Troy (Director's Cut Ultimate Collector's Edition)

First of all Im not sure I saw the same movie that all these nay sayers have seen. That some didnt like this movie is understandable, but to call it a "bad movie" or "boring"? I just think that's a giant stretch even by the harshest of critics. Troy, is a wonderful modern-day interpretation of Homer's "The Illiad" which must be one of the most well known story's of all time. The Trojan war was long thought to be a myth, which no basis in reality. Untill one historian spent his life searching for the city of Troy and found what he believed to be it's ruins. This sparked a lot of debate on whether such a tale might well have it's roots in real events. "Troy" is born of this desire to contemplate "what may have really happened". It doesnt have any God's or Godesses, nor does it really stick firm to Homer's tale. What it does is take Homer's work and reintepret it through the mindset of "hey this is what might have really went down". This is why many such as Robert Ebert didnt like "Troy", because they were expecting Homer. But the storyline of troy has all the essence of homer only portrayed in a more realisitic version. Helen, wife of the king of Sparta, falls in love with Paris Prince of the powerful city state of Troy. She willingly sneaks out of Sparta and from a loveless marriage to the trojan boat and returns with Paris to Troy. This sparks a chain of events culminating in a massive war and the fall of a city. The King of Sparta is outraged and appeals to his brother - Agamemnon - who has just finished uniting the cities of greece under his rule. Using his brother's misfortune as a pretext for war, he assembles a 40,000 man strong army and sails them to troy on 1,000 ships. And so begins the trojan war. The acting throughout the movie varies from acceptable to spectacular. Brad pit gives an excellent performance as the hero Achilles. But Achilles of the movie is not immortal or divine, just an amazing warrior with a complex personality consisting of strong narcasism and some true honor (they dont always mix well). The character of hector is brilliantly portrayed as a man who has seen war and knows there is no glory in it, the antithesis of achilles. While Peter O'Toole (yes from Lawrence of Arabia!) does a FANTASTIC job as the Trojan king Priam. One scene is truly dramatic as he begs achilles for the body of his fallen son, proclaiming "even enemies can show respect". The battle scenes and special effects are amazing, and the battles in troy are second to none. But it's not all action, in fact much of troy is a look at the nature of war and politics. How the macro affects the micro. How small events trigger big ones. How ordinary people can play a part in larger than life stories. And how history plays out similar stories again and again. There's a strong anti-war message underlying the film. There's also a lot of unfinished ideas and holes in troy that never get filled. The end feels rushed and thrown together, and some interesting ideas brought up by the film are never fully explored. This is made up for by some truly GREAT scenes. Such as when the Greek fleet apears on the horizons of Troy. Bells are sounded, and all the characters react when they look out to see the horizon clouded with enemy ships. This scene is so well done it amazed me. All things considered I found Troy to not only be a great movie, but a great analysis of how the world works and how the greed of the few culminates in the suffering of the many. It wasnt as powerful as gladiator, and it isnt going to have the broader appeal of LOTR (it's not that kinda movie at all, completely different genre in fact), but while it's no Brave Heart, troy is the first movie in a while to come close to being in that class and is certainly an excellent movie.

We found it a good movie! It certainly held our interest for the entire two hours.

Good movie.

Excellent movie!!!

Family was in town visiting. We were playing a trivia game and it mentioned the story of Troy. My mom recommended we watch it. Funnily, it was playing the next day on tv but only caught the last hour. So I rented it here. While it's not my normal genre of movies, it was pretty good. For me, it was a bit hard to get into it at the start as it was slow paced. It was cool though to learn about the movie that my mom talks about from time to time, she's always loved it.

In the world of High Art valuation and critique Homer's ILLIAD is valued as THE MOST significant Western Artwork of all time. If anything this astoundingly well produced cinematic version will inspire us to READ the great Poem of The ILLIAD.

Great action movie.

Just finished watching this for the first time, and what an epic journey from start to finish. Glad I purchased this, as I will watch this again.

What can I add to reviews so far? Homer's Illiad it certainly isn't; I am not even going to begin, as some reviewers have done, to compare the two and list the deviations and omissions, a waste of time and energy. It is "Hollywood" at its best/worst (choose according to viewpoint and preferences). From fight scene one before the two assembled armies, my heart sank. Many people have obviously enjoyed it so I "don't want to rain on the parade". I found it unconvincing but, that's probably more to do with me than the film. I like to have my "historical films" approximating to the truth as we know it (after all its been good enough for generations!) and I wonder what future generations will know of some of our legendary characters, e.g Robin Hood, William Wallace and so on. Typical Hollywood "epic".

