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"for greek mithology lovers"

Written By: O. Salazar

this is a great movie! only Clash of the Titans is a better Greek Mythology movie in my opinion (so far)

"Troy"

Written By: Pamala Jean Mendoza

I had written earlier because I had only gotten 1 part of a 2 part DVD. But then Sonic read my review, contacted me and sent the second part. So I raised them to 4 stars. Thank you. Pam Mendoza

"educational standpoint"

Written By: Rheadawn Brown

As a high-school teacher for English foundations, I try my best to expose my students to the literature their peers in regular English classes receive. I must utilize movies as a visual aide supplement to help them connect with the characters, setting, dialogue... I strongly recommend using this dvd to support your curriculum to teach on all levels of student learning (auditory, kinesthetic, visual). However, for this particular movie, I had to fast forward the unneccesary sex scenes with Brad Pitt that were a bit much for my students.

""The Iliad" is not the only version of the Trojan War!"

Written By: jct456

Many reviewers have complained that the movie "Troy" is not completely true to the Iliad in portraying the characters and events of the Trojan War. This is unfair. Even in ancient times, the Iliad was not the only version of the Trojan War stories, and the Iliad which has come down to us may not be the only version that was performed. The Iliad only tells what happened in the space of 50 days in the 9th year of the war, although it alludes in passing to events that happened before and after these 50 days. Like the whole Camelot cycle which developed through the Dark and Middle Ages, the Trojan War cycle picked up and incorporated the best (and contradictory) legends over a millennium from Greece and Asia Minor. Modern historical fiction has been even more imaginative in retelling the stories. Further, it has been traditional for a long time not to portray Homer's literary gods in other tellings of the War. "Troy" does NOT forget the gods - the presence of the gods is always there in the way the humans (especially Priam, Briseis, and Achilles) refer to their existence.

The movie "Troy" looks at what might have been the historical Bronze Age kernel for the legends and does a wonderful, powerful job of doing so. It specifically says "INSPIRED by the Iliad". If you want to see a movie which hews closer to the plot line of the Iliad, see instead the 1962 sword and sandals movie "Fury of Achilles". I think Peterson's is a monumental achievement, and I do not tire of watching this movie (I have not seen the director's cut yet).

The movie is very good at exploring the essence of the characters which have come down to us and the Greek Dark Ages warrior code portrayed in the Iliad. We see in Achilles' quest for glory and Odysseus' narration the attempt to find in military glory and song a meaning for our mortality as opposed to the immortality of the gods. We see how the society is too small for the great warrior to fit into. We see in Hector's character of the reluctant warrior the distinction made between the two warrior codes of the aggressive quest for glory and the defensive warrior who defends a civilized city. The movie's Priam is like that in the Iliad - he relies on a religious fatalism to avoid having to make difficult decisions. Paris is correctly portrayed as a coward and seducer, so you can't blame Orlando Bloom for his portrayal of Paris.

On the whole the acting is quite good. I am not a Brad Pitt fan, but with the possible exception of Daniel Craig, I do not see who else would have had the star power, beauty, and grace to BE Achilles. Eric Bana was perfect as Hector - valiant but overmatched (and emblematic of the Trojans as a whole), with his expressive, soft, anguished eyes, and he and Andromache (Saffron Burrows) had a true chemistry which intensified the sad fate of this loving couple.

If I have one major criticsm, it is that the fates of certain characters, which are set in the canon of Western literature, were too radically different. I speak of Agammemnon and Menelaus. The ending was too conventional, in that the bad guys (which Menelaus was not, really) got bad ends at Troy. Agammemnon should have returned to Mycenae - there is a whole lot of Greek literature based on that. We should have had a real sense of the absolute loss and waste of the destruction of Troy, without the catharsis of Agammemnon's death.

I still highly recommend this movie, and I especially like James Horner's musical score, which particularly packed a visceral punch in the invasion of the Trojan beach.

"Great Acting - Great Scenes - Great Dialogue"

Written By: beck

I can't think of anything they could have done to improve this
movie. Troy is not one of my favorite stories, so this movie
will never be on my top 10 list, but I can't think of another
"swords and sandals" movie that comes close.