Troy made over $497 million worldwide, making it the 60th highest-grossing film at the time of its release. However, it received mixed reviews, with critics praising its entertainment value and the performances of Pitt and Bana[4][5][6] while criticizing its story, which was deemed unfaithful to the Iliad.[7][8] It received a nomination for Best Costume Design at the 77th Academy Awards and was the eighth highest-grossing film of 2004.[9]
Plot
In 1184 BC, King Agamemnon unites the Greek kingdoms. Achilles, a heroic warrior, fights for Agamemnon but despises his tyrannical rule. Meanwhile, Prince Hector of Troy and his brother Paris negotiate a peace treaty with Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris begins an affair with Menelaus' wife, Queen Helen, and he smuggles her aboard his home-bound vessel. Angered, Menelaus meets Agamemnon, his elder brother, and asks him to help take Troy. Agamemnon agrees, as conquering Troy would give him control of the Aegean Sea. Agamemnon sends Odysseus, King of Ithaca, to persuade Achilles to join them. Initially reluctant, Achilles’ seeks out his mother Thetis who tells him that if he goes to Troy, he will achieve eternal glory, but he will never return home. However, if he stays, he will live a long life, but his name will be forgotten.
In Troy, King Priam welcomes Helen when Hector and Paris return home, and decides to prepare for war. The Greeks eventually invade and take the Trojan beach, thanks largely to Achilles and his Myrmidons. Achilles has the temple of Apollo sacked, and claims Briseis — a priestess and the cousin of Paris and Hector — as a prisoner. He is angered when Agamemnon spitefully takes her from him, and decides that he will not aid Agamemnon in the siege.
Meanwhile, the Trojans assemble their entire army of 25,000 men and discuss what to do about the Greek invasion. General Glaucus puts his confidence in Troy's army and the strength of their walls while others argue for diplomacy, prompting Paris to declare he will challenge Menelaus for the right to Helen.
The Trojan and Greek armies meet outside of Troy. During a parley, Paris offers to personally duel Menelaus in exchange for Helen and the city being spared. Agamemnon, intending to take the city regardless, accepts. Menelaus wounds Paris and almost kills him, but is himself killed by Hector, violating the duel. An enraged Agamemnon orders the Greeks to crush the outnumbered Trojan army. In the ensuing battle, Hector kills Ajax in single combat and the Greek army suffers thousands of casualties due to Troy's battle hardened army, forcing Agamemnon to retreat. He gives Briseis to the Greek soldiers for their amusement, but Achilles saves her. Later that night, Briseis sneaks into Achilles' quarters to kill him; instead, she falls for him and they become lovers. Achilles then resolves to leave Troy, much to the dismay of Patroclus, his cousin and protégé.
Despite Hector's objections, Priam orders him to attack the Greeks. In battle, Hector duels a man he believes to be Achilles and kills him, only to discover it was actually Patroclus. Distraught, both armies agree to stop fighting for the day. Achilles is informed of his cousin's death and vows revenge. Wary of Achilles, Hector shows his wife Andromache a secret tunnel beneath Troy. Should he die and the city fall, he instructs her to take their child and any survivors out of the city to Mount Ida.
The next day, Achilles arrives outside Troy and challenges Hector. The two duel until Hector is killed, and Achilles drags his corpse back to the Trojan beach. Priam sneaks into the camp and implores Achilles to return Hector's body for a proper funeral. Ashamed of his actions, Achilles agrees and allows Briseis to return to Troy with Priam, promising a twelve day truce so that Hector's funeral rites may be held in peace. He also orders his men to return home without him.
Agamemnon declares that he will take Troy regardless of the cost. Concerned, Odysseus concocts a plan to infiltrate the city: he has the Greeks build a gigantic wooden horse as a peace offering and abandon the Trojan beach, hiding their ships in a nearby cove. Priam orders the horse be brought into the city. That night, Greeks hiding inside the horse emerge and open the city gates for the Greek army, commencing the Sack of Troy. The warriors of Troy attempt to defend their city but are overwhelmed and massacred, while most of the population is killed or enslaved.
