I was moved by the spectacle, moved by director Petersen's forward pace, moved by the big battle scenes, and moved by several of the supporting performances.
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For months after the introduction of HD-DVD, early adopters complained they didn't have anything to really wow their friends and neighbors. While there were plenty of movies that looked and sounded appreciably better in high definition than in standard def, there wasn't that one surefire demo disc guaranteed to knock the socks off anyone who saw it. Well, now they have one.
"The Last Samurai" came close, but in my book "Troy" marks the first true Hollywood blockbuster epic transferred to disc in high definition. Warner Bros. couldn't have picked a better-looking swords-and-sandals flick to show off the new medium, as the picture quality was already excellent in its standard-definition release and only looks better in HD-DVD. Plus, we're favored with another of the studio's exclusive HD-DVD-only "In-Movie Experiences." So, as they say, on with the show.
"Sing, O goddess, of the wrath of Peleus' son Achilles, the deadly wrath that brought upon the Achaeans countless woes and sent many mighty souls of heroes down to the house of Death...."
--Homer, The "Iliad," Book I
Clearly, 2004 was a banner year for historical epics, with "King Arthur," "Alexander," and "Troy" appearing within months of one another. Well, at least "Troy" didn't claim to be based on any single "true" account of characters and events, which allowed it some greater latitude in its storytelling than the others. But it still had those pesky poets Homer and Virgil to consider.
The trouble with any movie based on literature or history is that filmmakers invariably want to make their own changes to it. When a movie is based on both literature and history, the problems only intensify. So it is with this film version of the Trojan Wars.
Director Wolfgang Petersen's production of "Troy" is based in large part on the writings of the early Greek poet Homer in his "Iliad," in smaller part on Homer's "Odyssey," and for the ending on a portion of the Roman poet Virgil's "Aeneid." These literary elements are further combined with some of the historical record and with the pure imagination of screenwriter David Benioff. The result is not at all unsatisfactory, but it may frustrate anyone hoping to find in it either the beauty of the ancient poetry or the revelations of modern archeological evidence.
The History:
According to the "Encyclopedia Britannica," the ancient city-state of Troy "commanded a strategic point at the southern entrance to the Dardanelles (Hellespont), a narrow strait linking the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea. Troy probably used its site astride these two lines of communication to exact tolls from trading vessels and other travelers using them. This practice probably accounted for the wealth of ancient Troy; it may also have been the Greeks' actual motive in waging war against the city, which chronically interfered with their trade through the Dardanelles."
"Britannica" goes on to say that "the location of Troy was well known from references in works by ancient Greek and Latin authors. But the exact site of the city remained unidentified until modern times. In 1822 Charles McLaren suggested the site of Homeric Troy, but for the next fifty years his suggestion received little attention from classical scholars, most of whom regarded the Trojan legend as a mere fictional creation based on myth, not history. The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann deserves full credit for adopting McLaren's identification and demonstrating to the world that it was correct."
The Legend:
As I've said, most of "Troy" is based on the work of Homer and Virgil. In their books we learn that the Trojan War, fought between the Greeks and Troy, began in a rather convoluted way. Paris, the son of the wealthy and powerful King Priam of Troy, was asked to judge a kind of heavenly beauty contest among the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. Each of the goddesses tried to bribe Paris to win the prize, but Aphrodite's gift was the most tempting; she promised to give Paris the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris went for it, but unfortunately the prize woman, Helen, was already married to another guy, who just happened to be a King, Menelaus of Sparta. So Paris won Helen's love, as promised, but in order to keep her, the young man had to sneak her back to Troy, where Helen was welcomed as a queen (a princess, actually).
King Menelaus was incensed and got his brother, Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, to mount an expedition of a 1,000 ships and 50,000 men to bring her back. The Trojans, however, refused to give her up. The Greeks laid siege to Troy in a war that lasted ten years.
The "Iliad" takes up the story in the tenth and final year of the war but provides details about previous events in flashback. The gods take sides in the war, too, with Hera, Athena, and Poseidon rallying for the Greeks and Aphrodite, Apollo, and Ares for the Trojans. Homer then tells us of a quarrel between Agamemnon and the Greeks' finest warrior, Achilles, favored of the gods; of the death of Achilles' good friend (or cousin in the movie) Patroclus; of the death of the Trojan's finest warrior, Hector; and finally of Achilles' own demise at the hands of Paris, who hits him with an arrow in his only vulnerable spot, his heel.
The war ends when as a parting gift the Greeks build a huge wooden horse concealing several Greek warriors, while the remainder of the Greek army pretends to sail away. At night, the Greeks hidden in the horse sneak out and open up the city's gates to the Greek army, who pour in and sack the place. According to legend, Priam and his remaining sons were killed and the Trojan women sold into slavery.
The Movie:
I'm surprised I liked "Troy" as much as I did, considering there is not much more to it than flashing swords, glistening bodies, and CGI effects galore. I mean, it isn't the filmmakers fault that Homer chose as petulant, arrogant, and generally unlikable a figure as Achilles for his central character, even if it is the filmmakers' fault for casting Brad Pitt in the role.
"Troy" sticks mainly with the poets' stories, but it leaves out one key ingredient that has fascinated readers for 2,500 years; namely, the gods. They are often spoken of in the movie, but they are never seen. The movie tries hard to combine literature and history into a believable reality that would explain the influence of the gods without showing their actual presence; but in the process the movie loses some of its mystery and adventure. Alas....
So, instead of the gods, we get Brad Pitt. You're right; it isn't a fair exchange. Pitt is youthful, handsome, muscular, and athletic looking, but with his long blond locks and Southern California tan he looks more ready to jump on the back of a surfboard than the back of a chariot. And why do actors in historical epics always want to speak in posh British accents, whether or not they're British? Pitt's dialect varies between what is presumably his own and a sort of Shakespearean English. Frankly, the less he says, the better.
So, the movie "Troy" basically reduces the poets' grand epics to the stuff of Saturday-afternoon matinees for which Ray Harryhausen used to provide the stop-motion animation. But you know what? I loved those old Harryhausen special-effects movies, and maybe that's why I'm still attracted to today's similar tradition of big, historical, CGI-filled blockbusters. Either that or I was so relieved to see a few rays of sunshine in "Troy" after the gloom and doom of "King Arthur" that I was making a relative judgment in "Troy's" favor. I dunno.
Anyway, story line begins with Paris and Helen running away to Troy, spending the bulk of its time on the siege and ending up with the big wooden horse, the sacking of the city, and almost everyone of importance dying. Interestingly, the ten-year war appears compressed to a couple of weeks max, but we get the idea.
The serious dramatic moments are, not unexpectedly, provided by the movie's most-veteran actors, Brian Cox and Peter O'Toole. Cox plays the bullying, selfish, power-hungry King Agamemnon, who is frustrated by being able to push around everybody except his own best warrior, Achilles. He feels that Achilles would just as soon put an arrow in his back than in the enemy's. And he'd be right. Homer made the Agamemnon-Achilles rancor the centerpiece of the "Iliad," and at least Cox makes it an important element in the movie.
O'Toole plays the aged King Priam of Troy, and just listening to this actor's voice is enough to warrant the price of an HD-DVD, and HD-DVD player, and a high-definition television. As the old saying goes, O'Toole could make the phone book sound interesting. Priam's conversations with his sons and later with Achilles are some of the most affecting parts of the story.
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