Troy

TROY (2004) - May 12, 2004
A well-made historical epic about the end of the war between the Greeks and the Trojans. Featured some good fight scenes and some excellent performances. The fight between Brad Pitt and Eric Bana was one of the better fight scenes I've seen in a while. I especially liked that, since the movie spends an equal amount of time with both sides, the outcome of that fight isn't predictable (unless of course you know your history, which I sort of did, but I forgot it all -- in fact I had forgotten it to the point where I didn't even know which side was going to win until the Trojan Horse popped up). Eric Bana was really good as the Trojans' strongest warrior, and Peter O'Toole was excellent as his father, the king. And Brian Cox was excellent as usual as the leader of the Greeks. The battle scenes could have been better, as they were a bit incoherent (the old quick-cut/shakey-cam battle-scene standby. Why?). As far as historical epics go it wasn't nearly as good as Gladiator, but then again not much is. Wolfgang Peterson is certainly no Ridley Scott. Oh well, the whole movie was worth it if only for the scene where Brendan Gleeson waves his sword menacingly at Orlando Bloom. ***1/2