Others say...

"No real Achilles' Heel"
Based on Homer's Illiad, there is an ironic connection to how this movie was received. Some may have been wary of another big-budget Hollywood production, and thought of the classic proverb, "beware those who would bring false gifts." The concern was unwarranted, as this movie is stunning in every way from beginning to end, and PACKED with major players from the ultimate battle movies. Warriors from 300, The Lord of the Rings, and Braveheart all do battle in one movie!

Agamemnon (Brian Cox - who was awesome in Braveheart as Argyle Wallace and showed enough range to be hilarious as Captain O'Hagan in Super Troopers) is a power hungry king who has challenged enough other kings to control most of Greece. The only land that stands in his way of controlling the Aegean is Troy, ruled by pacifist-leaning Priam (Peter O'Toole). Boromir from LOTR (Sean Bean) - plays Odysseus, a sycophant king to the now ruler of kings, Agamemnon. Odysseus just happens to be a mentor and friend to the greatest warrior ever, Achilles (Pitt). Fighting alongside Achilles is his second-in-command, Eudorus (Vincent Regan). You will recognize him as the guy who was awesome as Leonidas's captain in 300.

As peace is being worked out between Agamemnon's Greek forces and the emerging armies of Troy, two Trojan princes are treated as guests by Agamemnon: Prince Hector (Eric Bana) is his land's greatest warrior; and Prince Paris (Orlando Bloom aka Legolas from LOTR) is his younger, "Don Juan" brother. When they leave they have an extra passenger, Helen (Diane Kruger) - who is now "of Troy" but was once "of Sparta" - and the peace being discussed is destroyed because she just happens to be married to King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson - Hamish Campbell from Braveheart), Agamemnon's brother. Now disgraced, Menelaus gives Agamemnon the reason he needed for war with Troy, a previously unbreached city thought undefeatable. And, just for good measure, the rugged Campbell father from Braveheart plays Glaucus (James Cosmo), a top soldier in the Trojan Army.

If all this is confusing, don't worry; the movie is still great. Enjoy the epic war scenes similar to the movies from which they have borrowed cast members, tragically snicker at the fact that you know what the "Trojan Horse" is all about (and that the city of Troy falls to such a ridiculous trick), and revel in a classic sword battle between Achilles and Hector. Actually, try not to enjoy one battle more than others, because this movie is saturated with great action like Achilles' complete domination of the monstrous Thessalian warrior Boagrius (Nathan Jones aka Petr from The Condemned).

From beginning to end this movie is superb. The lighting, acting, scenery, musical score, costume design and casting all reflect impressively on the entire movie's efforts. I didn't care to go too much into the historical aspect of the movie, but from what I can tell all the major details fairly consistent with the truth. This is right up there with 300 and Braveheart, and is a can't miss action flick.

"Should have theatrical Version!"
Blu-ray discs can fit so much, yet this only has the director's cut, there is a reason why a group of people told the director that these scenes were going to be taken out and these were going to stay. The directors cut just about ruins the whole movie. Even the fight scenes, he shows them from different angle's and there is no more poetry to them. I would give this a 1 star but the original versions is one of my favorite movies, so i have to give troy 3 stars. if i were you, i'd wait until a blu-ray with both versions comes out.

"Can someone show me where this is titled The Iliad and not Troy?"
This is mainly a reply to all the 1 star reviews which don't take anything into account other than the inaccuracy in how this relates to The Iliad. I'm sorry that they might have raped your image from The Iliad, but this isn't a movie called The Iliad, it's called Troy. In the Iliad the siege took 9 years, does anyone actually expect something like that ever to be put to film? There is so much that would not translate well to film, I don't have a problem with other character changes they made.

Get real, this is a 'fun' movie. It wasn't made to piss you off, giving something a 1 star review based soley on how it was not completely accurate to something is ridiculous. Pull up $300 million of your own money and make it how it how it was in The Iliad and see you recoup 1% of your production cost.

"Epic and Awesome"
A bunch of glorious battle scenes and a good story. The diector's cut is amazing.

"Peterson Cannot Grasp Homer"
Wolfgang Peterson's film based on Homer's Iliad is both tremendous and horribly skewed. Everyone knows the story of the Trojan Horse so it does not bear repeating, but I will outline what I think Peterson did right and what was revolting.

The screenplay, action, and sets are largely fantastic. Troy is an epic ancient metropolis and looking at it gives the viewer a sense of awe. Watching Achilles attack the Trojan beach is the greatest battle scene in the movie.

Likewise the casting and characters are largely wonderful. Whenever I reread the Iliad, Achilles will always be Brad Pitt, the cocky, proud, and deadly American. Eric Bana will always play Hector, Peter O'Toole Priam, and best of all, Sean Bean for Odysseus. These actors did wonderful jobs of portraying these epic characters and it felt like Homer when I saw them onscreen.

Peterson does a large bit of rewriting in this film, some of it understandable and some of it foul. I can see eliminating the physical presence of the gods, for any portrayal of Zeus or Athena would seem cliche and trite. But I cannot forgive the recasting of Agamemnon and Menelaus as despicable, megalomaniac brutes. Both these kings were noble and proud, and Peterson spits on both of them.

One of the foremost pleasures in reading the Iliad is recognizing that there is no stereotypical villain. Making Troy seem the pinnacle of ancient civilization and the Greeks shabby, grungy and greedy brutes does not fly well with me. Hector was indeed honorable (and I think the only virtuous character in the Iliad), but so were Menelaus and Agamemnon. Making the Greeks the enemy is simplistic and vapid, though perhaps the modern American will enjoy it - rooting for a tragic, virtuous hero (Hector and his city) always feels good, especially when you really hate the enemy (Menalaus and Agamemnon). Homer may have been a Trojan sympathizer (I don't think he was), but he was fair to Troy and to the Achaians. Peterson gets Hector's honor and courage right, and everything about Greek leadership wrong.

The largest problem Troy has is trying to retell a 40,000 line poem in two hours. Peterson is forced to cut book after book of Homer in his attempt to adapt it to the screen, but goes awry because of the drastic retelling. Everything seems rushed - ten years of war is condensed to two weeks of battle. Episodes such as Agamemnon's feud are terribly rushed and sparing Paris will make no one happy.

I wish that in Troy we saw less Peterson and more Homer. Let the bard speak for himself, let the real battle of Troy tell itself. What could have been a truly electrifying film because of the tremendous abilities of Bana, Bean, Pitt, and O'Toole is disappointing and unsatisfying. Its only boon is that it may encourage people to read Homer and read the tragedy of Achilles and Hector.