史実と神話が融合した娯楽作です。 19世紀には、トルコ西部の発掘調査で、紀元前12世紀頃の地層から大火災の痕跡が見つかり、実際にトロイア戦争が有ったのではないかと言われています。 歴史物語は、前もって歴史の勉強を済ませて観ると面白いですよ!

Excellent historical action film by Wolfgang Peterson featuring some big names and some you definitely haven't heard of before. Excellent acting from the entire cast, even Orlando gave a good performance. The director's cut is nothing groundbreaking, maybe 15 minutes or so of extra content. However, it it true cut content they wanted in the film that lends more depth to some of the characters. It's not just deleted scenes put back in. The special features were great too and will give you a new appreciation for the film. They actually built the front wall of Troy in the movie... twice! If you have not seen the movie it is 100% worth a watch and probably a few rewatches. If you are a fan of the film, the audio is excellent on this Blu-Ray and made a fine addition to my collection

本作は一見すると大味な娯楽作品だが、何故か記憶に残ってしまう珍しい作品だろう。 2000年代のハリウッド映画の革新はＣＧに間違いない。「スターウォーズⅠ・ファントムメナス」「ロード・オブ・ザリング」等の大量な軍団兵士映像は、それまでのエキストラ動員では限界があり、宣伝では“万の”と謳っても画面を切り取った精々“数百～千”が関の山だった。 だからスターウォーズもエピソードⅣから始めざるを得なかったのだが、ＣＧ進化が動員数リミッターを突破させたのだ。 本作もその新技術の旨味を前面に押し出した派手な造りだし、しかも「イーリアス」をモチーフにしつつも史実と関係ない創作ストーリー、主演ブラピのナルシズムな肉体美と来れば、どうしても批評家ウケしそうもないバタ臭い作品に映ってしまう。 しかし監督は「Ｕ・ボート」「ザ・シークレット・サービス」「アウトブレイク」の名匠ウォルフガング・ペーターゼンなので、テーマにはちゃんと芯がある。 それは同じ剣士でも、忠誠心や自分の名を残す為だけに闘う戦士と、本当に護るべき物への責任で立つ勇者の違いだ。ブラピ演じるギリシャのアキレスと、エリック・バナ演じるトロイのヘクトルの対比が正にそれだが、二人を取り囲む数多くの登場人物が実はかなり特徴的なのだ。 誰もがその身勝手さに苛立ち覚えるパリス王子とその新妻ヘレン、高い城壁を過信し王国を危険に晒しても彼らを溺愛するトロイ王のプリアモス、覇王アガメムノンと体育会系メネラオスのイケイケ兄弟、そのギリシャ王一族に知恵で遣えながら我が儘社員アキレスを手懐ける企画役員オデュッセウス、敵将と会って本当の愛を知るアポロ神殿の巫女ブリセイス、戦功を立てたくて血気に逸るパトロクロス、そしてトロイの作戦会議で好き勝手に主戦論を展開する群臣達や呪い師らは、確かに脇役に過ぎないが、時間を割いてまで見せる彼らの存在がブラピを単純なヒーローに見せない鍵だ。 それは彼らが、実はとても我々と同じ一般人に近く、愛や欲望や煩悩に流され、権威に慢心し、軽率な妥協で判断を誤るからだ。 観客はイライラするが、それが人間の本質であり、名作はそこを省略したり誤魔化さない。対する主人公アキレスは完璧に見えて所詮は戦闘マシーンとするカタルシスにいつの間にか嵌まってしまう仕掛けだ。 この豊富な人間臭いキャラ達の立て方は戦史モノでは屈指。勧善懲悪ストーリーとは異なり後味が様々で複雑なので一概にスッキリはしないが、個の選択がリアルで間違いなく記憶に残る。 勇者やリーダーとは、これら人間の稚拙さや醜さの全てを“護るべき不完全な愛らしさ”として受け入れた人間なのだろう。トロイ国民の業を双肩に背負ったヘクトルを映画途中に退出させる演出こそ、本作の真骨頂だと思う。 死ぬことで人の行動に反省と変革を促すことも多い勇者の宿命とは、革新的政治家のユリウス・カエサル、リンカーンやＪＦＫ、キング牧師らの暗殺と象徴化してきた歴史を考えれば普遍性がある。 本作は人間の現実に忠実なるが故に、ちゃんと心に刻まれるＣＧだけで語れない傑作です。

Merci