Epic? Well...

Last night I went with some great friends of mine to see Troy. I had read most of the well-written reviews on the movie, and all were mixed. They said there were moments of brilliance mixed in with mediocre, made-for-daytime-soaps material. We went in with such low expectations, that I think we came out actually liking the film. It wasn't amazing, but who expects anything epic from Hollywood anymore.

There were quite laughable parts (that obviously weren't supposed to be) and there were some really compelling fight scenes. The best being the duel between Hector and Achilles, oh, and the fireball scene. If you've scene the film, you know what I'm talking about.

So, here's a breakdown of the best and worst parts of the movie. The best part, in my opinion, was watching Brad Pitt for two and a half hours. :) I mean, Hello! ...

There was plenty of eye candy for the females in the audience. For once, it wasn't the women constantly stripping down. I was surprised. Brad Pitt was simply unbelievably gorgeous in this film. I've always thought he was (in films), but this was something else. There's no possible way that man could have added that much muscle to his otherwise lean and muscular frame without some type of steroid, though. It was worth it. :)

The worst part of the movie was the score. It was horrendous. I've never heard such poorly orchestrated and inappropriately placed music. There would be moments of intimate conversation between lovers and you'd hear abrasive trumpets wailing. It was bizarre. I heard elements of Braveheart in there, so I guessed it was James Horner. I was right. He needs to go back to school to get some new inspiration. It was sooooo bad. There were times I would outright laugh at the score. That's bad, seeing as I know half as much as Horner.

I didn't care for the story. They left so much out of it, as they had to, but they left out really key elements in my opinion. Petroclus, who is portrayed as Achilles cousin in the film, was actually his friend and lover. There was absolutely no reference to how sick they were, sexually speaking. Bisexuality and homosexuality were a tremendous part of that culture, and they left that out completely. They also made the audience think that most of these men were honorable, and whatnot, but in reality, most were quite despicable most of the time. Achilles had his moments, but they were all slightly off-kilter in some way.

They made the war seem like it lasted days, when it really lasted somewhere between 10-12 years. The Trojan horse appeared to be made within days and brought into Troy within days of the war starting, but the horse was brought in in the ninth year of fighting. A lot was left out. And a lot was completely changed. This was all so unnecessary. The stor is fascinating without Hollywood, and for them to take artistic license with something that stood the test of time for thousands of years is somewhat ludicrous.

There's much to write on the subject, and maybe I will, but this post is becoming far too long. I recommend seeing the movie, kind of. :)