Achilles Troy

Achilles Troy

Introduction

Despite the enormous success of 2000's Gladiator, Hollywood doesn't often attempt flicks about the BC years anymore, but those efforts returned to prominence via a couple of big-name efforts in 2004. Oliver Stone's Alexander bombed, so the more successful of the two came first with Wolfgang Petersen's Troy, which hit the screens in May 2004. Under King Agamemnon (Brian Cox), the kingdoms of Greece become united in a loose alliance except for unconquered Thessaly. The King's brother Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) - also the King of Sparta - tires of war so he attempts to settle problems with Troy, Greece's main rival. Warrior par excellence Achilles (Brad Pitt) fights for Greece but turns into something of a wild card due to his dislike of Agamemnon.

Analysis

When the forces of Thessaly and Greece meet on the field of battle, Agamemnon proposes that they settle matters with a one-on-one fight between each side's best warrior. Thessaly puts up Boagrius (Nathan Jones), while Greece uses Achilles. Inevitably, the latter wins - after all, it's Brad Pitt's name over the credits, not Nathan Jones's

Hector's none too happy either, since Paris's decision may cause war. He insists that they return to Troy with Helen even through Paris claims he'll not leave her. Not that this seems likely to placate the enraged Menelaus who wants to raze Troy to the ground. To those ends, he convinces Agamemnon to come to war with him. Although some feel no one can conquer Troy, Agamemnon delights to take on the opportunity. Unfortunately, his advisor Nestor (John Shrapnel) thinks they require the unpredictable Achilles, so the king reluctantly recruits him. Agamemnon gets the warrior's pal Odysseus, king of Ithaca (Sean Bean), to convince Achilles to fight, and his spiel works.

The rest of the film follows these established ...