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Review Archive
FILMS
Troy (2004)I credit Mel Gibson and Braveheart for the resurgence in costumed warrior epics. (I'm betting there's a better term for these, but I can't think of it right now.) Off the top of my head, I've thoroughly dug on offerings like The 13th Warrior, Gladiator, and The Last Samurai. More recently, we've moved into slightly more mythological territory (though I'm sure the Hollywood version of Braveheart was fairly mythological in its own right) with Troy. And later this year, King Arthur (starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightley). We've even had a decent miniseries of Spartacus (starring ER's Goran Visnjic).
Personally, I say "bring it." I'm a hopeless addict to these things. As a longtime martial-arts enthusiast, I'm getting really tired of the liberal use of the term "warrior" in a contemporary sense. (Sparring without a cup on does not make you a warrior, pal. It just doesn't.) But depictions of genuine warrior figures, in their proper context, are always welcome.
On to Troy. [Fair spoiler warning: Some spoilers follow, although it's a pretty well-known Greek myth already.] Obviously, the movie is based on Homer's The Illiad. I'm not going to get into how loosely based it might be because 1) I've never read The Illiad and 2) I'm a firm believer in treating a piece for what it is and not for what the source material is. (I doubt that anyone is going to say, "The Illiad? Yeah, I read it. But I thought the movie was better.") The movie covers the Trojan War, beginning (thereabouts) with Paris' decision to take Helen back to Troy with him. He and his older brother Hector are emissaries of Troy, guests in the court of Menelaus (Gleeson) and his wife, Helen. While Hector and Menelaus earnestly tries to forge peace after a long-standing conflict, Paris and Helen knock boots (sandals?) for the third time in as many days. Orlando Bloom is well cast as the starry-eyed teenager, willing to sacrifice his whole world (and everyone else's as well) for his first true love. Likewise, Diane Kruger does well enough as the face that launched a thousand ships.
As most readers probably know, that's essentially the launching point for the storyline. Paris takes Helen back to Troy. Menelaus is furious at the loss of his wife and his honor. So he convinces his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) to aid him in staging an invasion of Troy to retrieve Helen. Of course, it doesn't take much convincing, as Agamemnon is spoiling for a fight with Troy anyway. Quite simply, he wants to own everything. And if he can't own it, he'll burn it.
After that, the stage is set and the movie becomes mostly a study of the two opposing warriors, Achilles (Greece) and Hector (Troy). Played by Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, respectively. A quick word (or more) about the leading men: A lot has been said about the pretty boys in this movie. Brad Pitt, obviously. And Orlando Bloom. To my mind, Bloom suits his character perfectly. He's a young prince. He knows sod all about what it means to rule. Or to fight. To kill and die. He knows he likes da ladies. And he knows they like him. Beyond that, he really hasn't thought things out too much. Bloom does a good job portraying a boy playing a man's game, raising the ante without really understanding the consequences to his loved ones and his country.
Pitt does a good job as well, though there were a few instances where my wife, Beth, started laughing out loud, as the camera lovingly stares at Pitt for just a little too long. Still, if I looked that good knitting my eyebrows and staring at the horizon, I'd encourage people to film me doing it, too.
Our first introduction to Achilles is virtually the opening scene. I'm not going to offer too many details because I want people to go out and watch the flick without me ruining it for them. But suffice it to say that Pitt establishes early on that he's up to the physical task of portraying the greatest warrior in Greece. (More on that later.)
Then there's Eric Bana (from The Hulk and Black Hawk Down). He plays Hector, older brother to Paris and eldest son of Priam, King of Troy. He's everything that neither Paris nor Achilles manage (or aspire) to be. Wise ruler in training. Husband. Father. Loyal son. And champion of his people. Bana was a good choice. He's less pretty than the other leading men (though by no measure homely). The guy that regular guys root for (even though anyone familiar with the myth knows he's screwed from the onset). It's obvious, as he's preparing to face Achilles in a duel, that Hector is doomed. He knows it. And yet he doesn't balk at the task. He doesn't berate Paris for dooming him. Or his father for letting him go to his death. He simply kisses his wife and child (after making sure his wife knows the secret way out of the city), pays tribute to his father, offers an encouraging word to his brother, and walks off to face his fate at the hands of Achilles.
I was glad to see that the movie skirts the issue of Achilles' supernatural origins. They mention his divine parentage and the belief that he's invulnerable to weapons. But there's no point at which this is confirmed or denied. It's just hearsay (as it should be, in my opinion). What we do see is that Achilles has more physical prowess and determination (and conversely less fear and regard for his own well being) than the other guys (everyone from the freakishly large Boagrius to the noble and skilled Hector).
I liked that the movie did a consistently good job of addressing the mythical aspects of the story without giving in to them. Achilles is invincible not because he was dipped in the River Styx but because he really is that much better than everyone else. An arrow through the ankle really does undo him because (presumably) an arrow through the ankle would undo most of us. (Achilles tears out the three subsequent arrows to the chest, so that he dies with the ankle shot being his only obvious wound, thereby establishing the myth.) I'd go on, but honestly I don't know The Illiad well enough to remember the other mythological tropes. (Besides, each one is a bit of a spoiler.)