While the lower city is being sacked, Andromache and Helen guide survivors to safety through the tunnel, with Paris giving the Sword of Troy to Aeneas, instructing him to protect the Trojans and find them a new home. As the Greek army penetrates the palace walls, Glaucus leads the remaining Trojan soldiers in a brave last stand. The Trojans resist bravely but they are ultimately massacred. Agamemnon enters the palace, kills Priam, and captures Briseis, who then kills him in turn. Achilles fights his way through the city and reunites with Briseis. Paris, seeking to avenge his brother, shoots an arrow through Achilles' heel and then several into his body. Achilles bids farewell to Briseis, and watches her flee with Paris before dying, having removed all the arrows but the one through his heel.
In the aftermath, a funeral is held for Achilles, where Odysseus cremates his body.
Cast
Brad Pitt as Achilles, Greece's greatest warrior and leader of the Myrmidons; lover of Briseis.
Eric Bana as Hector, Crown Prince of Troy, commander of the Trojan army and Paris's older brother.
Orlando Bloom as Paris, Prince of Troy, Helen's lover and Hector's younger brother.
Diane Kruger as Helen, former Queen of Sparta who became a Princess of Troy, Paris's lover.
The city of Troy was built on the Mediterranean island of Malta at Fort Ricasoli from April to June 2003.[10] Other important scenes were shot in Mellieħa, a small town in the north of Malta, and on the small island of Comino. The outer walls of Troy were built and filmed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.[11] Film production was disrupted for a period after Hurricane Marty affected filming areas.[12] Pitt also suffered an injury to his Achilles tendon during filming which caused the production to delay for several weeks.[13]
The role of Briseis was initially offered to Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, but she turned it down because she was not comfortable doing the lovemaking scenes that were included. The role eventually went to Rose Byrne.[14][15]
Composer Gabriel Yared originally worked on the score for Troy for over a year, having been hired by the director, Wolfgang Petersen. Tanja Carovska provided vocals on various portions of the music, as she later would on composer James Horner's version of the soundtrack. However, the reactions at test screenings which used an incomplete version of the score were negative, and in less than a day Yared was off the project without a chance to fix or change his music.[16]James Horner composed a replacement score in about four weeks. He used Carovska's vocals again and also included traditional Eastern Mediterranean music and brass instruments. Horner also collaborated with American singer-songwriter Josh Groban and lyricist Cynthia Weil to write an original song for the film's end credits. The product of this collaboration, "Remember Me", was performed by Groban with additional vocals by Carovska.
The soundtrack for the film was released on May 11, 2004, through Reprise Records.
Troy: Director's Cut (also known as 2007 Version (according to the end credits/Extended Version) was screened at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival on February 17, 2007, and received a limited release in Germany in April 2007. Warner Home Video reportedly spent more than $1 million for the director's cut, which includes "at least 1,000 new cuts" or almost 30 minutes of extra footage (with a new running time of 196 minutes). The DVD was released on September 18, 2007, in the US. The score of the film was changed dramatically, with many of the female vocals being cut. An addition to the music is the use of Danny Elfman's theme for Planet of the Apes during the pivotal fight between Hector and Achilles in front of the Gates of Troy. Josh Groban's song was removed from the end credits as well.
Various shots were recut and extended. For instance, the love scene between Helen and Paris was reframed to include more nudity of Diane Kruger. The love scene between Achilles and Briseis is also extended. Only one scene was removed: the scene where Helen tends to the wound of Paris is taken out. The battle scenes were also extended, depicting more violence and gore, including much more of Ajax's bloody rampage on the Trojans during the initial attack by the Greek army and his duel with Hector. Perhaps most significant was the sack of Troy, barely present in the theatrical cut, but shown more fully here, depicting the Greek soldiers raping women and murdering babies. Characters were provided more time to develop, specifically Priam and Odysseus, the latter being given a humorous introduction scene. More emphasis is given to the internal conflict in Troy between the priests, who believe in omens and signs from the gods to determine the outcome of the war, and military commanders, who believe in practical battle strategies to achieve victory, mainly between Trevor Eve and James Cosmo. Lastly, bookend scenes were added: the beginning being a soldier's dog finding its dead master and the end including a sequence where the few surviving Trojans escape to Mount Ida.
