Troy
dir. Petersen
Opens Fri May 14
Various Theaters
If you were going to bring an epic tale to life on the big screen, it would be nice if you could find an epic tale to tell. Troy, the latest big budget action/drama/war/romance/adventure film by hack director Wolfgang Petersen (Perfect Storm, Air Force One, Outbreak) has absolutely no idea what story it’s trying to unravel. Playing out something like the Cliffs Notes version of Homer’s enormous epic poem, The Illiad, on which it’s based, Troy attempts to conquer a huge amount of territory, but has no battle plan.
During a mind-numbing two and a half hours, Troy first attempts to enlighten us on the profound love between Paris, Prince of Troy, and Helen of Sparta, who he steals from the King of Sparta, starting a great war between Greece and Troy. Soon after, it spends time telling us about what a wonderful city Troy is, run by a kind King and his powerful warrior son, Hector. Then, it dissects the psyche of the great Greek warrior Achilles (played by Brad Pitt), who wants to be immortalized by getting his name in the history books, which is the reason he agrees to lead Greece in the battle against Troy. (Did Greek warriors actually think about getting their name in the history books?) Later on, we’re treated to the requisite Trojan Horse scene, and the poignant moment where we are reminded where the phrase “Achilles Heel” came from.
The script and the director have dozens of threads to choose from, but impossibly, try to follow all of them to their natural conclusion. The result: A meandering film with no protagonist, flimsy characters, and epic battle scenes, but no side to root for. If you didn’t know history, you’d assume Troy was going to win the war, the way the director concentrates on the determination and heartache of the Trojan characters. Of course, if you’ve read The Illiad, you know that’s not the case.
I suppose the director can be commended for jamming so much story into a film that could have easily been 12 hours long. Really though, if he wanted to take on an epic story, he needed to take on an epic shooting schedule, an epic budget, and in the end, produce a truly epic film–because this unfocused overview ends up as a big waste of time.