'Troy boy' Brad shows his pits
2004-05-17 14:28
Cape Town - Inspired by Homer's epic poem, The Iliad, Wolfgang Petersen's Troy is a movie that should appeal to most. Set in a time somewhat hard to imagine, much of this epic movie can be identified with, as it draws on things we can all relate to - love, honour, power, struggle and war.
Screenwriter David Benioff, who has longed for many years to write a film about the Greek siege of Troy, will not please classicists and purists with his adaptation of Homer's Iliad. And rightly so. The Iliad, to be a successful Hollywood blockbuster, needed to be turned into an audience-friendly Tuesday night movie. If it had stuck to the doorstopper of a read that it is, it would have been a bit of a bore - the length of the poem is just too long and too daunting.
So what did Benioff do? He removed the gods from the story, abridged the length of the war considerably and brought in the story of the Trojan Horse - not in Homer - to finish off the story. Thousands of computer-generated foot soldiers and an oh-so-familiar sounding soundtrack were also used in Troy.
Either we throw our arms up in despair, or accept that the movie was aimed at those who like to sip on coca cola and munch on popcorn.
When Paris (Orlando Bloom), the young prince of Troy, persuades (although not much persuading was needed here) Helen, Queen of Sparta, later Helen of Troy (Diane Kruger), to leave her husband, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), and elope to Troy, an inevitable war between the Greeks and the Trojans breaks out.
Menelaus seeks help in his rage and wounded pride from his brother Agamemnon, ready for any reason to expand his kingdom and confront the powerful city of Troy.
He pulls together a vast army (a thousand ships) to launch an attack on Troy and with the help of Odysseus (Bean), enlists Achilles, a legendary Greek warrior and his powerful Myrmidons, to join the army.
The battle scenes don't drag, and bring to life a strong, and historically accurate sense of what it must have been like to fight in a war in those days.
Brad Pitt, - the long-haired, very tanned, very smooth, and extremely well-toned "Hollywood god" - captures Achilles' contradictions all too well. Featured often in the equivalent of a mini-skirt and tank top (pity about the hairy pits, Brad), Brad's perfect "godly" physique is somehow spoilt by his 21st-century attitude in his role as Achilles.
Gentle, authoritative and noble Hector (Bana) fits his role better than Pitt and exudes more conviction as a father, hero and leader.