The "Legend" of Troy...........

I never for the life of me could understand why the great war was called the Trojan War. cuz the Trojan's dont win. they get screwed........royally!! (pardon the pun) and mind u, this turmoil was all back when i was 10 yrs old. i then told myself that it was called Trojan War as the Trojans were the bad guys. or so i thought!! i lived happily with this notion for several years. as far as my information went, Achilles, the demi god, was awesome. King Agamemnon(top left) was this noble, and powerful king. Menelaus was the vengeful husband, which is understandable. after all......which husband wouldnt turn murderous when his wife was stolen by a pip-squeak?? or anyone for that matter? and then,Prince Hector, the Trojan prince...terrifying, powerful and utterly loathesome. Prince Paris.......i dont recall any particular opinion of Paris.......but i do remember thinking of him as a pussy. and then, my favorite...Odysseus........noble, strong, silent and wise.

so like i mentioned.......i lived happily "ever after" with this notion. then i happened to watch Troy!! i mean......."Troy", the movie by Wolfgang Peterson. now that experience left a bad taste in my mouth. Troy is a brilliant movie in what it manages to achieve. the actors were all brilliant. now.......after watching Troy........the points of view i had were taken by the throat, shaken violently, and then put down, looking distinctly ruffled and different. all of a sudden, King Agamemnon is a slimy, greedy creep. Menelaus, justified though his anger is........is a little gullible. he was foolish enough to believe that his brother was avenging his brother's insult. but the truth is...agamemnon saw this as a window of opportunity to attack Troy, a city he's been itching to attack for god knows how long. Achilles( right).......he's shown to be vain, self obsessed and callous when it comes to others' interests. he's walking with his head in the clouds. and with good reason too. there's only one tiny little problem i have with achilles. how on earth......JUST HOW on earth does he manage to stay so clean shaven throughout the war????

Odysseus is unchanged. he's still the wise, reliable, strong, silent hero. nor has paris changed. he's still a pussy. now, helen, for all her description as a really beautiful woman, does seem interesting. now, all beautiful women seem all the more beautiful when they're silent and poised. now, helen in this movie is rather beautiful, but she seems slightly wooden. she's at her most beautiful when she's speaking. interesting, what? and then.....Paris....the pussy. he's just that. nothing but a coward. he was initially cowardly enough to run away with her. then he was cowardly enough to ask the people of Troy to fight for her, while he watched. and then finally.....he, coward that he is.....shoots Achilles, mortally wounding him, all the while when Achilles was saving Paris' cousin, Briseis. now that is the nadir of cowardice. there's also a scene where Paris foolishly challenges Menelaus to a fight and then runs away from it. that should tell ya..........Paris sucks!!

now we come to the most interesting part. Prince Hector. the oft reviled hector. played by Eric Bana......brilliantly. in this, Hector comes across as a reluctant, tormented hero. he doesnt approve of his brother's actions. nor does he approve of his father, King Priam's decisions based on a bunch of conniving, foolish courtiers. but then, he would not hesitate to strike down those who dare threaten the very existence of Troy, King Agamemnon in this case. You can see and feel his torment as he looks upon his baby son for what we know would be the last time.

Special mention must be made of a few fine points. Brad Pitt does an excellent job as Achilles. His disdain of agamemnon is all too obvious. there's a scene at the beginning of the movie where achilles is asked to hand over a sceptre to his king. Achilles growls, with a sense of disgust, "he's not my king!!". and then, King Priam, played by the legend, peter o' toole, who would be remembered for "Lawrence of Arabia". Peter O' Toole does a great job in his portrayal of King Priam as a senile old man, who was brave aeons ago. The Trojan Horse was brilliantly reconstructed ....as was the destruction of Troy. the haunting background score is just brilliant.....filling us with a sense of melancholy as we watch the destruction of a brave kingdom. all for what? just so that the young pussy of a prince could keep his prize.


the most tragic thing about troy is, we begin feeling good about a lot of characters. we start liking them. hence it is with a sense of sadness we watch the movie, as.....we know about the ultimate fate of these characters. if u ask me, i didnt want Hector and Achilles to die, but i knew they would. i felt helpless. my only saving grace was that my hero, Odysseus would still be alive. and also, Odysseus was played by a fine actor, Sean Bean. Troy is a movie not to be missed. it'll defintely leave an impression on you.