CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Ack! I did search and advanced search twice and never found a topic on Troy, but I was sure it existed. Anyway if it is found than this topic can be deleted.

I've been looking forward to this movie for months, and I'm so excited that it's out! I check screenit.com today, though, and it does have a lot of objectionable stuff. I wasn't exactly surprised at this, since reading any literature about the Trojan war you come across affairs and scandals, but I hope my mom will agree to take me to see it.

So has anyone seen it yet? It just came out today, though, so I don't guess many people have... I was just wondering about people's opinions on the movie.

I'm excited about seeing Troy too ^^

I read the review in my paper and it said it was kinda a wishy washy interpretation of the actual story of Troy (not that I know it or anything hehe), but I also heard there are some wicked fight scenes in there...sword to sword combat...FUN!!

I might go see it. I'm usually not allowed to see rated-R movies, but this is something my parents actually want to see hehe...

I wanted to go see it really, really badly tonight, but some stuff came up at home, and being the only one with a car I had to go pick up my brother at band practice instead.

Buuuut, I shall see it first thing tomorrow and I promise to tell you all about it! I'm 17, so R is no biggie. As for the movie itself...I have been drooling over this since thanksgiving. The only other movie to get me this excited was the King Arthur one coming this summer. I'm a huge fan of Greco-Roman mythology (competed in it for a few years) and I can't wait to see this played on the big screen. Doesn't look like it'll disappoint either.

<I'm 17, so R is no biggie.>


I'm 12, and R is no biggie neither!

Laughs...well I meant legally, I have no issue getting carded.

Sounds interesting, but.... Brad Pitt? Orlando Bloom? Methinks this is a chick-flick disguised as action. I am also disappointed that Achilles does not have a beard. In Greek society, that is tantamount to girliness.

I am also disappointed that Achilles does not have a beard. In Greek society, that is tantamount to girliness.

Well, you know what they said about Achilles and Patroclus. I wouldn't put it past Hollywood to play up that relationship--I mean, that's what their other big Greek-epic Alexander is supposedly all about already. (post Troy edit: suprisingly enough they did not even hint at this)

As for the chick flick...well I haven't seen a chick flick yet rated R for violence. And I personally am not a rabid fangirl for either of the two girl magnets mentions, so *shrug*

POST TROY EDIT:
Ok, I just got back from seeing Troy and I must say...

IT WAS AWESOME! I couldn't have been more pleased with this movie. It was exactly what I had hoped for. The cast was amazing--Sean Bean and Eric Bana were my favorites. The creators forewent any long, Shakesperean epic speeches. These were men of passion that made you believe they were real people and real warriors. And this is most definately NOT a chick flick--blood and warfare and action abound. Lots of cultural things too, such as greek-trojan religion, death, and councils.

As for the blood, it was pretty moderate in my opinion. It was likeable to Braveheart--I mean, yes it was there and yes men bleed, but there wasn't any decapitation. The worst I think it got was having things stabbed through or a neck cut. But no gushing fountains of blood spraying everywhere or anything.

For the "love story"--well yes, there was two or three bedroom shots. But no breasts were shown, and no real male nudity. A few rear shots, but nothing compared to say, the Matrix's infamous scene, IMO.

I definately, definately give this film my highest accolades--it's one of the best I've ever seen, if not the best. *steps off soapbox now*

It's an R-rated film over there? Strange. It's only PG-13 here. Anyway, I just came back from watching it. The movie took quite a lot of liberties from the original story, but awesome fight scenes all the same. I love how the movie made the constant effort of keeping the characters well-rounded...there's no clear line as to which side was the good or bad side.

P.S. Eric Bana is such a hottie with a beard and curly braided hair and a great personality as Hector to boot. Terrifically drool-worthy. ^^ Lol, anyway, as to his character's role, I'm glad to know that through the whole chaotic war, there was still one sensible man left. Hector was glorious there.

