‘Troy’ Has Good Moments, But Is It Worth Your Time?

Forget about Helen. Brad Pitt’s striking mug (especially Pitt circa Legends of the Fall and A River Runs Through It) could be the face that launched a thousand ships, yet Hollywood is still not sold on whether or not he can launch a blockbuster film on his own. His latest, the Greek epic Troy, opened in first place last week with over $46 million at the box office, but that figure fell short of many analysts’ predictions, causing a ho-hum response from Tinseltown.

It’s sad when nearly $50 million in one weekend is considered middling business. Nevertheless, when a film costs a reported $175 million to make, it’s not surprising that a lot of ink has been spilled regarding monetary matters.

But putting all that aside, let’s consider whether Troy, featuring Pitt’s first starring role since 2001’s Ocean Eleven, is worth your time (and clocking in at 163 minutes, that’s a sizable chunk of your day), let alone your money.

Inspired by Homer’s classic mythological tale, The Iliad (required high school reading for many of us), Troy follows the conflict between the armies of Greece, led by the ferocious and feared warrior Achilles (Pitt), against the city of Troy, which is harboring Helen (Diane Kruger), queen of Sparta, who has been wisked away by her young, callow lover, Prince Paris (Orlando Bloom). Helen’s enraged husband, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), wants to fight to win back his queen, but his brother, the power-mad Agamemnon (Brian Cox), is only interested in an excuse to wage full-out war against the defiant city of Troy.

There is much to like in Troy, starting with the lavish locations captured in Mexico, Malta and London set up to represent the settings of Homer’s 3,000-year-old tale. There’s also the glorious spectacle of the piece, ranging from the gasp-inducing shot of those thousand Greek ships (used so effectively in the film’s trailer), to the multiple battle sequences captured on film.

To be fair, some of the more crowded combat scenes (featuring thousands of extras, real and/or CGI) are very reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, but Troy does have some standout action set pieces, particularly one dazzlingly choreographed clash between Achilles and Troy’s champion, Hector (Eric Bana). And, of course, the film gives us a doozy of a gift horse that shouldn’t be looked in the mouth.

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm), Troy is certainly an entertaining film, yet it’s also disappointingly disengaging. A large part of its appeal is its larger-than-life, grand nature and the scope of the tale it tells, but its weakness is an inability to get the audience to connect with its characters and their plight.

Apart from Bana, who brings considerable warmth, complexity and heart to his portrayal of the noble warrior Hector, there is no one who jumps off the screen to create an indelible personality. Pitt is credible in the starring role, bringing some physical presence to the fiery Achilles, but Petersen doesn’t quite push him enough to rid him of some contemporary qualities and mannerisms that periodically rear their head and may ultimately jar the viewer out of Petersen’s carefully-crafted classic setting.

Yet Pitt is not the film’s biggest casting problem. There are several more conspicuous missteps: several of the male stars (including Pitt and Bloom) are depicted much more prettily than Kruger’s Helen, who has very little presence and makes us wonder why vast armies would go to war for her; and though many noted and talented veterans are utilized in the cast, most are ineffectively used, including Peter O’Toole, who gets one really good scene with Pitt, but otherwise is overly primped and a bit hammy as Troy’s more distinguished and principled King Priam.

Overall, Troy has its moments, but it’s neither as soul stirring as The Lord of the Rings, nor as compelling as Gladiator, perhaps the two most recent films it echoes the most. It left me wishing that Petersen had perhaps developed more of his own voice here rather than re-traced the steps of his contemporaries.

Troy is rated R for graphic violence and some sexuality and partial nudity.