This Week's Hot Pick: 'Troy'

Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Hollywood 1, Homer 0. Wolfgang Petersen's $200 million blockbuster is pretty much a travesty of its source, Homer's great epic poem, "The Iliad." But it doesn't really matter. "Troy" is such an exhilarating piece of epic filmmaking that it pulls you in, sweeps you up and works very much as its own thing.


	Troy

Set 3,200 years ago, the story deals with the Greek war against the Asia Minor city of Troy that's sparked when Troy's prince, Paris (Orlando Bloom), makes off with Helen (Diane Kruger), the wife of Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), brother of Agamemnon (Brian Cox), the head Greek king. The Greeks draft their great but reluctant hero, Achilles (Brad Pitt), and send a fleet of 1,000 ships across the Aegean Sea to get Helen back

With its emphasis on graceful battle, beautiful bodies and not one but three romances, the film seems inspired by the "Sword and Scandal" epics that filled the theaters of Petersen's youth, but, as we might expect from the director of "Das Boot," it rises above its romantic underpinning to be a riveting portrait of men in war. In a most satisfying way, it explores a spectrum of psychology and juggles an array of character strengths and flaws. It also works as spectacle, from the eye-boggling naval armada to its vast panoramas of clashing armies. The major roles are filled perfectly, with such gems as Cox's magnificently malevolent Agamemnon, Gleeson's slovenly brutish Menelaus and Peter O'Toole's weak but noble King Priam of Troy. As Paris, Orlando Bloom strikes just the right chord of self-centered softness.

As Achilles, the beefed-up Pitt sometimes trips on his faux English accent, but he finds his character and, in battle, he's deadly poetry in motion, a compelling embodiment of Greek mythology's headiest hero.

The two-disc set has featurettes examining the historical truths behind "The Iliad" and on the movie's visual effects and battle scenes. There's also a computer-animated ramble through Mount Olympus offering background about the Greek gods. 165 minutes. Rated R for graphic violence and some sexuality/nudity. (William Arnold)

GRADE: A-