catalyst2 | Movie Review #6

I always seem to start these things with a disclaimer so I won't this time (but I don't like Brad Pitt anyway!)

First check of the watch - about an hour and ten in - I think it was some soppy love scene that did it!

I went into this well aware that its historical accuracy is questionable. Actually, I just need to point out as a person with a classical education (who had the great misfortune to have to read not just the Iliad in its original form but also the Odyssey and the Aeneid (with Cliff Notes and all similar things absolutely banned)) that Homer was not historically correct by any stretch of the imagination. For the film to reinterpret Homer's version was no more than Homer had done to the version he heard. That said, I did expect action and drama and tragedy but above all, spectacle.

This delivered all four in bucket-loads and, while Pitt did look a little out of sorts at times, fine performances by others (Bana, Bloom and others) more than made up for it. The story did the action part well - I loved Achilles' landing scene with the Myrmidons forming up in testudo formation and the subsequent sacking of the temple. It did the drama and tragedy part well, the final sacking of Troy in particular, bringing the suitable sob stories out.

Spectacle was there, from beginning to end. This looked and felt like an epic battle with thousands of men locked in a life-and-death struggle. The Greek landing on the beach was well done and the sweeping shots of the fleet at anchor was done with good enough quality CGI that it was convincing.

I felt like I had been to see something that was big and epic and sweeping - and I had!