I saw Troy yesterday, and it is an excellent movie. The movie does take many liberties with the original works, although they add to, rather than detract from, the story. Without giving too much away, I will say that there are allusions to later works that people will appreciate.

The directors did a good job of not demonizing either side. It would have been easy for them to make Hector blameless, and Achilles a mad butcher; but they did not. The viewer will have to judge for themselves which side was justified in the conflict.

The only deviation that really bothered me was the complete absence of the gods in the film. They are mentioned, but never shown (excluding one early scene that may or may not depict one). Granted, it would have been difficult to show then without making the film look hokey; but something should have been done, as the "gods" had a tremendously important role in the original epic.

Of course many people will say that this is a positive point, because it allows the filmmakers to focus more on the people from the legend. Being the vain and prideful creatures that we are, any work that focuses on man in this way is praised. That is not to say that the portrayal wasn't superb in this case; just soemthing to keep in mind as you watch this, or any other film.

Well, they did managed to boil down a 10 year war into what, less than a month or so?, and more realistically into a 3 hour time slot. That being considered, I am willing to forgive the liberties taken. The only thing I was a bit unsure of was Briseis' character--how close they followed her to the "actual" Briseis I can't precisely remember. It's been a good 4 years since I've read the Iliad. I'm not such a purist when it comes to mythology that if it doesn't go exactly by Homer it's just worthless.

Oh, anyone else catch the reference to Aeneas? I thought that was great--little extra that most people won't get, but definately cherished by those of us who did.

And yeah, Cbwing, the "gods" would have been an added bonus I think. Especially with the awesome CGI type things the Lord of the Rings series accomplished, I'm sure they could have fallen in line and made some awesome looking divinities without being hokey. But you're right, they were a huge part of the story. But that's one thing the movie excelled in--it made the war a combination of reasons, not just love or power or the gods. Like the heroes, it was up to you to decide what was the real reason.

And yes, Eric Bana is a definately hottie in that movie. But then again, as a pretty much sworn Hectonite, I was bound to love him (Hector is my favorite character)

Ashley wrote:Oh, anyone else catch the reference to Aeneas? I thought that was great--little extra that most people won't get, but definately cherished by those of us who did.

That's what I was referring to, and I did enjoy it. I actually prefer the Aeneid to the Iliad, but I don't think many people would agree with me on that.

The material with Briseis is more or less accurate as I recall. Of course the ending wasn't the same, but everything else roughly paralleled the poem.

*enters with a nearly-empty bottle of whiskey, or perhaps watered-down Coke made to look like whiskey (in fact, that's what it is (Coke))*

*sits down, enranged, bringing forhead to hand*.

Hello? Helloo-oh? ACCURACY! WHERE ARE YOU!?!?

The one thing I feared about Troy came to fruition. They got everything they could possibly get wrong wrong.

[spoiler=ARRRRRGGGH!]
Minor ones:
The Trojans had to tear down their walls in order to get the horse in, which did not happen in the movie. I have no problem with this because in either case, the horse did allow the larger contingent of the Greeks to enter easily (in this version, the Greeks inside the horse open the gate for them.

In the movie, Patroklos fights in Achilles' place without Achilles' knowledge. In the traditional version, he gets Achilles' permission first.

Speaking of Patroklos, I wanted to see the duel between him and Sarpedon. I guess the makers didn't think Sarpedon was an important enough character (though stragely, Aeneas, who was a nobody in the Iliad, was)

MAJOR ones:
Menelaus dies in combat (against HEKTOR, no less). In fact, he doesn't die PERIOD. When this first aberration came up, I knew the rest of the movie would be spoiled for me.

Hektor kills Ajax. In the original version, Ajax is supposed to kill himself.

The lack of divine intervention in the movie. I guess the crowd would be dissappointed to see one as mighty as Achilles as a passive hero (which, compared to the Fates and the Gods, he really is)

Achilles is supposed to be dead by the time the Greeks build the Trojan horse.

