Troy (2004)

“I’ll tell you a secret. Something they don’t teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.” – Achilles

Number of Times Seen – Twice (6 Jun 2004 and 21 Apr 2021)

Brief Synopsis – After the beautiful Helen of Troy flees with her lover Paris, a war breaks out between Troy and a unified Greece with the help of the powerful warrior Achilles.

My Take on it –This is a film that I recall seeing with my first (now ex) wife when it came out.

I don’t recall much about the film but remember that she got a cold from the air conditioner in the theater and was sick in bed all weekend.

I decided that after nearly 17 years, it was time to revisit this film and hopefully enjoy it much more than I recalled.

This, unfortuantely is a horrendous epic film that doesn’t work at all.

The story is one that has been told in the history books for Centuries, yet they still fail to find a way to make these characters and their stories more interesting to watch.

The cast and crew are both superb here.

Wolfgang Petersen directed this film in a epic way, yet the story is missing from this tale.

The action scenes are filmed well, but without any ‘meat’ with the characters and the way things play out here.

The cast includes Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Julian Glover, Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson, Orlando Bloom, Peter O’Toole, Sean Bean, Julie Christie, Brian Cox, Diana Kruger and Saffron Burros, yet none of the are able to elevate this poorly written story to something more enjoyable to watch.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Brad Pitt and Eric Bana did not use stunt doubles for their epic duel. They made a gentlemen’s agreement to pay for every accidental hit; $50 for each light blow and $100 for each hard blow. Pitt ended up paying Bana $750, and Bana didn’t owe Pitt anything.(From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (3/10)