Troy (2004)

In Homer’s Iliad, the gods of Olympus ceaselessly intervene in human affairs. Troy all but erases those gods from the screen. What Wolfgang Petersen chose is not myth but a human war. Honor, love, pride, and the fear of death. This film rewrites the colossal event of the Trojan War not as the will of the gods but as a tragedy shaped by human desire.

What it’s about — Two warriors meeting before the city walls, a study in contrast

When Helen, queen of Sparta, leaves with the Trojan prince Paris for Troy, the spark of war is struck. Agamemnon, supreme commander of the Greek alliance, uses this as a pretext to set out to conquer Troy, with the legendary warrior Achilles at the vanguard. Meanwhile in Troy, the honorable prince Hector holds firm to protect his city and family.

At the film’s center is a contrast between two warriors. Achilles is an individualist who fights only to leave his name eternal, while Hector is a man of responsibility who takes up the sword reluctantly for the sake of those he loves. When these two opposites finally meet before the city walls, Troy reaches the peak of its most powerful tragedy.

Direction — Large-scale battles with the myth erased, a double-edged sword

Petersen is a director adept at handling large-scale battles. The scenes of thousands of soldiers colliding on a plain boast enormous scale while remaining orderly rather than chaotic. At the same time he never loses the tension of one-on-one combat. The duel between Achilles and Hector unfolds with a crowd watching, and with weight in every single movement of the two, it keeps you on edge.

That said, the choice to strip away the mythic elements is a double-edged sword. Concentrating on human drama makes the story lucid, while the weight of fate inherent in the source grows somewhat thinner. Even so, the late spectacle of the giant horse entering the walls of Troy clearly proves the scale this film commands as an epic.

Performance — Pitt’s arrogance, but Bana takes the heart

Brad Pitt convincingly expresses Achilles’ arrogance and ennui, and the loneliness concealed within them. His figure, an invincible warrior yet wavering between death and honor, turns the mythic hero into a living human being. The traces of his physical training show plainly on screen, adding realism to the imposing warrior he plays.

But the figure who takes the hearts of many viewers is, rather, the Hector played by Eric Bana. Without heroic exaggeration, he calmly renders one man’s fear and sense of duty in trying to protect his family. His death leaves a deep sorrow entirely thanks to Bana’s restrained performance. Brian Cox’s greedy Agamemnon and Peter O’Toole’s grieving King Priam each firmly support the film from their places.

What the film says — A yearning to leave a name beyond mortality

Troy ultimately speaks of the human yearning for eternity. The reason Achilles risks death to take the field is that he wishes his name to be remembered by later generations. The film says that even in the midst of a colossal war, what remains in the end is one person’s choice and the people he loved. The place the gods vacated is filled by human mortality and the struggle to overcome it.

Ratings & reception

Its IMDb rating is 7.3 out of 10. Its Rotten Tomatoes freshness is 53%, and its Metacritic score is 56 out of 100, a somewhat divided critical response. There was criticism that it failed to fully capture the depth of the source, while the large-scale spectacle and the actors’ fine performances won broad support. At the box office it achieved great worldwide success and is recorded as one of the works that led the revival of the 2000s epic.

Verdict

Troy is a film that competes with scale and drama over depth. Viewers expecting the weight of myth may feel a lingering regret, but this epic, rewritten as a human war, is appealing enough in its own right. The force that carries 163 minutes without flagging, and the resonance left by the tragedy of two warriors, are alone worth four stars.

Recommended for

• Viewers who enjoy the overwhelming scale of large-scale battle scenes
• Those drawn to stories that reinterpret myth as human drama
• Anyone who wants to compare the contrasting performances of Brad Pitt and Eric Bana