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Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
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Title: TROY
Director: Wolfgang Peterson
Year: 2004
Reviewed: June 08, 2004
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Birthday Cake-Second Highest Rating |
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This one's for you, Ma.
Troy receives a BIRTHDAY CAKE review.
I saw Troy, and am emotionally and mentally ambivalent about the entire epic movie.
It was filmed beautifully… yes. The monolithic battle scenes are stunning… true. Moreover, the movie is worth seeing simply for the unique and interesting way they went at ancient combat. (There are some attacks and parries I have never seen before, which is really saying something, considering I grew up watching everything from Ivanhoe to Last Hurrah for Chivalry.) Nevertheless, the movie felt hollow to me, slightly passionless, its grandeur simply done up for grandeurs sake, its battle scenes too reminiscent of the far superior Return of the King. Some of the lines struck me as direct rip offs from Brave Heart and Gladiator, and the entire feel of the movie was flat in comparison to those other two, absolutely magnificent films.
Brad Pitt is physically impressive (women the world round will be lining up simply to catch a glimpse of his svelte buttocks and straining biceps) but for some reason I cannot readily explain, I only believe him when he's playing a psycho; i.e. Fight Club, or 12 Monkeys. I totally respect his dedication to get into such good shape, but sometimes in the movie, I believed him, sometimes I did not.
Eric Bana is superb as Hector (find his Australian movie, Chopper, and, similar to Russell Crowe, you will be witness to the defining moment in an actor's life); as are the outstanding performances of Brian Cox (I've loved this guy ever since Man Hunter), Sean Bean (always a professional, check him out in Equilibrium), and Brendan Gleeson (who we were all first wonderfully introduced to in Mel Gibson's brilliant epic, Brave Heart).
However, Orlando Bloom I found lacking. Granted, he did play a good puss, and he's only done four movies, but from Lord of the Rings, to The Pirates of the Caribbean, to finally Troy he seems to have carried over the same pained expression, the same wispy voice, the same tremulous, yet noble mannerisms. And Peter O'toole… Jesus fuckin' Christ! What was with the staring? He appeared to have recently gone to a workshop that thought good acting is when you never blink. Okay... yah, but gaping like a bug-eyed psychotic does not work either.
On a whole, I enjoyed the film. But it did not fill me with that wonderful overwhelming feeling of emotion and love and passion that films like Brave Heart, Gladiator, and more recently, Return of the King succeeded in doing. If you're going to do such a large movie, and expect people to stay in their seats for over 3 hours, you must emote ardor and verve in your audience on a grand scale, you must remind us why we go to the movies, and you must instill in us that insouciant feeling of wonder. Or, quite simply, you lose us.
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