Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom

An adaptation of Homer's great epic, the film follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces and chronicles the fates of the men involved.

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74% liked it

740,685 ratings

Critics

55% liked it

213 critics

R, 2 hrs. 42 min.

Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen

Release Date: May 14, 2004

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DVD Release Date: January 4, 2005

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Flixster Reviews (47,192)


  • October 31, 2007
    An violent and overblown epic. Being that this movie comes from the director of "Air Force One" & "The Perfect Storm", you can't help but enjoy it.
  • September 17, 2009
    The Iliad is one of the greatest stories ever written. This film wipes its arse with its pages. Eric Bana is the only reason this film gets a star from me.
  • February 8, 2009
    I watched Troy again tonight, for about the 194th time. I love this movie!
    Troy is based on Homer's great epic, The Iliad.
    I really think that Wolfgang Petersen captured the story of Troy wonderfully in this film. The flow of this film is just beautiful. The characters are all ...( read more)rich and the action sequences are bloody and fantastic! You really get pulled into this movie, from every angle.
    The cast of this movie is just amazing! Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Peter O'toole, Saffron Burrows, Diane Kruger, and Rose Byrne...Talk about Blockbuster!
    The main reason this movie pulls me in is the beautiful love stories. Paris and Helen, Hector and Andromache, and the most intense of all Achilles and Briseis. Their love breaks my heart every time I see it. "You gave me peace in a lifetime of war." Break out the Kleenex again!
    Whether you are a fan of action movies, legendary tales, or illimitable love stories you will surely find something in Troy that will lure you in. It is a must see film.
  • February 3, 2009
    ''I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be ...( read more)here again.''

    An adaptation of Homer's great epic, the film follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces and chronicles the fates of the men involved.

    Brad Pitt: Achilles

    The release and making of Troy held slightly unfair, overblown expectations. All critics expected it to be, just like Gladiator. But why on earth would it be? They are not the same. A few points include: they're not set in the same period, the same country, nor are they about a similar topic. One is about a war, the other a personal vendetta. One is made up, the other is based on stories told over 3,000 years ago. In fact, one could almost say that the only things they have in common are sandals and swords. Oh, and remarkably everyone speaks English. Which is helpful for lazy western audiences.

    Troy is a horrendously budgeted epic, and this clearly shows in its impressive production values, whether it's the awesome sight of the 1,000 ships sailing across the Aegean Sea, or the brutal battle scenes, everything looks right. However, whilst this is all well and good, problems Troy stem from the source material.

    ''I've fought many wars in my time. Some I've fought for land, some for power, some for glory. I suppose fighting for love makes more sense than all the rest.''

    The credits claim the film was "inspired by The Iliad", and here is the first error. The film is historically inaccurate and incorrect, and this is most obvious towards the end. The Iliad is the story of Achilles, and does not involve the infamous Wooden Horse, or even the sack of Troy. These are covered in later epics The Odyssey and Virgil's The Aeneid. It's as if the director never read these works, and made up the rest of the story as he went along. Not that it makes too much difference to the story, but those familiar with the epics will feel cheated. Also the motives for the war, whilst they made absolute sense in the society in which the stories were first told, don't hold true anymore. In the epics the stories were concerned with heroes, honour and love. That this war was started because Paris stole someone else's girl just doesn't sit well with a modern audience, and so they cannot relate to these heroes. It doesn't help with the fact that the audience doesn't know which side they should be rooting for? there are in the stories, no real goodies and baddies, merely two nations each with their own heroes. The director has to take time every now and again to reiterate the reasons for the war, that of Paris' love for Helen, but tries to give a more believable reason by giving Brian Cox's character of Agamemnon a more imperialistic bent, deviating further from his source.

    I've envisioned Troy to seem like a disaster, but it is in fact not a complete loss. If the audience can just accept the reasons for the war, then there is little problem in enjoying the rest of the film. The beginning is slow to get going, but once Achilles (Brad Pitt) and Hector (Eric Bana) have their one-on-one clash, the film reaches a momentum it does not lose. The battle scenes easily rival any seen on the big screen to date, and most of the cast do an impressive job in portraying their heroes in varying degrees of suffering. Honours should be given to Eric Bana for his role as the suitably regal heir to Troy, who suffers the wrath of Achilles in a simply choreographed yet remarkably compelling clash, and to Peter O'Toole who plays Hector's father and king of Troy, Priam. Also, contrary to most critical response, Brad Pitt plays the character of Achilles with a suitable display of bravery, power and shows one hell of a temper, even though after his fight with Hector his motivation for staying is lost. Orlando Bloom's Paris is a little weak, turning into Legolas without the contacts and blonde wig, towards the end, and Diane Kruger's Helen lacks dimensionality, but other than this, the cast are fine. Aside from a few niggles - including a fairly clunky script which does the film no favours - and an extensive running time, Troy is an enjoyable film, which deserves to sit high up in the ranks of sword-and-sandal epics.

