I hope that those of you who are bothering to read this little “series” of sorts are enjoying the picks thus far, tho’ I suspect that some of you may take issue with today’s recommendation. To wit, it’s TROY [not trois, which would be fitting for the third pick], and the trailer for it is below:
So, is this really a war film, or is it fantasy? Recent archaeological discoveries [beyond the famous one “made” by Schliemann] would suggest that it’s the former. I’m sure that might cause a little bit of grumbling from folks who would say that this is simply an adaptation of Homer’s Iliad, and when you consider its companion piece, the Odyssey [not the old video game system], it makes sense to assume that it is mere fiction. When you consider the bit with Scylla and Charybdis, it only seems that much more like some fantastical tale.
Unless you think of those two mythical creatures as being metaphors for, say, a country’s political parties, but I digress. The point is that the film could have gone in the direction of something like CLASH OF THE TITANS, but instead tries to be a good deal more realistic. Not cinema verite, but realistic.
Assuming that it qualifies as a war film, then, what works within that context? Probably the best evidence is in the scene where the Greeks storm the beaches. While it certainly isn’t on par with the Omaha Beach landing scene in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN [or maybe even THE LONGEST DAY or THE BIG RED ONE, either], it definitely works. Apart from the duel between Achilles and Hector [which is pretty solid], it may very well be the best single part of the film.
It isn’t all hack and slash action, however, and as any who are familiar at all with the story know, the main thing driving the plot [but not the film] is the love story between Helen and Paris. Once more, Orlando Bloom does his best here… and thankfully, that’s good enough. Besides, having someone who is kind of a milquetoast is fitting casting here, and he actually does a good job there. Surprisingly, he is better than Peter O’ Toole, who plays King Priam. Unlike Richard Harris’ Marcus Aurelius in yesterday’s pick, O’ Toole is just kind of… there. It’s surprising that such an accomplished actor becomes little more than an afterthought, and the script doesn’t give him much wiggle room, but still; he was much better in the limited screen time he had in PHANTOMS than this. It’s a shame, but such is life.
While the love story drives the plot, what really drives the film is the conflict between Achilles and Hector. Happily, the casting for both was solid, with Brad Pitt portraying Achilles and the hit-or-miss Eric Bana [who was brilliant in CHOPPER, incidentally] shining as the Trojan prince Hector. As an aside, the director [Wolfgang Peterson, whose incredible WWII film DAS BOOT will be featured later] apparently played some mind games on these two actors, telling each of them that the other was all kinds of buff, thus inspiring the two to indulge in their egos a bit and work out that much more prior to filming. But I digress. Again.
Since I mentioned in my write-up about GLADIATOR yesterday how Hans Zimmer’s score helped to lift that film into “great” status, I need to mention how the score for this one… doesn’t do the same thing. The late James Horner, usually dependable when it comes to writing a score, just plain phoned in this one. Admittedly, there’s a reason for this, since the original score by Gabriel Yared was apparently not to Peterson’s liking, and Horner only had a short time to write the score… but still. Turns out, Yared’s score was better. Oh, well.
While it certainly isn’t in the running for the best of the films in this quasi “series,” it deserves to be on the list because of the subject matter, at least. If you enjoy a modern movie that feels like one of the old-fashioned epics, this is it. Enjoy!
If you don’t, then I’ll use this VQ-approved meme [taken from the film] on you.
So, is this really a war film, or is it fantasy? Recent archaeological discoveries [beyond the famous one “made” by Schliemann] would suggest that it’s the former. I’m sure that might cause a little bit of grumbling from folks who would say that this is simply an adaptation of Homer’s Iliad, and when you consider its companion piece, the Odyssey [not the old video game system], it makes sense to assume that it is mere fiction. When you consider the bit with Scylla and Charybdis, it only seems that much more like some fantastical tale.
Unless you think of those two mythical creatures as being metaphors for, say, a country’s political parties, but I digress. The point is that the film could have gone in the direction of something like CLASH OF THE TITANS, but instead tries to be a good deal more realistic. Not cinema verite, but realistic.
Assuming that it qualifies as a war film, then, what works within that context? Probably the best evidence is in the scene where the Greeks storm the beaches. While it certainly isn’t on par with the Omaha Beach landing scene in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN [or maybe even THE LONGEST DAY or THE BIG RED ONE, either], it definitely works. Apart from the duel between Achilles and Hector [which is pretty solid], it may very well be the best single part of the film.
It isn’t all hack and slash action, however, and as any who are familiar at all with the story know, the main thing driving the plot [but not the film] is the love story between Helen and Paris. Once more, Orlando Bloom does his best here… and thankfully, that’s good enough. Besides, having someone who is kind of a milquetoast is fitting casting here, and he actually does a good job there. Surprisingly, he is better than Peter O’ Toole, who plays King Priam. Unlike Richard Harris’ Marcus Aurelius in yesterday’s pick, O’ Toole is just kind of… there. It’s surprising that such an accomplished actor becomes little more than an afterthought, and the script doesn’t give him much wiggle room, but still; he was much better in the limited screen time he had in PHANTOMS than this. It’s a shame, but such is life.
While the love story drives the plot, what really drives the film is the conflict between Achilles and Hector. Happily, the casting for both was solid, with Brad Pitt portraying Achilles and the hit-or-miss Eric Bana [who was brilliant in CHOPPER, incidentally] shining as the Trojan prince Hector. As an aside, the director [Wolfgang Peterson, whose incredible WWII film DAS BOOT will be featured later] apparently played some mind games on these two actors, telling each of them that the other was all kinds of buff, thus inspiring the two to indulge in their egos a bit and work out that much more prior to filming. But I digress. Again.
Since I mentioned in my write-up about GLADIATOR yesterday how Hans Zimmer’s score helped to lift that film into “great” status, I need to mention how the score for this one… doesn’t do the same thing. The late James Horner, usually dependable when it comes to writing a score, just plain phoned in this one. Admittedly, there’s a reason for this, since the original score by Gabriel Yared was apparently not to Peterson’s liking, and Horner only had a short time to write the score… but still. Turns out, Yared’s score was better. Oh, well.
While it certainly isn’t in the running for the best of the films in this quasi “series,” it deserves to be on the list because of the subject matter, at least. If you enjoy a modern movie that feels like one of the old-fashioned epics, this is it. Enjoy!
If you don’t, then I’ll use this VQ-approved meme [taken from the film] on you.