I also enjoyed the casting decisions for some of the background players. It seems counterintuitive to call Odysseus a background player, come to think of it. But in Troy, he is really. He recruits Achilles, designs the Trojan Horse, and leads troops into battle. He also serves as sort of a Greek chorus, countering Achilles' opining about the pointlessness of this war and the vanity of Agamemnon with a well-timed, "Yeah, but what are you gonna do? It's war. And you're a warrior." (I'm paraphrasing.) Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings' Boromir) handles the role with the sort of sure hand you'd expect from a guy who's played soldiers of all sorts over the years. Then there's Ajax (Tyler Mane, Sabretooth of the X-Men movie). He's appropriately huge and menacing, pummeling Trojans with his warhammer (and his beard, I think) until Hector and he come face to face.
Now on to the unsung hero of Troy, in my opinion. Let's face it. Troy is about the combat. Yes the combat carries meaning because of the relationships shown in the movie. The relationships between husbands and wives, lovers, brothers, sons and fathers, and even nemeses. But all of that would amount to a lot of melodrama without it's being backed up by mortal combat. Hector forgiving his brother (for example) would mean less if Hector weren't on his way to die for his brother's mistake.
So given that Troy is about the fights, my vote for unsung hero is Simon Crane, second unit director and fight coordinator. Checking IMDB, I was surprised (and impressed) to read this man's resume. Not surprisingly (in retrospect) he served as the stunt coordinator for Braveheart (among many other efforts, some good some bad, but all well choreographed). And as I mentioned at the beginning, I like Braveheart. That said, the choreography in Troy is much more elaborate than that of Braveheart. Not the battle scenes necessarily. But the choreography between two combatants. (Usually Achilles and some poor bastard.) As a fan of martial-arts films (both HK classics and U.S. straight-to-video trash cinema), I've seen a lot of choreographed fights. But I've not seen anything quite like this. It's something to behold.
There are really three big duels between named characters (not including Achilles' quick dispatching of Boagrius). Paris vs. Menelaus, Hector vs. Ajax, and (most notably) Achilles vs. Hector. Actually, I take that back. There's also a practice bout between Achilles and his cousin Patroclus. It's not life-or-death, but it is extremely well choreographed. Anyway, it's obvious that a lot of thought went into devising a method of combat that would make Achilles believable as Greece's greatest warrior without attributing to him any overtly supernatural powers. Again, he's just that good. Credit goes to both Pitt and Crane (as well as Crane's team) for that. Pitt bounds back and forth as he approaches an opponent, resembling a big cat moving in for the kill. Tactically, it makes some sense, too. Approach from an angle, rather than head on (where your opponent's offense, defense, and perception are strongest). Achilles bounds in, explodes into an aerial attack, and then slips right back into a relaxed loping gait, as if he doesn't have a care in the world for the outcome. (I alternate between thinking this is due to his conviction that he can't lose and his total indifference to the idea of dying.) The crew did an amazing job of piecing together a style that combines tactician with predator.
One last (slavishly drooling) point about the fight scenes: Contrary to what many choreographers in Hollywood seem to believe, the trick to making an unskilled actor look like he can fight is not in the use of jumping moves. It's in the flow of movement. How the fighter gets from one place in the fight scene to another. (Much like in real martial arts.) You need look no further than Yuen Wo Ping's choreography for The Matrix. Keanu Reeves had no prior experience, and yet Ping was able to make Reeves and his co-stars look like naturals. That said, Pitt puts Reeves (at least in the original Matrix) to shame. He looks completely at ease as he goes from attack to parry to counter with swords, shields, spears, and empty hand. That sort of (simulated) effortlessness achieves what most fight choreographers ideally want to achieve. Expressing a character through action. Achilles moves like a man who's never known anything but battle. It's his home. And nobody is going to make him feel uncomfortable in his own home. He knows no fear and he moves with all the relaxation that I might illustrate reheating lasagna in the microwave (but with about twice the grace). That is, until Achilles finds something to care about. That buggers him up a bit. And fittingly so. A recurring theme in warrior stories is the almost supernatural ability of the warrior who cares little for his own well being. But the moment he knows what it means to have something more, he becomes vulnerable to loss. And he looses the ability to fight with total abandon. (You see that theme play out in Luc Besson's The Professional and John Woo's The Killer for example.)
Conversely, Hector fights like a man with a lot on his mind. He's skilled. But he's restrained. By his role as prince, son, brother, husband, and father. He doesn't fight with the obvious abandon of Achilles because he's always acutely aware of what's at stake. And perhaps that's precisely what costs him his life. But it makes for a great character and a great fight scene.
OK. Enough of that. Troy's good. The fight scenes are good. The women are pretty. The men are pretty. The battles are epic. And the storyline is ... well, a classic. Have a look. If you don't like it, you can tie me to your rear fender and drag me around the movie theater.
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