Troy: Directorâs Cut
Itâs been a long time since the heyday of the truly epic movie, films that spanned the length of being over 3 (or 4) hours in length and featured a multitude of big name actors playing a wide variety of characters. Films such as Gone With The Wind, Cleopatra, and Lawrence Of Arabia might not be getting brought out on a regular basis anymore, but one can always appreciate it when such an effort does occur, as it did here in 2004 from the hands of German director Wolfgang Peterson (long known as being a specialist in what are commonly thought of as being âpopcorn moviesâ). The subject at hand is that of The Trojan War, long debated by most historians as to whether or not it ever actually HAPPENED at all, mostly because the alleged timeframe of the event goes so far back that any and all historical records are sketchy at best even though the ruins and remains of the city of Troy are believed to be located somewhere in Turkey. The main piece of writing (of course) that the story is derived from is Homerâs epic tale of The Illiad, written somewhere between 850 and 800 BC which was nonetheless several centuries after the war itself had supposedly taken place. Other texts about the conflict were used as well (including accounts about very important events that had failed to be included in Homerâs version) but Peterson very early on decided to jettison a hugely major element of The Illiad itself which was the inclusion of the mythological Greek Gods in the actual story as participating characters who argued amongst themselves, took up sides in the war and even used their godlike powers to influence the outcomes in several of the most important events, a move that was meant to reinterpret the story here as being more of a historical recreation (albeit with several liberties taken to please audiences) and at 3 hours and 16 minutes, included enough blood, melodrama and battle scenes to prevent anyone from getting too bored. The script here takes great pains to never make any one character a clear cut good guy (although there are a few obvious bad guys) and in the key main star role, we get Brad Pitt in the part of Achilles, the legendarily unstoppable warrior known for having a weakness in his heel. Since Pittâs own onscreen narcissism at that point had hit its all time peak, it actually made him perfect for the role, playing Achilles as an arrogant lout who believes in nothing and has little to no respect for anyone especially the King who commands him. But when summoned to fight alongside The Greeks in the impending war, he agrees on the idea that the war will be so momentous that his own name will go down forever in recorded history due to his participation in it, as shallow a reason as anybody would have to go to combat even as the script also works in some bits of self loathing that go down well with the constant posturing that Pitt makes the viewer put up with. As anyone who knows the story is well aware of, the conflict begins when Troyâs Prince Paris (Orlando Bloom), long believed to have been a lazy, directionless non warrior who preferred to be thought of instead as being a ladiesâ man, traveled to Sparta on a diplomatic mission of peace and wound up leaving with The Spartan Kingâs wife who afterwards would forever be known as Helen Of Troy (Diane Kruger looking stunning in one of her first roles). Parisâ family is appalled at his actions, but nonetheless stand behind him and steady themselves for what is to come as The Spartan King (Brendan Gleeson) goes straight to his brother, the all powerful King Agamemnon (Brian Cox, gloriously chewing up scenery and loving it) to implore him to gather together all of his troops in order to help him regain his honor, a proposition that ironically the power hungry tyrant just loves to hear since he had always wanted to invade and conquer Troy anyway and this little dalliance now gives him the perfect excuse (something that the Trojan rulers were also well aware of which is why they embraced Helen and didnât send her back since they saw no reason to put off the inevitable). The problem for Agamemnon lies in his tempestuous relationship with his greatest fighter, which is why another top ruler (Sean Bean) whom Achilles is said to trust is sent as a go between to help coax him into going into battle. On the Trojan side, we have the (very) old king played by Peter OâToole who is confident in the abilities of his armies but still takes way too much advice from his resident holy man (Nigel Terry) on what his courses of action should be based on any signs supposedly received from the gods and then of course there is Hector, not only the eldest son and heir to the throne of Troy, but also the commander of their armies and duly believed to be one of the greatest warriors to ever live as well. As played by Eric Bana, itâs an iffy proposition at best to accept him in the role, as while Bana doesnât quite have the badass confidence nor does he have that whole ultimate warrior feel to him (note the look of seemingly utter surprise on his face when he takes down a major rival early on), his character is written as being both more complex than Pitt as well as a stark contrast to him, playing someone with a code of honor and conduct who believes strongly in the cause and ideals that heâs fighting for whereas Achilles seeks only to bring glory to himself even as he vanquishes lesser soldiers with the ferocity of a lion. Eventually, the whole thing does lead to the big one on one battle between Pittâs Achilles and Banaâs Hector, one so profoundly important that it can be understood why it probably was one of the most historical events of its time with the impetus being that Hector had killed Achillesâ beloved cousin (Garrett Hedlund) in battle (believing it to be him since he had worn Achillesâ armor) with the most amazing thing being the literal change from Homerâs story where Achillesâ âcousinâ was in actuality his gay lover, thus making Achilles himself into a homosexual. Sadly though, Hector vs Achilles is portrayed as being woefully anticlimactic in almost every way, a one sided defensive battle with Pitt losing none of his swagger while Bana is shown basically saying goodbye to his loved ones before he has even so much as a scratch on him (in essense already acting like a defeated man before he even steps out the door to face his rival) and thus completely killing any possible tension that the confrontation might have had, but at least it allows OâToole to do some mighty powerful acting later on when his King confronts Achilles. Itâs also a bit of a jolt watching Pittâs Achilles (who has little tolerance for authority or command in the first place) espouse some of his philosophy about his near agnostic views concerning The Greek Gods (the reigning higher powers at the time before Jesus Christ took over) and his near complete lack of belief in them or respect for those who worship them so voraciously, stating instead how he believes that IF such gods even exist, they actually envy us because our existence is much more beautiful than theirs. The whole thing leads up to the building of the infamous Trojan Horse and a tragic, sometimes hard to watch battle scene where even babies arenât safe and most of the main characters on both sides wind up meeting their demise. Itâs safe to say that the film wishes for us to be appalled by the assertion (especially from Coxâs Agamemnon) that war is to be considered a NECESSITY in order to continue growth and building of an empire (as well as an excuse to keep warriors like Achilles active) in the name of achieving some sort of alleged peace when all the countries and kingdoms are made to buckle under to serve and be united under one supreme ruler (kind of like what Hitler must have thought) but it still means that the lives of many are killed and destroyed in order to serve the needs of a chosen few. Whether it was a true story or not, this film still brings the epic scope that is needed to illustrate that point, that even the greatest warriors will still be just as small as everyone else when they fall and that death and destruction in such a savage and brutal manner will always be repaid in full intentionally or otherwise when it comes to those who believe either because of their status or because of the crown which they plant on their heads that they are untouchable even in the eyes of God HimselfâŚ
8/10