In the movie, Priam dies by the hand of some nameless Greek warrior. In the real story, he is killed by Pyrrhus/Neoptolemos, the son of Achilles (yes, he has a son). (Maybe this should be one of the minor ones, since they got the circumstances of his death--desecrations within the temple--all right).

They make the whole Trojan struggle look like a month-long war, when in reality it dragged on for a decade. This is evidenced by the fact that Astanyax (the son of Hektor) never reaches boyhood.

They make Agammemnon look like some power-hungry dictator of Greece. Well, maybe he really was, but in the original version he was made Commander in Chief of the Achaians simply because he had the most men. Greece was still pretty much a bunch of autonomous city-states, but were bound by an oath to rescue Helen should anything happen to her.

The culture is all wrong too. They make it look like the Greeks were helplessly following the whims of the Atredai (Agammemnon and Menlaus), when in reality the thought of Trojan booty (that's TREASURE, keep your mind out of the gutter) was more than enough to let any Greek risk their lives.

Finally (and all readers of Greek drama should know this) Agamemnon was actually killed by his wife and his wife's lover--not by Briseis as the movie depicts.[/spoiler]

Of course, they also left my favorite bowman (Philoctetes) out of the movie. I guess they didn't relish the though of multitudes of Orlando Bloom devotees flaying the son of Poeas for shooting down their favorite sweaty, shiny plastic elfboy.

One thing I do credit the movie for was the amazing coreography. If that's how Achilles and Hektor really fought, no wonder their respective sides valued them so much.

I guess they didn't relish the though of multitudes of Orlando Bloom devotees flaying the son of Poeas for shooting down their favorite sweaty, shiny plastic elfboy.

Yes, streams of mascara -- er, I mean blood, would be flowing if there had been any holes punched in Mr. Bloom. *shakes stick* Lemme tell ya' angry fangirls aren't a pretty sight. I heard my fair share of grumbling during Pirates during the last scene about wishing they where in a certain bean pole's shoes.

So what about Ms. Kruger? I saw some pre-production shots of her and she didn't strike me as the 'face that launched a thousand ships'. Did she pull it off?

I heard this movie had a lot of sex and nudidy in it. So I might not see it any time soon.

So what about Ms. Kruger? I saw some pre-production shots of her and she didn't strike me as the 'face that launched a thousand ships'. Did she pull it off?

I'd say so, actually. I mean, I don't know if I'd go to war after her myself, but she was pretty much exactly what I pictured Helen of Troy being. Graceful, beautiful beyond words, and blonde. ^^

I heard this movie had a lot of sex and nudidy in it.

Actually I was suprised--there was much less of this than I had expected. There were no breast shots, and any nudity at all was rear/hip skin (and mostly male). As for the sex, there was one rather touchy scene about what, halfway in I think, and one implicating one at the very beginning. But it was nothing like the scenes in Top Gun, The Matrix Reloaded, or even Braveheart's, and actually quite mild by Hollywood's standards.

I just saw the film last night....it was ok. I felt it was way to long...now don't get me wrong...somtimes a movie can be long and still rock...such as LOTR. However, Eric Banna must have brought the hulk feeling with him...because the movie just drug on. The fight scenes were amazing, but not good enough to carry a lagging movie for over 3 hours. The sex scenes were less needed then the matrix one as far as I am concerned...it was like, hey lets have a lame excuse to have some of our boytoys running around in nothing....*eye roll* regardless of this its still an ok movie. In retrospect I am glad I saw it in the theater...I doubt the fight scenes would have been as good on dvd.

