Troy -- Is it okay?

Wroth

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I saw it last night... pretty good movie. Didn't leave me in awe as I left the theatre but the plot twists you around like a wet cloth - you can't choose who to cheer for because both protagonists (Hector and Achilles) are characters you want to see win.

As for casting, Brad Pitt at Achilles was pretty decent, same with Hector. However... Orlando Bloom is a whiny little boy in this movie. I hated him from the first scene I saw of him. His character is an idiot, he doesn't have great lines and I don't feel he had a decent performance. The only good choice about it is the fact that Bloom is a tiny guy that can portray weak characters... and Paris is one of the weakest and dumbest I've seen.

I can't recall totally the story behind Agamemnon, but I don't ever recall him being such a total jerk... maybe I'm forgetting something but in the movie you loath him. The choice of actors (same bad guy who was in X2) was fairly good, he is able to pull of a "casual evil" type display, making you think of him as something vile all the time.

There was also a bit of liberal movie-making adjustments to the story - the duel between Menelaus and Paris for example, never happened. Check out http://www.bulfinch.org/fables/bull28.html here to read more about what happened to the heroes according to Homer and other tales from that day that the movie is (mostly) based upon.
 
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Raindog

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Troy is a horridly bad movie. It's really hard to make a 10 year war boring, but somehow they succeeded. It's just soo badly edited combined with a bad script.


I'm not concerned that they played fast and loose with the Illiad, but they totally forgot to endow this movie with any kind of emotional attachment of any kind to any major character. Helen is about as deep as a sheet of paper, and not that good looking. Andromache has absoulty nothing to do. The Greeks are in it for the land, Achillies for the fame.

I've always maintained that the fall of Troy is Hector's story, an noble warrior drawn into a war he cannot win by his sinviling little brother. The film kind of uses this faux docu-drama style where no ones characters are really fleshed out.

The worst thing about this movie though is their replacement of the theme. The Illiad and the Oddyess are both warnings about the price of pride. The movie makers have instead gone the other way and said the only way to get immortality is by doing great deeds in battles that probably don't need to be fought.

As far as the "Unneccessary" sex scenes that people on this board are griping about you should keep in mind one thing. Troy, even at an R rating is still a rather sanatized version what the story truely entails. Warfare of that time was brutal beyond belief, and rape would have been the rule of the day among the armies of Greece.
 
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Raindog

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Wroth said:
Orlando Bloom is a whiny little boy in this movie. I hated him from the first scene I saw of him. His character is an idiot, he doesn't have great lines and I don't feel he had a decent performance. The only good choice about it is the fact that Bloom is a tiny guy that can portray weak characters... and Paris is one of the weakest and dumbest I've seen.


Have you read the Illiad? He played Paris the way Homer wrote him.
 
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princess_ballet

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Wroth- do you realize that Paris is supposed to be whiney and a baby?

Do people just not have good English teachers or what?

Anyway, we do realize that Helen is supposed to be the most beautiful women in the world right? We're talking stunning. You've never seen better.

And you aren't going to have a sex scene?

Yeah right.

Other people have made great comments about that (and yes, I would hope you can control yourselves, regardless if you see a couple clips of a movie), but I want to make a point about "languague."

If there was a gang running around the streets of Chicago and the leader was just sighted by a cop while doing drugs, do you think he would say "Gee gosh golly darn!"

Um...no, he would not.

The words in a movie create an authentic feeling. That gangster would not say those words, he would say something a bit stronger. Words like that can also create a character. You might assume that they character is not well educated (lucky guess there).

Trust me, it isn't all in the pursuit of evil.

And I cannot wait to see this movie.
 
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Wroth

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Ya, I've read Illiad and Odyssey. I liked them alot. I also read alot about the background stories and the characters.

Maybe I'm being unfair to Orlando Bloom but to tell you the truth I really, really, really don't like him at all. I think he's a bit of an overrated actor. Add in the fact that I hate characters like Paris anyways and well... you might be right. Maybe I just hate him out of spite because my gf and half the world thinks he's "soooo hot" :p
 
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SallyNow

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Erm...in regards to movie content (I have not seen Troy yet, BTW) there are times when sex and violence in movies is appropriate. Yes, they are both overused right now, but in some contexts they are useful.
I don't believe in hiding from the world, in ignoring or denying what's going on around us. There are some movies where the violence or whatever is necassary to show the world what's going one. An example is "Apocalypse Now"-and moreso with the Redux. The story needed to be told in a brutally honest way.
Then again, other times movies are made for no reason other than making money, where the plot was the secondary consideration after, "Who can we cast to make this a hit film?"
 
