Troy (2004) – Film Review

Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom
Certificate: 15

By Roger Crow

Few historical epics arrived with the scale, ambition and star power of Troy. Loosely inspired by Homer’s The Iliad, Wolfgang Petersen’s lavish 2004 blockbuster brought the legendary conflict between the Greeks and Trojans to life with sweeping battle sequences, larger-than-life heroes and a cast packed with Hollywood talent. While it took considerable liberties with the source material, Troy is still an entertaining spectacle that continues to divide audiences 22 years later.

I was in Chicago ahead of its release and still recall the adverts on the side of buses and reading about how Brad Pitt prepared for his role by living alone in a cave. Did the hard work pay off? Well, the F1 star certainly looks the part, and if ‘grumpy’ is the key takeaway you need to play a legend like Achilles, then so be it.

Of course Troy is now more of a poignant movie given the death of director Wolfgang Petersen in 2022, and Peter O’Toole (Priam) in 2013. (Cinematographer Roger Pratt and composer James Horner have also left us).

And while the once-impressive effects have naturally dated since 2004, there’s no doubting this is still an epic movie in every sense.

“Memorable duels”

Okay, the dialogue needed work, but what a feast this is if you love some of the world’s best actors. There’s a pre-Succession Brian Cox. Over there, the magnificent Brendan Gleason, and much-missed king of the voiceovers John Shrapnel. The wondrous Julian Glover, the ever-reliable Sean Bean, fellow Yorkshireman Vincent Regan and the luminous Julie Christie. And on it goes. When acting against such heavyweights, there’s little wonder those flavours of the early noughties, Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana, feel a little vanilla by comparison. And Diane Kruger is magnificent as Helen, despite some clunky dialogue.

The plot: when Helen of Sparta (Kruger), despite being married to Menelaus (Gleeson), runs away with the Trojan prince Paris (Bloom), it ignites a conflict that engulfs two great kingdoms. Determined to reclaim both his wife and his honour, Menelaus calls upon the combined might of Greece under the power-hungry King Agamemnon (Cox), whose greatest weapon is the legendary warrior Achilles (Pitt). As the armies of Greece and Troy wage war, their finest champions – Achilles and the noble Hector (Eric Bana) – are destined to meet in one of cinema’s most memorable duels, with devastating consequences for both sides.

I haven’t seen Troy in years, but it still shines like those old historical epics which used to dominate Bank Holiday Mondays. And now it too is a slice of cinematic history, a post-Gladiator epic from an age when CGI crowds and ships were a novelty rather than the norm. Oh, and those Malta backdrops aren’t bad either.

“Hugely entertaining”

Naturally all eyes are now on Christopher Nolan’s IMAX epic The Odyssey, so little wonder Troy has been dusted down and given the 4K treatment. And splendid it looks and sounds too. It’s not perfect, but it is a hugely entertaining spectacle that deserves to be seen in the best condition possible, and the new UHD format definitely ticks that box.

The first on-screen dialogue is from Brian Cox. “Good day for the crows”. He’s not wrong, at least from my point of view. This scrubbed up version, complete with an excellent director’s cut, is well worth your time and money.

Is it better than Nolan’s The Odyssey? No, but the dialogue is arguably crisper, and the colour palette is perhaps richer, because Nolan does like a washed out look. (There’s even an obligatory training scene in the new movie with Tom Holland which feels like it was lifted from Troy). Both films are terrific in their own way, if you like your Greek heroes with mostly American accents.

Roger Crow( Writer )

Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com; nostalgiahhh film podcast

You do not have any posts.