'Troy' Discussion Thread

[MrMaooz]

Yeah, I know there is the Kingdom of Heaven vs. Troy thread or whatever, but I'm just curious what your guys' opinions are of it. It got a pretty mixed reaction, but I saw it, and dug it. It's not super great or anything. I have no idea what it was lacking to make it super epic and a top-notch epic.

7.5/10

 

[Pink Ranger]

I would say 6/10. I don't mind the absence of Greek gods or any of the metahuman elements from the original source material. I just felt they made some compromises to the source material to Brad Pitt a more traditional Hollywood hero. Like eliminating Achilles's sexual ambiguity, making him nicer than he should have been, and having him survive until the end. The conflict between Ajax and Ulysses is one of the greatest moments in the epic.

Also, I miss Diomedes, he was one of my favorite characters in the story. He's like the Max Sterling of the Achaens.

 

[MrMaooz]

Hector vs. Achilles is an awesome fight by the way.

"You will wander the underworld blind, deaf, and dumb, and all the dead will know: This is Hector. The fool who thought he killed Achilles."

 

[Slushy]

The Director's Cut was great. Just wish they didn't change the music from the theatrical version.

 

[Soapy]

I enjoyed it the one time I watched it. I think Brad Pitt was miscast. Those are my only thoughts on this movie.

 

[Marvin]

Based on my favorite Greek material and about hecktor(my favorite) but I hate the movie. Maybe it was just the approach and direction. I think hollywood has a problem when it comes to greek mythology. Stop demystifying the material, to me that's like demystifying superheroes. Spiderman with no powers.
I mean dear god they did it even Hercules...and they wonder why this particular genre isn't capturing the imagination of the audience these days. One more movie about a son of zeus with powers and I'm going to write a letter to the studio.

Anyways, I have to imagine Zack Snyder's Iliad in the vain of the first 300 but with actual powers would have made me happier. Otherwise, I really don't like this movie.

 

[Lencho01]

At the time, we had gone over Greek mythology in school, so I was excited to see it. I liked it, but was really disappointed they took out the gods and stuff.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

I really liked it. Watched it again 2 nights ago.

 

[Drizzle]

I really like Troy. In my opinion, it's on the higher end of the spectrum of sword-and-sandal epics that seemed to flood the 2000's after the massive success of Gladiator. Besides Orlando Bloom, the cast was very solid, particularly Eric Bana. Plus it was written by David Benioff, one of the creators of Game of Thrones, and a lot of the Daenerys scenes on the show remind me of the film. Plus a few of the actors in the film went on to have roles in the show. Lord Commander Mormont, Grand Maester Pycelle and Ned Stark are all in this. Speaking of Sean Bean, I always wanted to see an Odyssey spinoff/sequel where he reprised his role as Odysseus.

 

[MadVillainy]

Watched it for the first time a couple months ago. It was pretty cool, but I watched the Director's Cut

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Parts of it were great, such as pretty much anything to do with Hector.

But a couple of things really do the film in:

1. Poor takes on Helen and Paris. And when the story is based around a romance between these two characters, the fact that they have no romantic chemistry whatsoever is a MAJOR problem.

2. Portraying the Greeks as the villains when they are so clearly justified in going to war with Troy. I would have been fine with a more even-handed approach, or even something like Game of Thrones where every side does some scummy things, but this film has the Greeks as cackling, beard-pulling evil stereotypes up against the loving, virtuous Trojans and it just feels so wrong based on what actually happens in the film. Odysseus is basically the only Greek that isn't a dick in the entire movie.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I really like Troy. In my opinion, it's on the higher end of the spectrum of sword-and-sandal epics that seemed to flood the 2000's after the massive success of Gladiator. Besides Orlando Bloom, the cast was very solid, particularly Eric Bana. Plus it was written by David Benioff, one of the creators of Game of Thrones, and a lot of the Daenerys scenes on the show remind me of the film. Plus a few of the actors in the film went on to have roles in the show. Lord Commander Mormont, Grand Maester Pycelle and Ned Stark are all in this. Speaking of Sean Bean, I always wanted to see an Odyssey spinoff/sequel where he reprised his role as Odysseus.

