I want to strangle the whole KNP lineup. Gah!
Anyway here’s my take about the movie, Troy:
Agamemnon and Menelaus. Couldn’t the producers have casted someone more pleasing to the eyes? Granted that there are more than enough eye-candy with Paris, Hector and Achilles... but gods, having to see those two big brutes on screen… gah! Among the Greeks, except for Achilles of course, the only other one worthy enough to watch is Odysseus.
The timeframe of the plot. I’ve read the Iliad and the whole Trojan War took *years* and not mere weeks like the movie showed.
Eye candy. Well, for the ladies anyway. Funny that the two (more or less) heartthrobs in the film had their respective almost-nude scenes... well, more than one scene with Achilles, but then he’s the main character in the movie’s plot so he gets a lot more air time.
They made Priam too... I dunno, dumbly religious?
They gave Achilles a heart. I’ve always had this image of him being a huge dickhead after I read the Iliad.
Helen’s eye makeup was a bit too dark. Made her look older.
Cassandra was missing. They didn’t include her in the cast. Ni-anino nya wala. And she’s a princess of Troy for crying out loud!
It is rather nice how and where Achilles died. He desecrated Apollo’s temple at the start, and he died by an arrow in front of Apollo’s statue. Nicely done, that. Apollo seemingly working behind the scenes. It’s good that they didn’t make the Olympian gods too central. Not like the book where Apollo or Athena or Poseidon or Zeus are said to be the reasons behind almost every major situation in the plot.
The theme of the film is that of a man’s search for immortality, of the assurance that generations would remember a person’s name because of the great deeds that he has done during his lifetime. Achilles and Hector were both heroes in their own right, depends on which perspective one is looking through. Achilles was a hero to the Greeks, he saved them from a whole lot of bloodshed by championing them against their foes. To the Trojans, Hector was a hero; dying for the country and people he loved. It’s really ironic though that despite the film’s theme, of the quest to be remembered, so to speak, by history, history in itself has not been kind to the memory of Achilles and Hector. Hector’s a virtual unknown outside of the more scholarly and literary circles. He’s not as famous as, let’s say… Harry Potter. And Achilles is remembered for his one weakness, his heel. I think I’d rather be forgotten than be immortalized in that way.
The film was a bit boring. I guess that’s coz I already know the story, coz I’ve already read the book. Like in the LotR and HP movies, it is nice to see those beloved characters being so nicely portrayed on film. Easier to watch rather than read but still highly predictable.
It’s ironic that knowing about the Iliad now, reading it and knowing about all its characters and background, seems to be something “cool”, an “in” thing, amongst the younger set, at least with the few teens I overheard at UA. They were all talking about the movie while waiting in line during enrollment. What a change from when I was in high school where I remember people looking oddly at me when I used to read Greek myth, Homer and etc. as light reading. Now it’s seems to be “cool” if one is seen with a copy of the book, just coz it got turned into a movie with Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom in it. I guess it’s still good because more people have now become interested in reading compared to before... at least it seems that way anyway.
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