I highly rate the movie Troy for two major reasons. First, the movie is action packed so there is never a dull moment in the movie, whether we are looking at the love affair between Paris and Helen or the fight scenes with Achilles. The second reason is because the movie is full of art and art aspects ranging from the costumes worn by the actors and actresses as well as sculptures, such as the depiction of Apollo which I will discuss further into the paper.
To open up this review I need you to know that I am an accountant so I often look at the financial aspects of everything whether that be the financials of a business, an individual, or even a movie production. The movie of Troy had a budget of a whopping one hundred and seventy-five million dollars which in perspective is relatively high because the movie 300’s budget was only sixty-five million. Troy’s goliath of a budget might have something to do with the participation of Brad Pitt as well as the depth of the enormous cast. As it turns out this immense budget was a perfectly calculated investment because the movie grossed a total of four hundred and ninety-seven million dollars.
As for the acting between the cast of the movie I believe it was very well done with the help of well-known actors such as Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, and Brian Cox. Having these actors and actresses in their specific roles was an amazing decision because their personalities run parallel with their characters that they have to portray in the film. For example, having Brad Pitt as Achilles was an amazing decision because he is the most known actor on the cast list so it is only fitting he gets the main role. His character of Achilles is also a character who is greatly valued in the movie as an amazing warrior, but surprisingly he is an even better friend. We can see he is an amazing fighter throughout the myriad of battle scenes in Troy, but a key moment in the movie that proves he is an even better friend than a warrior is when he takes the maiden of Apollo out of the danger that she is in when she was taken as a part of the spoils of war. This is a pivotal part of the movie because this scene shapes Achilles’ personality beyond just a fighter. These respective scenes help show that Achilles was a lover and a fighter, as he was known for in mythology. Also, it is important that he took her in because she had just vowed her abstinence in the name of Apollo, even though in the movie they desecrated Apollo’s temple by cutting the statue of Apollo’s head off. The other two actors I want to speak on are Orlando Bloom and Brian Cox respectively. Orlando Bloom plays Paris perfectly because he is a younger actor yet he is also a heartthrob of the movie because he is the whole reason the movie even takes place because he takes Helen (Diane Kruger) to be his wife in Troy. In history, Paris actually was just a kid who found love in a married woman, but he didn’t care much for fighting and that is portrayed in the movie as well. Lastly, on Brian Cox he is the perfect man to appear as Agamemnon because Brian is a coarse, grizzly man who rules with an iron fist as was Agamemnon. Agamemnon is known in the history books as one of the worst and most cruel leaders and he is seen in that light through the movie’s representation of him.
As I have been alluding to in the prior paragraphs one of the major scenes in the movie in terms of art purposes is the scene where they chop off the head of Apollo out front of his own temple. This Apollo statue is meaningful because it is made of all gold or at least material that appears gold. This material is important because Apollo in Greek mythology is the sun god so this material is meant to resemble the sun which is what he is the god of. Statues were commissioned in the first place to resemble power to people such as kings or emperors, but in this case, the statue is aligned with the strength and the power of the city of Troy. That is why the action of chopping his head off was so detrimental to the people of Troy. The action of desecrating the temple was to tell the people of Troy that they were there and that they did not care for their beliefs and they do not respect them or their gods. The last aspect of art that I would like to discuss is the use of costumes within the movie, and how the costumes played an important part in the depiction of people and groups of people. First I want to talk about how all of the people in power specifically the males they were all seen in some type of armor throughout the movie and on the inverse for the ladies that were in power they would typically wear long flowing dresses and that is how you could depict them. Then we had the Myrmidons and I am using them as a specific example because they are a group that is lead by only Achilles and will not listen to Agamemnon even though they are a part of his army. These Myrmidons are seen wearing all black armor sets with no sleeves, but gauntlets and they wear boots and helmets. The costumes were seen being worn in the scene where the Myrmidons are sailing to Troy to fight with Agamemnon. These costumes play a vital role in the movie when Achilles’ nephew, Patroclus, wanted to fight Hector, he threw on Achilles’ armor set because otherwise he would not be allowed to fight. So by wearing this armor set he deceived everyone into thinking that he was Achilles so that he would be able to fight only to be slain in the confrontation with Hector. After all of this is said and done Achilles gets shot in the ankle, the city of Troy is ransacked, and Paris leads the people of Troy to a new land wielding the sword of Troy. For these reasons listed above I believe that the movie of Troy was well directed, had accurate representations of people, places, and art, and finally was historically accurate through their character list of Agamemnon, Hector, Paris, and Achilles, also with the setting of Troy and the surrounding lands.
