Review: "Troy" (2004) 

Review: "Troy" (2004)

It's so nice not to be dissapointed in a movie for a change.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS TO FOLLOW, ESPECIALLY FOR ANYONE WITHOUT A WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF "THE ILIAD." CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Four immediate observations about "Troy":

1.) Has Brad Pitt really made ANY serious career missteps lately? I can't think of any. From "Fight Club" on, he's been such an excellent example of a movie-star-with-range it's as those he's actively seeking revenge on everyone who wrote him off for all the crap he made between and including "Thelma & Louise" and "Meet Joe Black."

2.) A good 70% of Eric Bana's ability to appeal is contained in his ultra-expressive eyes. He's the Betty Davis of action heroes, and good for him.

3.) Proving himself the exception to the rule that a rising star's talent and/or staying-power are inversely-proportionate to the number of pre-teen girls who plaster said star's image on their walls,(aka "The DiCaprio Equation,") Orlando Bloom is the real thing and he's here to stay.

4.) Peter O'Toole= God. Brian Cox= Godder.

So, here we have "Troy." A 200 Million dollar epic reworking of Homer's "Iliad" which, I think it's a pretty safe bet, was pitched to at least ONE investor/producer as "Lord of The Rings meets Gladiator." Here we have the first big-scale "serious" action entry of the Summer, a bronzey swords n' sandals war drama in which a solid portion of "People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful" young male actors strap on their leathers and hack one-another up on the sandy beaches of an ancient kingdom which may never actually have existed in a loose adaptation of a Homeric adaptation of a war which may never actually have occured. Stuff like this used to be Hollywood's stock in trade, these days it's a rare treat to see one and a rarer treat to see one so well executed.

This story was still required reading when I was in school. Is it still? I'm not sure. Either way, a small-ish plot recap is in order:

In ancient Greece, Prince Paris of Troy (Orlando Bloom) has fallen in love with Queen Helen (Diane Krueger,) wife of King Menaleus (Brendan Gleeson) of Sparta, and spirited her back to the kingdom of his father Priam (Peter O'Toole.) Enraged, Menaleus calls on his power-hungry brother King Agamemmnon of Mycenae (Brian Cox) and King Odysseyus of Ithaca (Sean Bean) to help him rally all of Greece in a bid to avenge this affront by laying seige to Troy. To accomplish this feat, the kings enlist the aid of Achilles (Brad Pitt) a warrior so effective he is a legend in his own time. Prince Hector, (Eric Bana,) Paris' older brother, elects to take charge of Troy's defenses, eventually leading to a clash of wills between himself and Achilles.

The big "buzz" in academic circles about this particular adaptation of the "Iliad" story has been it's de-mythologizing of the story: Homer's original story, like all of Greek Drama, involves at it's core the machinations of the manipulative Olympian Gods. This version, however, removes any "definate" image or evidence of the gods in favor of a "realistic" vision of the events.

It's not surprising, given the nature of the beast, that "Gnostification" of the material fundamentally changes the entire flow and tone of the tale, it's hardly a "cosmetic" change. Greek Drama, generally, isn't "about" character nuance or motivation, it's about the reactions of mortals to the subjective whims of the gods. It's possible that such a change could render much of Greek myth-epics unfilmable, (What's "The Odyssey" without it's fickle gods and their pet monsters?,) but here the effect yeilds a surprising and overwhelmingly positive result: The audience is challenged with an action film where good and evil are blurred, "morality" is subjective and at constant quandry.

Removed from the (literal) Deus Ex Machina of all-powerful deities pulling the strings, the characters in Troy are, for the most part, neither entirely good nor evil: The strange duality of Homeric Heroes, here banned from using godly intervention to explain away all quirks, becomes a sort of instantaneous depth-generator for the larger than life characters inhabiting the story. Paris is foolish, naive and impudent, yet also noble in his own way. Achilles is an arrogant, battle-obsessed narcissist seemingly devoid of a moral center or belief in anything other than his own legend; yet is also a figure of perpetual honor and a staunch defender of fair-play among the scheming politicians leading the war. And so on, and so forth.

Thus, we're presented here with a real rarity not just for action films but for mainstream films in general: A film of moral complexity, one that refuses to tell you who's "good" and who's "bad" and asks you to cheer and boo for all involved in equal measure. We're actually asked to be awed by Achilles' physical power at the same time as we're galled by his behavior otherwise. Good show.

Special mention goes out to the action scenes, which are gorgeously choreographed and manage to make the done-to-death spectacle of armored men clashing into one-another in formation feel fresh with innovative techniques. As yet another result of the no-gods rule, the film has to re-invent Achilles' superhuman abilities: Instead of a Styx-powered immortal strongman, Pitt's Achilles is a creature of agility and quickness to adapt in battle; a blonde, bronzed Jackie Chan who usually kills in a single stroke like a Samurai.

Serious and appropriately respectful of it's source, "Troy" can't really resist setting up a slew of "crowd pleaser" moments: The big one-on-one battles are framed as WWE-esque "matches," presented and executed as though the filmmakers were in the full knowledge that action fans will want to recall them as "Achilles vs. Hector," "Ajax vs. Hector," "Paris vs. Menaleus," etc. as opposed to parts of the story-proper. For the record: The film's best "smackdown" is, as it should be, Achilles vs. Hector; which features the leads fighting with long-spears and shields in what is probably the best fight scene ever featuring those particular weapons.

Speaking of crowd-pleaser moments, the guy who comes to this with the most "baggage" is Orlando Bloom. While everyone else is more or less "proven" as stars, Bloom is here making his first "big" showing since exploding onto the scene as Legolas in the LOTR trilogy. It's being closely watched to see how well he "ables" himself with a role absent his famous debut. The answer: He's a good actor, suited to the genre. However, it's obvious that he'll not be allowed to "depart" his Legolas connection just yet: Late in the film, when Paris joins in the big battle and procures, yes, a bow and arrow as his tools of combat, the film lingers on the image as the audience is given time to remember why it's "cool" that Bloom has returned to his bow. If you're theater applauds or buzzes at this moment, you're in good company.

"Troy" is a solid, spectacular actioner that will find fans among those who don't typicall enjoy action-oriented films. It deserves to be seen, especially considering the positive ripple-effect the mega-success of a morally-complex epic could have on the rest of the industry.

Definately check it out.