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PatrickM

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Wroth said:
I saw it last night... pretty good movie. Didn't leave me in awe as I left the theatre but the plot twists you around like a wet cloth - you can't choose who to cheer for because both protagonists (Hector and Achilles) are characters you want to see win.
Indeed, the plot make the movie much more entertaining. And both could be viewed as antagonists as well (Hector, for fighting a battle because his 'lil bro stole someone else's wife).
As for casting, Brad Pitt at Achilles was pretty decent, same with Hector. However... Orlando Bloom is a whiny little boy in this movie. I hated him from the first scene I saw of him. His character is an idiot, he doesn't have great lines and I don't feel he had a decent performance. The only good choice about it is the fact that Bloom is a tiny guy that can portray weak characters... and Paris is one of the weakest and dumbest I've seen.
An actor does his job well when you despise him for his character. Bloom played Paris very well, IMHO.
I can't recall totally the story behind Agamemnon, but I don't ever recall him being such a total jerk... maybe I'm forgetting something but in the movie you loath him.
Well, Agamemnon was rather arogant. He wanted to lead the army against Troy, even though it was his brother who was wronged. He is also a bit of a coward, as he loves the honors bestowed upon him, while staying far behind in the battles.
There was also a bit of liberal movie-making adjustments to the story - the duel between Menelaus and Paris for example, never happened. Check out http://www.bulfinch.org/fables/bull28.html here to read more about what happened to the heroes according to Homer and other tales from that day that the movie is (mostly) based upon.
Actually, the duel between Menelas and Paris did take place. As a matter of fact, the movie did not make much of the fight between Hector and Ajax, tho it did show it.

Also, IMHO, the liberties taken by the writers was effective, as they left out much of the 'gods', which would have made it rather 'cartoonish'.

But you're right on for the most part here. As for the 'sex scenes', they were very minimal and not 'graphic' at all. And were needed to show the arrogance of Achilles. As a Christian, I could easily look to the side during these very brief scenes.
 
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princess_ballet

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yeah i have been hearing a lot about the love scenes too. I am so mad, i wish that they could just keep them out like they did in pirtates of the caribbean! man that was a cool movie!
What are you talking about? Every keeps saying that those scenes were kept to a minimal! And in Pirates no one was in the position to have sex. Besides that it was a Disney movie!

While it was an awesome movie, they were also afraid to just have Elizabeth and Will kiss, which a bit frustrating and silly. Don't you think?

Why are we so afraid of sex? Especially when, like someone said, to show character? If it is there for a reason and not just randomly placed, why do people have such a problem?
 
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Mr.Cheese

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What had happened with Paris and Helen already happened. The war was the response to that. I'm only guessing that the rating is due to violence. Homer is amazing. I didn't know you could spend so many lines of poetry talking about someone getting run through. I suppose I could understand a sex scene if it helped elucidate the Paris/Helen thing. Or the incident with the girl Agamemnon had to return to the priest. He took a girl from Achilles. That whole mess...I suppose could be cause for some kind of scene. But the point would be to explain things. From text to pictures requires some visual footnoting on occasion.
I'm glad someone is finally making a hi-budget movie on this stuff. Hopefully the movie will do the epic justice.
Yes. I own Clash of the Titans.

If we made an accurately portrayed movie about King David and his family would anyone go see it?
 
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adams apple

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Princess_ballet is talking sense people. Sex isn't scary and yukky. It's sexy. Just get over it.
I think it's a shame that they didn't show the historically acurate amount of nakedness. And lets not get into the whole gay sex issue.
Anyway, there are much worse things on film than brad pitts ****
 
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VWPETE

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Nathan8906 said:
Uh, I think it has a quite graphic "love scene." I would say it's definitely not Christian friendly. It's rated R for a reason.

there is a sex scene but it is not that graphic compared to ther movies out there for example american history X and 8Mile.

i liked it alot and thought it was neet to see modern technology make a movie like that even more exciting.
 
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Raindog

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Just a few more things.

Someone said the movie represented history, in fact we don't even know for sure that Troy ever existed or that the Trojan War ever happened, seeing as homer didn't write it down for more then 500 years.

Secondly for those complaining about the violence and sex keep in mind the source material, and realize the movie makers actually made it less bloody then the two poems. After Troy falls Hector's son is thrown from the citidal's walls, Andromache is raped and no one escapes the city alive, unlike the Hollywood version where many people, including Andromache, escape via some secret tunnel.

If anything Troy is a lot more milder then the stuff that Homer wrote.
 
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PatrickM

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adams apple said:
AND, why do non of the main actors look remotely greek or turkish (Troy's sort of in turkey isn't it?). I mean,the only darkish actors are the mexican extras. It's worse than the passion of the Christ
LOL! (I think :D )?

Brian Cox has a bit of an "olive" complexion. So did Eric Bana, and has dark hair.

Well, do you know of any Turkish actors with a "rear" like Brad's??
 
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Troy was an outstanding movie, in my opinion.

The concern about the 'sex scenes' is vastly overrated. There are two scenes with Pitt's backside, and only the second is a sex scene (mostly implied)

The interplay between the characters was outstanding. I was afraid this was going to be all about fight, fight, fight, but it wasn't.

Overall, this was a very good movie. If you really have a problem seeing Brad Pitt's butt, you'll need to close your eyes for about a grand total of 10 seconds in the entire movie.
 
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