Not in the mood to ‘Troy’ again

VAN NOVACK

There are a couple of ways to make a film about ancient

civilizations. One tactic is to take “The History Channel” approach

and essentially make a documentary with actors providing the visuals.

The second, and the traditional Hollywood modus operandi, is to

forget the source material and make a rousing action/adventure movie

that simply entertains.

The makers of “Troy” apparently couldn’t decide which route to

follow and instead unsuccessfully blend aspects of Homer’s epic and

traditional sword-and-sandal movie elements. At 162 minutes, the film

pretentiously plods along alternating unsatisfying and ultimately

unconvincing character interplay with technically dazzling but

overdone battle sequences.

Central to the movie’s failure is the casting of Brad Pitt as

Achilles. Although toned to perfection for the part, Pitt is too much

the “surfer dude” to convincingly play a Greek God. In the 1950s, the

heyday of this genre, actors such as Victor Mature and Charlton

Heston literally towered in these roles, as they were often shot from

ground level. Their characters’ soliloquies were delivered in a

heroic baritone and roused their fellow warriors to action. Pitt’s

Achilles broods and pouts, expresses disdain for King Agamemnon even

though he is willing to kill for him, and ultimately goes to war to

assure his own legend.

Another irritating aspect of the film is director Wolfgang

Peterson’s preoccupation with Pitt. Part Chippendale’s dancer, part

Playgirl centerfold, Pitt is gratuitously shot semi-nude in several

scenes unnecessary to the plot. This practice drives home the point

that Pitt is really nothing more than “eye candy” and not to be taken

seriously. One cannot imagine Russell Crowe subjecting himself to

this treatment in his Oscar-winning role in “Gladiator.”

Another problem is Orlando Bloom as Paris. Appearing to be around

16, Bloom portrays Paris as whiney, immature and ultimately cowardly.

The fact Helen (Diane Kruger) is willing to plunge two nations into

war when she leaves her husband Menelaus, an Achaean chieftain, is

truly unbelievable. Kruger, obviously given the part of Helen because

of her physical appearance, is not called upon to do much but is

absolutely wooden throughout nonetheless.

There are some good performances wasted in this effort. Brian Cox

plays the power-mad Agamemnon with enthusiastic bombast. Peter

O’Toole delivers a touching performance as Priam, the doomed king of

Troy. Eric Bana is also good as the heroic Hector, the dutiful prince

of Troy ultimately victimized by the machinations of others.

The battle scenes are done well technically and are actually more

convincing than “Lord of the Rings.” However, the CGI artists

obviously got carried away, as there appear to be thousands of ships

sailing to Troy and more Greeks than were alive at the time on the

battlefield. This is definitely a case of bigger not being better.

As expected, when subjected to the Hollywood treatment, nothing

but the bare bones of Homer’s majestic story remain. There is nothing

here to suggest why “The Iliad” has survived nearly 3,000 years.

It’s bad enough when a modern novel is butchered for the sake of a

film. When an epic of this magnitude emerges unrecognizable, however,

it is a grave disservice to the many young people for whom this is

their first or only exposure to Homer’s writings. With such rich

subject matter, the film’s ultimate failure is even more

disappointing.

* VAN NOVACK, 50, is the director of institutional research at Cal

State Long Beach and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife

Elizabeth.