Film Review: Heroes of summer

“Troy” not the classic of yore, but warm weather fun “The Iliad,” Homer’s legendary story, took place long before “The Simpsons,” in fact it even predates the events depicted in “The Passion of the Christ” by 1,226 years. In bringing this truly classic story to life, director Wolfgang Peterson has made an epic film costing nearly 200 million (that’s about 6,666 times the budget of “Clerks”) that falls well short of greatness, but is a solid film by any measure. In terms of a summer movie, like “Van Helsing” or “Charlie’s Angels II,” it is a far superior effort. “Troy” chronicles the Greek war against Troy, that is sparked when Troy’s prince, Paris (Orlando Bloom), steals Helen (Diane Kruger) from Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), brother of the head Greek king. The Greeks begin a bloody siege of Troy using their entire armada, led by the original “Rambo,” Achilles (Brad Pitt). But Troy is protected by gigantic walls that have never been breached, and its armies are lead by Paris’ brother and fierce warrior Hector (Eric Bana). “Troy” is very much a Hollywood version of its source. Classical purists will not feel like throwing a raucous toga party after this movie. The Greek gods who play crucial roles in “The Iliad” are gone. Sequences of the narrative are rearranged, the decade long war is compressed into less than two weeks and there are several love stories that have been added to make characters seem more human instead of the classical, larger-than-life creations of Greek myth. It is worth mentioning that the film is very well acted. Teen poster boy Orlando Bloom (“Lord of the Rings” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”) is very convincing as the weak Paris, a boy among men who fails to truly realize the consequences of his actions, because he is an idealistic son of privilege. Eric Bana rebounds from “The Hulk” as Paris’ brother, the great Trojan hero Hector. He is unexpectedly strong, yet sympathetically human, as he is forced to support his cowardly brother in the defense of his country. Legendary British actor Peter O’Toole (“Lawrence of Arabia”) as the weak but noble King Priam of Troy, gives his best performance in years and makes you truly feel the grief of a father. Brad Pitt is believable as the ferocious warrior Achilles who relentlessly pursues his quest for immortality as he builds his reputation as the world’s greatest warrior. He projects amazing skill, while being the perfect physical specimen (arguably looking even more pretty than Rob Lowe did in “St. Elmo’s Fire.”) The film’s imposing visuals help to make up for any flaws. The enormous city walls, the 1,000 ships sailing through the mist, the armies of soldiers, rolling fire balls and massive battles are all very impressive. It is also a great example of how to use computer animation. The battles seem real, as if there are actual people fighting instead of being obviously fake like in “Attack of the Clones.” At two hours and forty two minutes, the film is pretty tight for an epic film that could have easily ballooned to over three hours. This is largely in part to Wolfgang Peterson who has crafted such tightly paced action films as “In The Line of Fire” and “Air Force One” and knows how to keep things moving. Despite any flaws, “Troy” is still a solid film. For a summer movie, this is going to be among the best.