The movie Troy

TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FG3BfPuwBA

If you would need to pick role, which one would it be?

My heart says Hector, but my brain Odysseus.

At any rate greek mythology is just bloody amazing.

One of the most epic fights in movie history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfXdCTt_dXU


EDIT: IF this get enough replies, I'll try to do the same exercise with the movie Kingdom of Heaven

Odysseus. Without a doubt. He's like the only one who not only walked away from the Trojan War, he got to star in his own sequel. And what I'd have given to see a Sean Bean-led Odyssey film. That'd be just great. And he doesn't die in it, not even once!

So I hated Troy when I saw the first trailer. An adaptation of the Iliad, WITHOUT the Gods? What is this trash? But what it actually was was the first of a spate of films that tried to extricate the possible back-story, the historical origins, of these mythological epics. After Troy came movies like King Arthur and Beowulf & Grendel, both very grounded compared to their more fantastic 'source' material. But then we swung back and there was larger-than-life stuff like 300, Clash of the Titans and Gods of Egypt, the less about which we say the better.

But when I actually saw Troy, I deeply enjoyed it. I got what they were going for, and could see in certain gestures a visual representation of the Iliad's iconic statements. For example, the significance of Achilles' helmet, and the way Brad Pitt wore it. In a more modern, exciting translation of Iliad, there is the line, paraphrased, 'and the helm of Achilles, which made every nod a threat' -- and which would, of course, serve as the bane for someone upon whose head the helmet was not a nodded threat, but a big fat fucking bullseye. Or the way Pitt's Achilles always did that jump-thrust, the same way certain characters in Iliad are introduced, repeatedly, as so-and-so of such-and-such who did this heroic deed or that. Odysseus, Deceiver of Gods, he who excels all men in wisdom. Big Ajax, and little Ajax. Hector, tamer of horses. Over and again.

And the more you read the Iliad, the more you see the involvement of the gods was less 'actual' and more metaphorical: Apollo guided their arrows; Athena blessed their swords...and so on. Achilles' status as a demi-god really only serves to make his demise by way of a convenient weak-spot, that no great warrior could touch but a single arrow fired out of misplaced love could pierce, that much more poignant.

I have no great interest in Greek mythology -- it seems to me just an excuse to make human behaviour seem proper because their superiors were just that disgustingly hedonistic -- but it makes for good background.

Bonus fun fact: it was also hard to take Troy seriously at first because the actor for Hector, Eric Bana, was a *huge* comedian down here in Australia for many years and he still had that image here. He'd done a few serious roles like Mark "Chopper" Read and an elite soldier in Black Hawk Down, but nothing like Hector of Troy.

Thanks for the generous feedback!

Eh, feedback? You didn't make the movie, or write the Iliad. Just making chit-chat.

It's a good fight, but not in what I'd consider one of the top cinematic clashes. Too many wide shots to hide the stunt doubles. But it's certainly the most powerful scene in an already powerful movie.

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

Eh, feedback? You didn't make the movie, or write the Iliad. Just making chit-chat.

I never claimed I did :) Think the miscommunication that sometimes happens between us will go away with time.

EDIT: Also despite my intelligence, I amnot so great with words.

I always enjoyed Achilles' little bout with Boagrius:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z5UKystdZg
All that build-up to... "Is there no one else?" =^[.]^=

"

Raycheetah wrote:

I always enjoyed Achilles' little bout with Boagrius:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z5UKystdZg
All that build-up to... "Is there no one else?" =^[.]^=

It is a pretty amazing movie overall with the necessary greek drama.

Skill beats size everytime -- The duelist

On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome.



Guess off-topic is pretty much dead as well. Guess people rather see the Kardashians and shit.

Redacted! :)

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

Bonus fun fact: it was also hard to take Troy seriously at first because the actor for Hector, Eric Bana, was a *huge* comedian down here in Australia for many years and he still had that image here. He'd done a few serious roles like Mark "Chopper" Read and an elite soldier in Black Hawk Down, but nothing like Hector of Troy.

I remember watching the movie in the cinema together with my sister and a female friend of her. That girl was all over Hector after seeing the movie.