Watching Brad Piit’s 2004 Troy seems like a good prelude to Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey in July 2026. The story outline is familiar, so my focus was on character rather than plot.
The film showcased three different centers. Paris is at the dramatic center because his liaison with Menelaus’ wife Helen triggers the chain of events. Hector forms the moral center because he fights from duty rather than ambition. Hector was forbidding in my earlier readings. Eric Bana gave him more of a moral center. He did not ask for this war. Brad Pitt as Achilles becomes the scene stealing center. I was quite skeptical he could make it work and even now I’m surprised he did!
Achilles works because he does not want to be involved. He appears to have almost no agency. Fate has already claimed him and he knows it. Brad Pitt plays this with restraint and the performance holds the screen.
The casting across the film is quite strong and twenty years later many actors are now quite familiar. Sean Bean’s Odysseus carries seriousness and reflection that feel familiar from later roles such as Ned Stark in Game of Thrones. Brian Cox’s Agamemnon radiates raw authority without wisdom similar to his role in Succession. Eric Bana’s Hector gives the film its conscience. Diane Kruger makes sense of Helen as someone onto whom desire is projected rather than chosen. Peter O’Toole’s Priam feels dignified and tired and trapped by love for his son. Even as a character yet Priam’s decisions were infuriating.
The film reminded me less of ancient epics and more of modern stories about reluctant violence. Game of Thrones came to mind during the battle scenes. Nolan’s Second World War film Dunkirk came to mind through its sense of inevitability. The D-Day opening of Saving Private Ryan staging was quite equivalent.
The core idea of the film is that wars are easy to enter and almost impossible to stop. The characters see many off ramps along the way. Diplomacy and restraint are visible options but seldom taken. Reminds me of how Lyndon Johnson was never able to pull out of Vietnam.
I think Troy holds up better than Russell Crowe’s Gladiator. Homer’s epic retains its power through countless retellings!
Troy is one side of Homer’s twin epics and the retelling of the second is due in half a years time!
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