strong and the color is striking with this release of "Troy." I was equally impressed with "Alexander Revisited" and I must commend Warner Bros. for pushing these two epic films out with such stunning video and skillful mastering. The sandstone buildings show their imperfect textures. The battle weary and blood splattered armor shows each bit of gore and each scratch and the adjoining leather skirts are equally strongly textured. Brad Pitt´s tan skin is also highly detailed and shows the strength of this high definition release. The colors are impressive and perfectly saturated. The skies are rich and blue and the sand is a warm tan hue. The transfer never becomes overblown in the harsh lighting of ancient Greece and the metallic colors that are commonplace in the film looks exquisite.