There are frequent differences between the Iliad and Troy, most notably relating to the final fates of Paris, Helen, Agamemnon, Achilles and Menelaus. In one of the commentary sequences, the film's writer, David Benioff, said that when it came to deciding whether to follow the Iliad or to do what was best for the film, they always did what seemed best for the film. "I think there are maybe two or three lines in the script that quote Homer," Benioff says. "Any more than that wouldn't have been possible."
Home media
Troy was released on DVD and VHS on January 4, 2005.[17] The director's cut was released on Blu-ray, HD DVD, and DVD on September 18, 2007.[18][19] The director's cut is the only edition of the film available on Blu-ray globally, however there is a Czech Blu-ray release of the theatrical cut.
Reception
Box office
Troy grossed $133.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $364 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $497.4 million, making the film one of the highest grossing films of 2004, alongside The Passion of the Christ, Spider-Man 2 and Shrek 2.[1] When the film was completed, total production costs were approximately $185 million, making Troy one of the most expensive films produced at that time. It was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.[20]
The film made $46.9 million in its opening weekend, topping the box office, then $23.9 million in its second weekend falling to second.[1]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Troy holds an approval rating of 53% based on 229 reviews, with an average rating of 6.00/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A brawny, entertaining spectacle, but lacking emotional resonance."[21] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[22] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[23]
Roger Ebert rated the film two out of four stars, saying: "Pitt is modern, nuanced, introspective; he brings complexity to a role where it is not required."[4]IGN critics Christopher Monfette and Cindy White praised the director's cut as superior to the early version, evaluating it with eight stars out of ten.[24]
Peter O'Toole, who played Priam, spoke negatively of the film during an appearance at the Savannah Film Festival, stating he walked out of the film fifteen minutes into a screening, and criticized the director, slamming him as "a clown".[25] Years later, Brad Pitt expressed disappointment with the film, saying: "I had to do Troy because [...] I pulled out of another movie and then had to do something for the studio. So I was put in Troy. It wasn't painful, but I realized that the way that movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be. I made my own mistakes in it. What am I trying to say about Troy? I could not get out of the middle of the frame. It was driving me crazy. I'd become spoiled working with David Fincher. It's no slight on Wolfgang Petersen. Das Boot is one of the all-time great films. But somewhere in it, Troy became a commercial kind of thing. Every shot was like, 'Here's the hero!' There was no mystery."[26]
Some have criticized screenwriter David Benioff, who later become one of the creators of the fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, for taking on too much material by covering the complete and lengthy chronology of the Trojan War, but he said he was aware of this challenge. He is quoted addressing this rather bluntly in an article by actor David Goldsmith in the journal Creative Screenwriting: "The script covers the Trojan War in its entirety, whereas Iliad is only one fragment of it. I didn't want to have little titles saying, 'Flash forward nine years.' It would have made it more faithful to the source material, but it wouldn't have been effective for the movie. I always followed the route that I thought was better for the movie; if that meant that I was cheating on Homer then so be it."[27]
In Greek mythology, Achilles or Achilleus was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's Iliad, he was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia and famous Argonaut. Achilles was raised in Phthia along with his childhood companion Patroclus and received his education by the centaur Chiron. In the Iliad, he is presented as the commander of the mythical tribe of the Myrmidons.
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus.
In Greek mythology, Hector is a Trojan prince, a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's Iliad, where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing countless Greek warriors. He is ultimately killed in single combat by the Greek hero Achilles, who later drags his dead body around the city of Troy behind his chariot.
The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the 12th or 13th century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology, and it has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's Iliad. The core of the Iliad describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.
Paris, also known as Alexander, is a mythological figure in the story of the Trojan War. He appears in numerous Greek legends and works of Ancient Greek literature such as the Iliad. In myth, he is prince of Troy, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and younger brother of Prince Hector. His elopement with Helen sparks the Trojan War, during which he fatally wounds Achilles.
