Many reviewers have complained that the movie "Troy" is not completely true to the Iliad in portraying the characters and events of the Trojan War. This is unfair. Even in ancient times, the Iliad was not the only version of the Trojan War stories, and the Iliad which has come down to us may not be the only version that was performed. The Iliad only tells what happened in the space of 50 days in the 9th year of the war, although it alludes in passing to events that happened before and after these 50 days. Like the whole Camelot cycle which developed through the Dark and Middle Ages, the Trojan War cycle picked up and incorporated the best (and contradictory) legends over a millennium from Greece and Asia Minor. Modern historical fiction has been even more imaginative in retelling the stories. Further, it has been traditional for a long time not to portray Homer's literary gods in other tellings of the War. "Troy" does NOT forget the gods - the presence of the gods is always there in the way the humans (especially Priam, Briseis, and Achilles) refer to their existence.

The movie "Troy" looks at what might have been the historical Bronze Age kernel for the legends and does a wonderful, powerful job of doing so. It specifically says "INSPIRED by the Iliad". If you want to see a movie which hews closer to the plot line of the Iliad, see instead the 1962 sword and sandals movie "Fury of Achilles". I think Peterson's is a monumental achievement, and I do not tire of watching this movie (I have not seen the director's cut yet).

The movie is very good at exploring the essence of the characters which have come down to us and the Greek Dark Ages warrior code portrayed in the Iliad. We see in Achilles' quest for glory and Odysseus' narration the attempt to find in military glory and song a meaning for our mortality as opposed to the immortality of the gods. We see how the society is too small for the great warrior to fit into. We see in Hector's character of the reluctant warrior the distinction made between the two warrior codes of the aggressive quest for glory and the defensive warrior who defends a civilized city. The movie's Priam is like that in the Iliad - he relies on a religious fatalism to avoid having to make difficult decisions. Paris is correctly portrayed as a coward and seducer, so you can't blame Orlando Bloom for his portrayal of Paris.

On the whole the acting is quite good. I am not a Brad Pitt fan, but with the possible exception of Daniel Craig, I do not see who else would have had the star power, beauty, and grace to BE Achilles. Eric Bana was perfect as Hector - valiant but overmatched (and emblematic of the Trojans as a whole), with his expressive, soft, anguished eyes, and he and Andromache (Saffron Burrows) had a true chemistry which intensified the sad fate of this loving couple.

If I have one major criticsm, it is that the fates of certain characters, which are set in the canon of Western literature, were too radically different. I speak of Agammemnon and Menelaus. The ending was too conventional, in that the bad guys (which Menelaus was not, really) got bad ends at Troy. Agammemnon should have returned to Mycenae - there is a whole lot of Greek literature based on that. We should have had a real sense of the absolute loss and waste of the destruction of Troy, without the catharsis of Agammemnon's death.

I still highly recommend this movie, and I especially like James Horner's musical score, which particularly packed a visceral punch in the invasion of the Trojan beach.

I can't think of anything they could have done to improve this
movie. Troy is not one of my favorite stories, so this movie
will never be on my top 10 list, but I can't think of another
"swords and sandals" movie that comes close.

My wife had never seen this movie before so i was excited to show it to her for the first time on blue ray. I bought the directors cut version thinking it would be even better then the original. I couldnt be more wrong!!! The scenes that were cut should have stayed cut!! I was actually getting angry everytime there was a B.S. scene added. I have seen this movie in original form multiple times so i knew which scenes were added and every single one of them were pointless. people say that it gives it more depth. WRONG! it just makes the movie longer. turns an action movie into a long drawn out movie with way to much dialogue. I would say its 90% talking and 10% action. what they should have done was make the fighting scenes longer (esp. the hector and achilles fight.) and keep the rest of the film the way it was. i ended up just turning it off because i was just so angry that one of my favorite movies was ruined. DO NOT BUY DIRECTORS CUT. If you still want it, you can buy mine...

Based on Homer's Illiad, there is an ironic connection to how this movie was received. Some may have been wary of another big-budget Hollywood production, and thought of the classic proverb, "beware those who would bring false gifts." The concern was unwarranted, as this movie is stunning in every way from beginning to end, and PACKED with major players from the ultimate battle movies. Warriors from 300, The Lord of the Rings, and Braveheart all do battle in one movie!

Agamemnon (Brian Cox - who was awesome in Braveheart as Argyle Wallace and showed enough range to be hilarious as Captain O'Hagan in Super Troopers) is a power hungry king who has challenged enough other kings to control most of Greece. The only land that stands in his way of controlling the Aegean is Troy, ruled by pacifist-leaning Priam (Peter O'Toole). Boromir from LOTR (Sean Bean) - plays Odysseus, a sycophant king to the now ruler of kings, Agamemnon. Odysseus just happens to be a mentor and friend to the greatest warrior ever, Achilles (Pitt). Fighting alongside Achilles is his second-in-command, Eudorus (Vincent Regan). You will recognize him as the guy who was awesome as Leonidas's captain in 300.

As peace is being worked out between Agamemnon's Greek forces and the emerging armies of Troy, two Trojan princes are treated as guests by Agamemnon: Prince Hector (Eric Bana) is his land's greatest warrior; and Prince Paris (Orlando Bloom aka Legolas from LOTR) is his younger, "Don Juan" brother. When they leave they have an extra passenger, Helen (Diane Kruger) - who is now "of Troy" but was once "of Sparta" - and the peace being discussed is destroyed because she just happens to be married to King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson - Hamish Campbell from Braveheart), Agamemnon's brother. Now disgraced, Menelaus gives Agamemnon the reason he needed for war with Troy, a previously unbreached city thought undefeatable. And, just for good measure, the rugged Campbell father from Braveheart plays Glaucus (James Cosmo), a top soldier in the Trojan Army.

If all this is confusing, don't worry; the movie is still great. Enjoy the epic war scenes similar to the movies from which they have borrowed cast members, tragically snicker at the fact that you know what the "Trojan Horse" is all about (and that the city of Troy falls to such a ridiculous trick), and revel in a classic sword battle between Achilles and Hector. Actually, try not to enjoy one battle more than others, because this movie is saturated with great action like Achilles' complete domination of the monstrous Thessalian warrior Boagrius (Nathan Jones aka Petr from The Condemned).

From beginning to end this movie is superb. The lighting, acting, scenery, musical score, costume design and casting all reflect impressively on the entire movie's efforts. I didn't care to go too much into the historical aspect of the movie, but from what I can tell all the major details fairly consistent with the truth. This is right up there with 300 and Braveheart, and is a can't miss action flick.

Blu-ray discs can fit so much, yet this only has the director's cut, there is a reason why a group of people told the director that these scenes were going to be taken out and these were going to stay. The directors cut just about ruins the whole movie. Even the fight scenes, he shows them from different angle's and there is no more poetry to them. I would give this a 1 star but the original versions is one of my favorite movies, so i have to give troy 3 stars. if i were you, i'd wait until a blu-ray with both versions comes out.