I just watched Troy and I don’t quite know what to make of it.
Admittedly some moments were poignant – like the courage of the King of Troy for visiting Achilles to reclaim his son Hector’s body (aka Eric Bana who came out pretty well – his brother Paris aka Orlando Bloom, was just sitting pretty). The cinematography was also good. Now I truly understand the significance of the face that launched a thousand ships!
Other moments were almost recklessly thrown into the wind, as if the plot didn’t have to hold. How could a warrior who’s been killing men ruthlessly for years have such a swift change of heart, looking for ‘peace’? I wonder if some characterisations were fully thought through.
I myself haven’t read Homer’s Iliad, although my pal Edward who studied the Classics had loads to say about the movie’s inaccuracies and liberal doses of artistic licence. He has many good points and is rather funny, so go forth and read.
And I entirely agree with him and my other pal Joan that Legolas belongs in Lord of the Rings, not Troy where he is a sissy, a cowardly misfit who can only kill people from a distance.
Hollywood movies also tend to drag out the love scenes and invent romances that may not have existed. An attempted murder scene turns into a seduction scene. It helps when your intended victim is blonde and beautiful – and we’re not talking about the woman.
And of course, when a hero dies, he takes way much longer to die than normal people. He will say many last words – and then some – and kiss his lover for a while. Finally – finally! he dies.
Other soldiers sustaining the same sort of wounds die at once, sometimes with a howl or a whimper, and perhaps a clatter as they hit the ground.
But we couldn’t let that happen to Brad Pitt, can we? To heel, boy!