[foodselfdourileka]

Built up as this years blockbuster I was very apprehensive of this. Firstly because Brad Pitt had the leading role, and he hasn't really had a good performance since Snatch. Secondly...these films with the big cast and all line up as big hitters but are often just cmmercial pieces.

Saw it today...and I was right to be apprehensive...this film is....meh.

Ok I'll make this review quick becuase I tend to go on alot and I don't have much time.

Now my first gripe is the time....this film is LONG and not only is it long, it is VERY draw out, there's alot of talking and the PISS POOR dialogue really slows it down and it felt like 4 hrs when it was only really 2 hrs 30 ish.

The performances vary. Eric Bana steals the show by a country mile, Orlando Bloom is ok I guess...nothing special just average. Diane Kruger who plays Helen is boring as hell and the fac she ain't even that fine is a minus. Argnemon who is played by the guy that played William Stryker in X-Men 2 (sorry I forget his name) is also pretty good, Sean bean uis well Sean bean...nothign extra ordinary. Brad Pitt is decent...but the problem with his character is the problem with the whole movie...which is that you don't really know what to make of him.

OK I won't go over the story but there are so many parts where your just like..."who do I cheer", somebody should have told Wolfgang Petersburg that in these kind of movies there has to be the good guy - the one the audience is behind and roots for, and the bad guy- the guy you hate and cheer when he is killed. Sounds a bit simplistci but it's the tried and tested formula.

Maybe petersburg is trying to make the audience think about the characters motives and whatnot and then decide who to cheer...but there are no real indications in the story of who is in thw wrong here.

Agnemon is obviously the bad guy, thats a given, but Achilles (Pitt) is just confusing....how can you cheer the arrogance of him, and his whole motive in the movie is the "get his name etched in history"...that sounds mighty egotistical. Hector (Bana) I really liked, he was a really good character and I was really rooting for him throughout the movie...even when he and Achilles square off. When Hector is killed...Achilles swears to dismember Hectors body as revenge for something hector did a little earlier on...by accident, which Achilles knows by the way. So...Achilles is a ruthless bastard...and the greatest and most noble warrior of the Trojans is dragged away and you can't help but hate Achilles. There's too much stuff like this, you don't know wheter Helen is playing Paris...and if Paris was right or wrong as his actions confuse you, and the fact that Helen's husband Menules is not really a bad guy himself...confuses you even more.

Nevertheless the actions scenes are brilliant...gorey and just plain excellent, the mass battles are somewhat better than Lord of the Rings as they used real people and LotR used CGI.

Also according to this movie all everyone did was Fight and Shag each other...some of the scene with Pitt and Bloom were pretty gay...well something for the ladies eh.

I'd give it (out of 5*):

Acting: *** (minus Bana who was *****)

Action: *****(brilliant action sequences)

Story: *** (A greek classic...somewhat ruined by confusing characters)

CGI?SFX: **1/2 (not bad...pretty much average...wasn't THAT much SFX anyway)

Overall: *** (not bad...but not a blockbuster by any means....very confused and definately not an epic)

Peae.out