Troy (2004)

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Directed by
Wolfgang Petersen

Written by
Homer, David Benioff

Cast
Julian Glover, Brian Cox, Nathan Jones, Adoni Maropis, Jacob Smith [more]

Troy Reviews

There are times when Troy is stirring and engaging. However, at least as often, it is flat. There's really too much story to cram into a l65-minute period, yet, paradoxically, the movie seems longer than its bloated running length. And all of the visual majesty that hundreds of millions of dollars can buy cannot obscure the perfunctory and unsatisfying development of the major characters. [read review]  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews) The characters of legend are tossed about in the story as needed, without much background to make us really care about any of their places in the legendary story that is being recreated here. Then again, we're used to epic films running light on heavy duty character development and Troy was not a difficult sit. [read review] --Chuck Schwartz (The Cranky Critic) "Underwhelming" is perhaps the best way to describe 'Troy'. There's no denying that it's been impressively put-together, but there's a constant feeling that there's nothing here we haven't seen done before - and better - in a hundred epics to have gone before it. Despite its myriad of action sequences, the whole thing moves along at a snail's pace, so loaded is it with fist-bitingly bad dialogue. [read review] 6/10 --Gary Panton (Movie Gazette) ...what really wrecks Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy" is some of the worst casting in recent Hollywood history: The lackluster ensemble hired by the director is overwhelmed by the generally impressive sets and crowd scenes (aided by computer-generated images), by the task of playing epic heroes and by David Benioff's rambling, tone-deaf screenplay "inspired by Homer's 'Iliad.'" [read review] --Jonathan Foreman (New York Post) Overall, this film just ran a little too long, a little too redundant and a little too boring for my taste. It's a decent movie, with solid performances from both Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, but I can't say that any specific character intrigued me much, involved me on any type of emotional level and ultimately, had me giving a shit about what happened to them. [read review] 5/10 --'JoBlo' (JoBlo.com) Troy is an action picture of stunning scope and stirring spectacle, with a love story between two callow nitwits that is its Achilles heel. The movie attempts to compensate for this with frequent visits to the brawny, tawny contours of the rest of Achilles' body. [read review]  --Bruce Newman (San Jose Mercury News) Homer's estate should sue. The movie sidesteps the existence of the Greek gods, turns its heroes into action movie cliches and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies. Better a couple of hundred sweaty warriors than two masses of 50,000 men marching toward one another across a sea of special effects. [read review]  --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times) It's a timeless tale, well worth being made into a grand film, and with an impressive cast and Petersen's competent skills, Troy does loosely recreate the scope and vision of Homer's original poem with one near fatal exception -- the dialogue stinks. [read review]  --Vince Leo (Qwipster.net) For the most part this is a war story and one that remains as relevant as ever. Mostly it is a story about character and the perils of greed, vanity, arrogance and bloodlust. You remember character? Well, if all you see are movies -- maybe not. [read review]  --Blake Snyder (MovieWeb) This 21st century peplum was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, clearly taking a few pointers from Ridley Scott's Gladiator but coming up with a film more complex and epic, if not quite as involving on a personal level. [read review]  --Kevin N. Laforest (Montreal Film Journal) Petersen, a director who knows his way around a crane shot better than almost anyone, rallies his troops but can’t ignite his actors, and the end result is the sound and fury of Homer undone. [read review]  --Marc Savlov (Austin Chronicle) Troy is an adequate summer popcorn movie – a war movie with the pretense of history. But given its 2.5+ hours running time, it’s a shame that more wasn’t accomplished within its frames. [read review]  --Harrison Cheung (Movie-Gurus.com) TROY’s most daring and most intriguing accomplishment is how it has taken what may be the quintessential story about warfare being glorious and turned it neatly on its head. [read review]  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews) Epic action drama, impressively directed by Wolfgang Petersen – the jaw-dropping set-pieces more than compensate for the frequent lapses in script and performance. [read review]  --Matthew Turner (ViewLondon) Troy wastes so much breath promoting Achilles’ strengths that the movie begins to sound like Don King hyping Tyson the week before a pay-per-view event. [read review]  --Sean O'Connell (FilmCritic.com) Screw Van Helsing! This movie marks the true start of the summer movie season, and it's definitely worth the extended stay in the theater. [read review]  --Brian Gallagher (MovieWeb) Brad Pitt in a leather miniskirt, a Helen who couldn't launch a dinghy: This whole movie is one big Achilles' heel. [read review] --Stephanie Zacharek (Salon) It's certainly not a bad film, but it's not even close to greatness. Possibly the years biggest disappointment. [read review]  --Carl Lazarevic (MovieWeb) There is a lot of guts and glory here, but not a lot of heart. [read review] --Paul Clinton (CNN Showbiz) As memorable and fulfilling as a good bag of movie popcorn. [read review] 68/100 --Mike DeWolfe (Apollo Guide)

• review by Andrew Staker
• review by Andy Keast
• review by Bob Bloom
• review by Harvey S. Karten
• review by Homer Yen
• review by Jerry Saravia
• review by JoBlo
• review by Karina Montgomery
• review by Laura Clifford
• review by Mark R. Leeper
• review by Murray McClellan
• review by Ryan Ellis
• review by Steve Rhodes
• review by Susan Granger
• review by Wahid Sharif