That'd be amazing.

 

[dude stannis]

I'd honestly assumed that's what they where going to do.

 

[tamron]

I would say 6/10. I don't mind the absence of Greek gods or any of the metahuman elements from the original source material. I just felt they made some compromises to the source material to Brad Pitt a more traditional Hollywood hero.

Agreed.

I was able to accept it as the 'story behind the legend' as it were and get over the lack of the gods' involvement. But Achilles was whitewashed and great characters were truncated or excised. I still enjoy the director's cut quite a bit though.

It's a 7/10 for me.

Portraying the Greeks as the villains when they are so clearly justified in going to war with Troy. I would have been fine with a more even-handed approach, or even something like Game of Thrones where every side does some scummy things...

Amen. Very well said, I completely agree with that. Making both sides more grey would have improved the movie immensely.

For one, Achilles should have killed Troilus during the beach siege in Apollo's temple. I think that alone would have made the already great Troy/Hector fight 'even' as it were; Both having taken a loved one from the other and further ratcheting the tension of their encounter instead of Achilles 'righteous' anger and Hector's resignation to a warrior's death.

Helen and Paris were plot devices; pretty people looking pretty and initiating the conflict, but nothing more.

And a Sean Bean 'The Odyssey' could be awesome in the right hands.

 

[Pink Ranger]

The Odyssey: Sean Bean Actually Survives This Film

 

[Nemeres]

Every time Sean Bean drops his line of "This war will never be forgotten... nor will the heroes who fight in it!", my hair stands on end from how cheesy it is. They haven't even started fighting it yet, how would he even know? Not a fan of Horner's meh score either, and Orlando Bloom is pretty damn weak in it. It also feels monochromatic and visually boring to me, it lacks style a bit.

Redeeming feature: Brian Cox, with his line "Then every son of Troy... shall die!" It's like he snarls the word out. So awesome.

 

[MrMaooz]

Ha, Brian Cox was awesome in the movie. Sometimes his bits were hammy, but in an entertaining way.

Oh, and Nemeres, I don't recall the lines, but I do recall there being some cheesy lines.

 

[Loki882]

The acting was fine (well except for Bloom), it looked good, and the action scenes were well-done. And hey, a movie where Sean Bean doesn't die, we don't get many of those. Eric Bana and Peter O'Toole were particularly great.

But a lot of the movie is just kind of boring, generic, and uninspired. And they completely wasted Diane Kruger, and even Rose Byrne to a degree.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

I loved it. Thought it was just a cool movie. Achilles was awesome.

 

[kvz5]

The only thing I remember about this movie was how much I loved Eric Bana.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

And hey, a movie where Sean Bean doesn't die, we don't get many of those.

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've seen Sean Bean live in a movie in which he isn't playing Richard Sharpe.

 

[Spider-Who?]

Every time Sean Bean drops his line of "This war will never be forgotten... nor will the heroes who fight in it!", my hair stands on end from how cheesy it is.

This is a problem I have with a lot of movies. It seems like every single sword and sandals film has this type of line or theme that feels completely tacked on...they're practically looking right at the audience and saying "see? you DO remember us!" I hate it. There are VERY few movies where this type of dialouge is deserved. Same goes for the cliche "we fight as FREE men/We want to be FREE" pre-battle speeches.

 

[Panthro]

It was an okay film, nice costumes, nice scenery, some decent fights, some good performances, but kinda watered down, and I know I must be in the minority here but the much vaunted Hector/Achilles duel was pretty anticlimactic, way too much choreography, felt more like a dance than a fight. Brad Pitt as Achilles is kinda like Kevin Costner as Robin Hood - the costume looks fine on him but he never really blends in with the epic setting.

 

[MrMaooz]

Does anyone feel like some lines were straight out of a comic book? I don't mean it in a bad way right now.

"Before my time here is done, I will look down on your corpse and smile!"

 

[Fallen Angel]

Saffron Burrows that is all.