Troy
I'm sure we all know the story of the Trojan War. Paris (Orlando Bloom), prince of Troy, steals Helen (Diane Kruger), the wife of Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) of Sparta. Demanding vengeance, Menelaus seeks the aid of his brother, the power-hungry Agamemnon (Brian Cox) who yearns to burn Troy to the ground. Of course he agrees and subsequently sends a thousand ships toward Troy. Along for the ride is Achilles (Brad Pitt) who doesn't agree with Agamemnon at all but fights battles just for his own personal glory. Meanwhile, in Troy, King Priam (Peter O'Toole) and his son Hector (Eric Bana) await the consequences of bringing Helen within the walls. Forces are mobilized and battles are fought, but it takes the ingenuity of Odysseus (Sean Bean) to bring a conclusion to the war.

The movie starts off on the wrong foot. You don't know whether your watching a drama or comedy. The overacting, the cheesy script, and the long camera shots of characters staring into the distance are hard not to laugh at. Bloom elicits unintentional laughter every time he speaks. Sure, Paris is supposed to be a coward, but wow, every time. Once the battles begin, the movie sets course on a consistent tone utilizing action throughout the scenes. But what separates this film from becoming a classic film is its distance. Wolfgang Petersen's sweeping shots above the action and David Benioff's lack of detail (though he sticks to the true story as best as I could tell) deprives the film of much needed emotion to make us feel the brutality of death or the loss of someone close. You can't just say it, you have to show it. By itself, it's a decent action flick that portrays the Trojan War rather well, but it could have been much more. 2.5 stars