I have nowhere else to put it, but I just saw a poster for "Troy." I couldn't stop laughing because of the supporting cast:

Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Sean Bean?

I mean, can we already cast the players right now? Cox as the crusty but honorable king/commander type, Bana as the strong silent soldier, Bean as the scheming nobleman, and Bloom as the hip youthful sidekick...

I'm probably wrong, but nobody would raise an eyebow to that casting...all it needs is Anthony Zerbe as the ineffectual and corrupt administrator and Jeroen Krabbe as a priggish know-it-all.

Any other films out there like this?

Actually, the trailer is amazing.


www.apple.com/trailers

Troy is at its best when its being an epic, y'know--rich, colorful, and fruity. The trouble is there are only a few cast members that understand that they're in an epic. Now old pros like Julian Glover and Peter O'Toole (while looking somewhat silly) can play this stuff in their sleep. Brian Cox really sinks his teeth into the part of the really rotten Agamemmenon. Eric Bana is appropriately solid-stolid as Hector. Sean Bean, playing a quasi-heroic character that does not die for once, has fun as the scheming Odysseus.

The problem is in the other actors. Brad Pitt has the look and attitude right for Achilles, but does not have the charisma necessary to command the audience's respect (nor does he have the facility to handle some of the obtuse speeches). Orlando Bloom plays Paris as a lovestruck teenybopper, partly the problem of the script more than anything else. The actress playing Helen of Troy is quite bad. And many supporting roles are really not that good--the chap playing Achilles' cousin is awful (he looks a lot like Val Kilmer though).

That said, Troy is a fun movie with a lot of laugh-out-loud dialogue ("Of all the Greek warlords blessed by the gods, I hate him the most!") and good action scenes. The love subplots come off as more superfluous than anything else, and despite the big budget, one really fails to appreciate the sheer drama at stake here. But it's still dramatic material--the scenes with the Greek leaders chomping at the bit for war have some relevance today.

Those that know Greek history may be either appalled or bemused (I was the latter) to see what the writers do with the material. Making Agamemnon into a ranting Bond-villain was hilarious, but I also enjoyed the turning of Ajax into a Jaws-like Greek barbarian and the hilarious cameo by Aeneas at the end of the film.

Orlando Bloom plays Paris as a lovestruck teenybopper,

Granted, I'm far from an expert on the Torjan War, but, isn't that basiclaly what Paris WAS? In that sense, didn't Bloom do a good job of playing a whelp, rather then a bad job of playing Dawson?

No, it's not Bloom's fault at all. I should have clarified. Paris is just sort of vaguely portrayed--we know he's in love, but it doesn't feel like passion, just like "Oh, I've got a crush on that girl!" And then at the end when he becomes Legolas, the character hasn't appeared for so long, nobody cares.

Got Bana right, Bloom sorta right, and basically Bean right (even though I saw him as more villainous).

Cox I got wrong but he has been playing the Bombastic Butthead role of late anyway (see X2).

I saw this movie last night. I thought it was excellent.

Aside from the excellent battle scenes, its power lies in the way that it tugs the viewer’s loyalties and sympathies in a hundred different directions among the various characters. On the one hand, Paris is such a simpering weakling that after dishonoring a man by running off with his wife, and endangering his entire homeland, and especially after being so pathetic in his duel with Menelaus that you just want Menelaus to kill the little bastard. On the other hand, Menelaus is being backed up by Agamemnon, who’s such a scumbag that you want him dead, and his side to lose, since he openly admits to just using Helen as an excuse. Of course, you want Achilles to find his honor, since he seems like such an honorable yet tormented and lonely warrior, and even though Paris deserves it, you feel for Paris’ brother Hector, who’s such an honorable guy and has a wife and kid to protect. By the time Achilles goes after Hector personally, you want to grab Achilles by the neck (or the heel) and scream at him, “It wasn’t Hector’s fault! It was your idiot cousin’s!” Watching the film, I was genuinely upset at the way that duel happened. I also found it ironic and pathetic that Achilles’ ultimate fate was decided by the character that it was, something that no one in the audience would’ve either predicted or wanted, though I wonder how much of the actors’ previous roles played into the manner in which that scene occurred (archery vs. swordsmanship, that is).

Okay, so just what did those Greek warriors inside the Trojan horse do for food, water, and bathroom facilities, and what did going without food and water (as well as staying cramped in tight spaces for an entire day) do for their strength when it was time to exit it? The first thing I expected them all to do was not start pillaging and burning the city, but in walking up to a wall and collectively peeing.

Brendan Gleeson, who plays Menelaus, is reportedly playing Mad Eye Moody in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, according to imdb.

MikeC: Those that know Greek history may be either appalled or bemused…
Luigi Novi: Myth. Not history. There is no evidence that the Trojan War ever occurred. And yes, Homer’s work was “cleaned up” for Hollywood, most notably in that Brad Pitt’s lover is not his young male cousin Patroclus, but a Trojan woman.

Yes, I meant "myth." I still busted a gut the second Aeneas popped up. I was the only one laughing in the whole theater.

Brad Pitt’s lover is not his young male cousin Patroclus, but a Trojan woman. - Luigi Novi

I haven't seen the film but in the original legend Achilles took a Trojan woman as his mistress and a major plot point was when Agamemnon stole her from him. Briseis, I think her name was.

You mean...this movie is NOT about Marina Sirtis?

(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

No, but the Iliad is about Persis Khambatta.

Saw this on the Canadian History Channel the other night. It was okay, but Brad Pitt seemed out of place in the lead (maybe because he was the only American among a bunch of Brits, Aussies, and other non-North American actors).

Some have complained of this movie taking liberties, such as Agamemmenon being a major douche bag. Some compare it to George Washington or Abraham Lincoln being portrayed in unfavourable light. Well, the major difference is that Washington and Lincoln were real historical figures, they actually lived. However, Agamemmenon and all the characters here are myths, there is no proof that they, or the Trojan War, even existed (most historian agree that it was an earthquake that finally destroyed Troy). So the screenwriters can portray them anyway they want.