Troy Movie Review 2004

Petersen's epic telling of the Trojan War finally hit the screen after many delays (including Pitt injuring his Achilles tendon, oh the irony!) and budget-busting incidents. Merely inspired by Homer's "The Iliad," it dispenses with all those pesky Greek gods and makes it all about the warriors. When beautiful Helen (Kruger) flees her Spartan husband Menaleus (Gleeson) with pretty-boy lover Paris (Bloom), her greedy brother-in-law Agamemnon (Cox) decides Troy's wealth is worth a little fighting. Arrogant Achilles (Pitt) is persuaded to join in, and while Paris is no fighter, big brother Hector (Bana) is. Naturally, Achilles and Hector will have to go mano-a-mano (in one of the film's best scenes). Also around to show those youngsters what acting's all about is O'Toole as aging King Priam. It's all handled professionally but it's just not terribly compelling.

Distribution

Warner Home Video, Inc., 5775 Linder Canyon Rd., Westlake Village, CA 91362, URL: http://whv.warnerbros.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on DVD
Running time 162 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Period Piece, Mythology, Sword & Sandal, War, General, Greece--Ancient, Rome--Ancient, Adapted from a Poem, Big Battles, Top Grossing Films of 2004

Screenplay

David Benioff

Cast

Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Peter O'Toole, Diane Kruger, Brendan Gleeson, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Julian Glover, Julie Christie, Saffron Burrows, John Shrapnel, James Cosmo, Rose Byrne, Garrett Hedlund, Nathan Jones, Vincent Regan, Trevor Eve, Tyler Mane

Cinematography

Roger Pratt

Director

Wolfgang Petersen

Music

James Horner

Other

Tony Dawe, Peter Honess, Jon Billington, Kevin Phipps, Les Tomkins, John King, Cliff Robinson, Andy Nicholson, Adam O'Neill, Stephen Dobric, Julian Ashby, Marco Niro, Bob Ringwood, Nigel Phelps

Producer

Wolfgang Petersen, Colin Wilson, Diana Rathbun, Radiant, Plan B, Warner Bros.