By Margaret Lipman (May 20, 2004)

Although the film has a number of undeniable flaws, Wolfgang Petersen’s epic “Troy” is definitely the most exhilarating and engaging movie I’ve seen this year.It might also help that its top-billed stars are Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, both of whom I’d gladly watch in any film, pretty much regardless of its quality.

In all seriousness, though, “Troy” is definitely one of the most enjoyable films that I’ve seen recently.It is certainly not the best film out there in terms of cinematography, writing, or even acting.But even so, I absolutely loved it and would gladly go see it again.Oh wait, I already have!

“Troy” is based on Homer’s classic The Iliad, which still has a lot of appeal 2,700 years after it was first written.But devout readers of the poem should be aware that “Troy” takes countless liberties with Homer’s masterpiece.Characters are renamed and reconceived; events are shuffled, added, and eliminated; the time period is incredibly skewed; and modern English (“Do it!”, for example) is frequently interjected among lines that try to echo Homer’s verse.The most noticeable digression from The Iliad is that “Troy” appears to take place over a period of weeks, while the Trojan War depicted in the poem lasts for more than a decade.

The story that “Troy” brings to life is incredibly engrossing.At least in my opinion, it would be difficult to film a “bad” version of The Iliad because the legend itself is just so powerful and eternal.It begins with beautiful Queen Helen of Sparta (Diane Kruger), the “face that launched a thousand ships.”Helen, wed to the strong but repulsive King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), runs off with her lover, Paris (Orlando Bloom), the young prince of Troy.Meanwhile, Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox), the powerful king of Mycenae, has been trying to bring all the kingdoms of Greece (known as Achaea at the time) and coastal Asia Minor under his control.His crusade to control the entire Aegean region is greatly furthered when his younger brother asks for his help in bringing Helen back from Troy.

Glad for an excuse to attack the walled city, Agamemnon agrees, and brings the whole Achaean army to the shores of Troy.Also fighting for the Achaeans is Agamemnon’s longtime enemy, Achilles (Brad Pitt), who is thought to be the best warrior in the land.Achilles is in it for the fame and glory, and makes his disdain for Agamemnon’s greed apparent.The Trojan forces are led by Prince Hector (Eric Bana), Paris’ older brother and the son and heir to Troy’s King Priam (Peter O’Toole).Hector is Achilles’ biggest rival when it comes to skill on the battlefield.

And with that, the Trojan War commences. “Troy” is a very visual film, which makes up for its slightly weak dialogue.I would have preferred the movie to have given a little more depth to Hector and Achilles, possibly with some grand, emotional speeches in the Homeric style.Even so, both characters are distinct and well-developed, and the one-on-one fight scene between them is amazing.Actually, all of the fight scenes in the film are amazing, and I could never tell when computer generated effects were being used -- definitely a good thing!I loved the look of the movie – everything seems to be either gold or deep blue.The sets perfectly captured my idea of Troy in all of its ancient splendor, though that idea may not be entirely realistic.The soundtrack echoes that of “Gladiator,” with a solitary voice wordlessly singing throughout much of the film.I can see how that could be grating for some people, but I thought it added to the overall effect of the movie.As far as acting, I thought that Eric Bana stood out in the cast as Hector.Brad Pitt did very well as Achilles, but his performance seemed just the slightest bit flat.There is also a wonderful scene between Peter O’ Toole’s King Priam and Pitt’s Achilles that reminded me a lot of O’ Toole’s powerful performance in “Lawrence of Arabia”.

While I was watching the movie, very few of its faults registered.I was completely enthralled in the film for its entire duration.Everything just fit together very well, and the result was an incredible epic filled with love, war, destiny, conflict, broad landscapes, amazing costumes, and, of course, Brad Pitt.All in all, a superbly enjoyable movie to just sit back and experience.