Briseis, also known as Hippodameia, is a significant character in the Iliad. Her role as a status symbol is at the heart of the dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon that initiates the plot of Homer's epic. She was married to Mynes, a son of the King of Lyrnessus, until the Achaeans sacked her city and was given to Achilles shortly before the events of the poem. Being forced to give Briseis to Agamemnon, Achilles refused to reenter the battle.
In Greek mythology, Helenus was a gentle and clever seer. He was also a Trojan prince as the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. He was also called Scamandrios, and was a lover of Apollo.
In Greek mythology, Deiphobus was a son of Priam and Hecuba. He was a prince of Troy, and the greatest of Priam's sons after Hector and Paris. Deiphobus killed four men of fame in the Trojan War.
Paris is a rock musical written by Australian rock musician Jon English and David Mackay between 1987 and 1990, based on the myth of the Trojan War. A concept album was released in Australia in 1990 with the first stage production taking place in Sydney in 2003.
Helen of Troy is a 1956 American-Italian-French epic historical drama film, based on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. It was directed by Robert Wise, from a screenplay by Hugh Gray and John Twist, adapted by Hugh Gray and N. Richard Nash. The music score was composed by Max Steiner and the cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr, who shot the film in CinemaScope.
Helen of Troy is a 2003 British-American television miniseries based upon Homer's story of the Trojan War, as recounted in the epic poem, the Iliad.
There are a wide range of ways in which people have represented the Trojan War in literature and the arts.
Iphigenia is a 1977 Greek film directed by Michael Cacoyannis, based on the Greek myth of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who was ordered by the goddess Artemis to be sacrificed. Cacoyannis adapted the film, the third in his "Greek Tragedy" trilogy, from his stage production of Euripides' play Iphigenia at Aulis. The film stars Tatiana Papamoschou as Iphigenia, Kostas Kazakos as Agamemnon and Irene Papas as Clytemnestra. The score was composed by Mikis Theodorakis.
The Posthomerica is an epic poem in Greek hexameter verse by Quintus of Smyrna. Probably written in the 3rd century AD, it tells the story of the Trojan War, between the death of Hector and the fall of Ilium (Troy). The poem is an abridgement of the events described in the epic poems Aethiopis and Iliou Persis by Arctinus of Miletus, and the Little Iliad by Lesches, all now-lost poems of the Epic Cycle.
The Iliad is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the Odyssey, the poem is divided into 24 books and was written in dactylic hexameter. It contains 15,693 lines in its most widely accepted version. Set towards the end of the Trojan War, a ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Mycenaean Greek states, the poem depicts significant events in the siege's final weeks. In particular, it depicts a fierce quarrel between King Agamemnon and a celebrated warrior, Achilles. It is a central part of the Epic Cycle. The Iliad is often regarded as the first substantial piece of European literature.
L'ira di Achille, internationally released as The Fury of Achilles, is a 1962 Italian historical drama set in the ninth year of the Trojan War and is based primarily on Homer's Iliad. The film was directed by Marino Girolami and starred Gordon Mitchell as Achilles. It was released in the UK in 1963 as ACHILLES and was filmed in EuroScope and Eastman Color.
Troy: Fall of a City is a British-American historical drama television miniseries based on the Trojan War and the love affair between Paris and Helen. The show tells the story of the 10-year siege of Troy, set in the 13th century BC. It is not an adaptation of Homer's Iliad or Odyssey, but rather an original take on the Greek myths, and covers some ground only alluded to in those works. The series was commissioned by BBC One and is a co-production between BBC One and Netflix, with BBC One airing the show on 17 February 2018 in the United Kingdom, and Netflix streaming the show internationally outside the UK.
The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida, often shortened to Troilus and Cressida ), is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602.
Troy is an opera in two acts by Bujor Hoinic set to a Turkish-language libretto by Artun Hoinic, based on the ancient Greek epic poem Iliad by Homer. It premiered in Ankara, Turkey, in 2018 and was restaged at Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia, in 2019.
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