I was very disappointed by this film... Particularly the final scene. I haven't read the Iliad, but I know about the story a bit from School, and there are some aspects of the story that I thought EVERYONE knew. Now, this story is common knowledge, but for those who don't keep up on their greek mythology, I'll spoilerize it [spoiler=Ending]The death of Achiles was horrible... That and the horse were the parts of the story I was looking forward to the most. Achiles was supposed to be invincible except for his heel, where his mother held him when she dipped him in the river styx. They mentioned "rumors" of his invincibility, but they made it look like he was killed by all the "other" arrows, and they didnt' even say the arrow was poisoned![/spoiler]... They tried way too hard to remove the fantasy elements from the story, and the mythology was much more interesting to me than some sort of pseudo-historical thing... They made Achiles out to just be an incredible fighter rather than invincible due to supernatural causes. The Trojan Horse scene was decent, at least... I was just overall very disappointed with this movie.

I should add that I hated all of the characters except the king of troy and the older trojan prince... Achilles, Paris, and the myriad of other characters were very unlikeable characters... I hated Paris more than I hated the Greek king. It was just to the point that I didn't care who died. The movie really started to wear on me as time went on, and this coming from a man who can watch the Lord of the Rings movies in their extended versions or watch an entire season of Sailormoon with only 1 break, that's saying a lot. I would have come out with a better feeling if I had seen my favorite part of the story come to life, but they had to ruin it...

>>... I hated Paris more than I hated the Greek king.

Agreed. OB did a lousy job in this flic. All the more reason Philoctetes should have been in it.

I saw the movie again today, and once again I liked it.

I was also thinking about a Troy video game. It would be great, if it were made by Koei. Of course that will never happen, but I can dream...

There is undoubtedly a video game in the works, lol. I'm guessing probably by EA....

Seeing this movie tonight (finally!); tell my opinion when I return. ^^

I saw it, it wasn't the greatest film I've ever seen but a good solid movie. It reminded me of Gladiator just on a grander scale--I never read up on the story before or I might have but I just cannot remember it. So I judged purely on the movie itself, not how accurate it was. I thought Brad Pitt was a little stale in his acting and Orlando Bloom did dissapoint me, the ending also left much to be desired. The battle scenes were nicely choreographed but there wasn't much emotion played out. I didn't care when Achilles....[spoiler]died.[/spoiler]

just saw it an hour ago.....

words can't describe how badly i want my money back. =(

some of the fighting was well done....but the dialogue was badly pieced together....and i really didn't need to see that much of Brad Pitt's icky backside...

music was a lame clone of Gladiator........completely off the original story by Homer.....and for the love of everything Holy....can Orlando Bloom ever play a character that isn't an archer?

and what was that ending?....arg.....

anyway.....thats just my opinion.....i'm overly critical at times...

=)

I saw Troy about a week ago, and though I was a little disappointed with some of the liberties the film makers took with the original story, I really did like the movie as a whole. Sean Bean as Odysseus was awesome! (YAY, for once he doesn't have to be the bad guy/die in a movie!) And yes, Paris' archery skills were a little reminiscent of LOTR, but it WAS an integral part of the story, not just an "oh look, he played an expert archer in this film, let's have him be one in Troy," type of deal! Eric Bana as Hector was totally awesome, also! The battle scenes were terrifically done! But I did think Achilles' relationship with Briseis was a little stretched and somewhat fake at some points...

Ah, I forgot to write my opinion!

I thought it was an ok movie, but it wasn't that great. I didn't care much over the "liberties" taken by the producers, I just didn't get into the movie that much. The battles are huge, but not as exciting as LotR's. And the death scene at the end was a little hokey in my opinion. Oh well... It was still an ok movie. Only a one-timer for me though.

I didn't see it (I don't like R-rated violence). But yes, OB does often play archers, but he played a pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean...[/OFF TOPIC]

Heart of Sword wrote:I didn't see it (I don't like R-rated violence). But yes, OB does often play archers, but he played a pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean...[/OFF TOPIC]

Actually he played the very original role of blacksmith turned pirate. Yeah, you don't hear that one everyday.

^Hehe...

I saw Troy for the second time today (one of my friends hadn't seen it and I offered to go again with her). It was just TOO long! But I did catch the Aeneas part at the end, which was awesome! I didn't notice it the first time I saw the movie!