Post by doomedbloodwork on Oct 28, 2004 9:17:18 GMT -5
Months after it's blockbuster summer release, I got around to watching TROY last night.
I have to admit that lengthy epics have to have something extra special within to hold you in thrall. Since the success of TITANIC in 1997, the epic three-hour film has become a staple of recent years.
On balance, the film scores in the action department, but lacks finesse acting wise in some areas. The best performance in the film comes from Eric Bana, who squares off with Brad Pitt as Achilles. There were times where I almost expected the cast of CARRY ON CLEO to appear, with Kenneth Williams standing alongside Brian Cox screaming 'Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!'. Diane Kruger is very sexy and attractive as Helen, but has a while to go before a movie gives her the chance to show off her acting chops with vigour (even if she's showing off other assets with similar feeling in this film).
Even at two and three-quarter hours long, there are some sequences that plod and just seem like joins in the film, but it is in the battle sequences, notably the revenge on the Trojans by the Greeks on the beach, which linger in the mind. James Horner provides a score and a song suggestive of BRAVEHEART meeting THE MASK OF ZORRO.
Therein lies the rub. TROY is reminiscent of other recent epics like GLADIATOR and Brad Pitt seems hellbent on mimicking Russell Crowe. Another thing is that I don't believe characters say that they will be remembered for what they do in a thousand years in the present tense of a historical epic, suggestive of a screenwriter heightening the drama to create box-office bucks. Leading on from that, the script in TROY looks very calculated at times. Historical figures of recent times like Kennedy, Churchill and the vicious evil dictators and extremists like Saddam and Bin Laden have the benefit of modern mass-media to make their point, which the leaders and generals of ancient times didn't.
Indeed, the focus of the film which is the confrontation between Pitt and Bana is not the climactic moment we crave and it is about half an hour before we do reach that.
On balance, though, TROY is epic entertainment at it's most wholesome. Great cinematography and production design also score points for the audience.
I have to admit that lengthy epics have to have something extra special within to hold you in thrall. Since the success of TITANIC in 1997, the epic three-hour film has become a staple of recent years.
On balance, the film scores in the action department, but lacks finesse acting wise in some areas. The best performance in the film comes from Eric Bana, who squares off with Brad Pitt as Achilles. There were times where I almost expected the cast of CARRY ON CLEO to appear, with Kenneth Williams standing alongside Brian Cox screaming 'Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!'. Diane Kruger is very sexy and attractive as Helen, but has a while to go before a movie gives her the chance to show off her acting chops with vigour (even if she's showing off other assets with similar feeling in this film).
Even at two and three-quarter hours long, there are some sequences that plod and just seem like joins in the film, but it is in the battle sequences, notably the revenge on the Trojans by the Greeks on the beach, which linger in the mind. James Horner provides a score and a song suggestive of BRAVEHEART meeting THE MASK OF ZORRO.
Therein lies the rub. TROY is reminiscent of other recent epics like GLADIATOR and Brad Pitt seems hellbent on mimicking Russell Crowe. Another thing is that I don't believe characters say that they will be remembered for what they do in a thousand years in the present tense of a historical epic, suggestive of a screenwriter heightening the drama to create box-office bucks. Leading on from that, the script in TROY looks very calculated at times. Historical figures of recent times like Kennedy, Churchill and the vicious evil dictators and extremists like Saddam and Bin Laden have the benefit of modern mass-media to make their point, which the leaders and generals of ancient times didn't.
Indeed, the focus of the film which is the confrontation between Pitt and Bana is not the climactic moment we crave and it is about half an hour before we do reach that.
On balance, though, TROY is epic entertainment at it's most wholesome. Great cinematography and production design also score points for the audience.