    ''I want what all men want, I just want it more.
  • January 27, 2009
    Based on Homer's The Iliad, one of the most famous tale's ever told, Troy has all the usual Hollywood epic ingredients; an American hero with bulging biceps sporting an odd accent, a supporting cast of British character actors who routinely show him up (especially Peter O'Toole w...( read more)ho is the only one to bring any real humanity to his underwritten role) and a soundtrack of the usual faux-folk warbling and penny whistles that seem to mean "ye olden days" to US audiences. Brian Cox is actually pretty good fun as the megalomaniacal king and Orlando Bloom's fresh faced vulnerability that I find usually compromises him in leading roles actually works to his advantage here. To be honest, all the characters are really just stereotypical "heroes" with little insight or depth, but it has a sense of spectacle that reminded me of the similarly silly old school historical adventures that pass a rainy Sunday afternoon pleasantly enough. The fact is, your enjoyment of this film is entirely dependent on whether or not you can swallow Brad Pitt as an ancient Greek hero and I have to say, as ridiculous a casting choice it was, he does bring a hell of a lot of presence to the screen, although his interpretation of the role does tend to resemble a pouty rock star more than anything else. If you're the kind of person who can enjoy a tongue in cheek Braveheart-like slice of popcorn fuelled nonsense, then you'll enjoy this. If it's a high brow historical epic you're looking for, I'd look elsewhere.
  • December 5, 2009
    I movie full of sorrow, acton and glimps of love
  • December 4, 2009
    Excelente trabajo de Brad Pitt y Eric Bana
  • December 2, 2009
    To quote Al Bundy "how long is this movie? an eon?"

    There are som big battle animations that are pretty nice but that's about it
    Then you wait for the wodden horse
  • December 1, 2009
    He was born to end lives
  • December 1, 2009
    this movie is very great. its about kingdom, family and love .

Critic Reviews


May 15, 2004
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Troy isn't so much a simplified retelling of The Iliad as a re-imagined version of it, told wholly without imagination. full review

May 14, 2004
David Edelstein, Slate

Often plays like what it is: a clunky toga-and-sandals picture, with Hollywood compromises abounding. full review

May 14, 2004
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

As summer-movie entertainment, Troy delivers the Trojan horse, and then some. full review

May 14, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The movie sidesteps the existence of the Greek gods, turns its heroes into action movie cliches and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies. full review

May 13, 2004
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com

For a film that shows nothing but utter contempt for the stories it was born of, it is strange at how much the filmmakers require the viewer to be well versed in the history full review

May 13, 2004
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

This big, expensive, intermittently campy example of Hollywood Homerism is desperate to be regarded as a classic. It isn't, but it's not so bad either. full review

May 13, 2004
Claudia Puig, USA Today

A gripping, well-told adaptation of one of the oldest human dramas. full review

May 6, 2004
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Troy, besides being tremendously entertaining, is the best crib-sheet guide to Homer ever. full review

April 4, 2004
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

Wolfgang Peterson's Troy naturally subscribes to a no-shirt rule for ancient Greece's most prominent heroes. full review

View more Troy reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • OsMaAaRdi
    July 26, 2009
    it was a gotoso pra caramba movie !!!!
    I just want to tell that my favorite movie is APOCALYPTO
    :P:P
    and THE LORD OF THE RINGS
  • klish5
    July 6, 2009
    i love this movie ....too much
  • bethcanuel
    May 1, 2009
    oh i love this movie,,,i watch it many times...di aq magsasawa... fafalicious tlga c phapa brad pitt
  • Claudia2309
    April 6, 2009
    I like this movie, but Orlando Bloom character Paris was annoying. He deserved a worse faith than he got. I liked Brad Pitt character, Achilles and his romance with Briseis.
  • vhixen2894
    March 6, 2009
    brad & orlando in the same movie?...it`s amazing
    & the movie was great though
  • reckoning
    February 12, 2009
    i love this movie as well.
  • joejonass1flower
    January 15, 2009
    This movie is about history i like movies like that i use to not like Histroy but now i do. I use to not Like Orlando Bloom i was once a Johnny Depp fan but not eney more
  • maricaroanes
    July 25, 2008
    I love this movie...
  • OsMaAaRdi
    July 12, 2008
    It was a good movie and was full of action and very iteresting scenes.
    But it was not as good as " The LORD Of The RINGS " or " TITAIC " but it was still up there.
    its characters was very good, specially Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, Orlando Was A stupid in this movie , but he's a good actor specially in (LOTR).
    And really I was confused w/ whome should I be ( Achelis or Paris and Hector )
    The wars scenes was perfect and well done also Wolfgang Petesen was skilled and Great.
  • kala2012
    June 15, 2008
    I Loved this movie! Despite what those dimwits said about Paris (Orlanda Bloom) being the cause of the war...Paris and Helen should have been allowed to be with whom they wanted!

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Troy Trivia


  • Which actor played the role of 'Paris' in the 2004 blockbuster, 'Troy' ?  Answer »
  • What 2 actors star together in Black Hawk Down and Troy   Answer »
  • This actor has battled in Middle earth and Troy. He has also visited Elizabethtown and sailed on The Black Pearl - who is he?   Answer »
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