Troy (Director's Cut Ultimate Collector's Edition)

First of all Im not sure I saw the same movie that all these nay sayers have seen. That some didnt like this movie is understandable, but to call it a "bad movie" or "boring"? I just think that's a giant stretch even by the harshest of critics. Troy, is a wonderful modern-day interpretation of Homer's "The Illiad" which must be one of the most well known story's of all time. The Trojan war was long thought to be a myth, which no basis in reality. Untill one historian spent his life searching for the city of Troy and found what he believed to be it's ruins. This sparked a lot of debate on whether such a tale might well have it's roots in real events. "Troy" is born of this desire to contemplate "what may have really happened". It doesnt have any God's or Godesses, nor does it really stick firm to Homer's tale. What it does is take Homer's work and reintepret it through the mindset of "hey this is what might have really went down". This is why many such as Robert Ebert didnt like "Troy", because they were expecting Homer. But the storyline of troy has all the essence of homer only portrayed in a more realisitic version. Helen, wife of the king of Sparta, falls in love with Paris Prince of the powerful city state of Troy. She willingly sneaks out of Sparta and from a loveless marriage to the trojan boat and returns with Paris to Troy. This sparks a chain of events culminating in a massive war and the fall of a city. The King of Sparta is outraged and appeals to his brother - Agamemnon - who has just finished uniting the cities of greece under his rule. Using his brother's misfortune as a pretext for war, he assembles a 40,000 man strong army and sails them to troy on 1,000 ships. And so begins the trojan war. The acting throughout the movie varies from acceptable to spectacular. Brad pit gives an excellent performance as the hero Achilles. But Achilles of the movie is not immortal or divine, just an amazing warrior with a complex personality consisting of strong narcasism and some true honor (they dont always mix well). The character of hector is brilliantly portrayed as a man who has seen war and knows there is no glory in it, the antithesis of achilles. While Peter O'Toole (yes from Lawrence of Arabia!) does a FANTASTIC job as the Trojan king Priam. One scene is truly dramatic as he begs achilles for the body of his fallen son, proclaiming "even enemies can show respect". The battle scenes and special effects are amazing, and the battles in troy are second to none. But it's not all action, in fact much of troy is a look at the nature of war and politics. How the macro affects the micro. How small events trigger big ones. How ordinary people can play a part in larger than life stories. And how history plays out similar stories again and again. There's a strong anti-war message underlying the film. There's also a lot of unfinished ideas and holes in troy that never get filled. The end feels rushed and thrown together, and some interesting ideas brought up by the film are never fully explored. This is made up for by some truly GREAT scenes. Such as when the Greek fleet apears on the horizons of Troy. Bells are sounded, and all the characters react when they look out to see the horizon clouded with enemy ships. This scene is so well done it amazed me. All things considered I found Troy to not only be a great movie, but a great analysis of how the world works and how the greed of the few culminates in the suffering of the many. It wasnt as powerful as gladiator, and it isnt going to have the broader appeal of LOTR (it's not that kinda movie at all, completely different genre in fact), but while it's no Brave Heart, troy is the first movie in a while to come close to being in that class and is certainly an excellent movie.

This should’ve been used in the theaters. Troy’s Theatrical version was very cheesy. Still love the movie but this Directors Cut makes this a whole different movie.

Amazing movie. High quality in terms of epic fight scenes and keeps you entertained throughout.

My husband loves this movie. It plays well. It was a good price for a special edition. I would buy it again for a gift. Sit back and enjoy your new movie.

Troy is an enjoyable film. It does not make it to the epic level, but it's a strong film that is character driven. Of course everyone knows that Brad Pitt is Achilles and he does a great job. Physically, Pitt looks like one would imagine Achilles looked like. His demeanor and fighting style scream the greatest warrior who ever lived. The only problem Pitt sometimes has is with the dialogue. Occassionally, he seems to get lost in the grandeur of the film. Eric Bana as Hector totally steals the show. As the only one of the heroes who understands exactly what the consequences of war are, Bana makes Hector the most noble and decent of the actors. He dominates every scene with a quiet dignity that totally befits a prince of Troy. Orlando Bloom as Paris turns in a fine performance. Though he has played many different epic heroes, Bloom is able to convincingly convey the fear that Paris fears. He succeeds to a degree in making Paris a sympathetic figure. Sean Bean turns in a great performance as Odysseus, I wish he was in the film more. The supporting actors are also fine and they are too many to name so I will go past them. What is wrong with this film? Sometimes the intricate plot gets lost in the action. My biggest problem with the film is the lack of any sense of time. The Trojan War supposedly lasted 10 years and while no one wants 10 years to show up on screen, the entire war takes tops 2 weeks. Amy Greek would have known that only a prolonged siege would take the city, so it would have been interesting to see more attacks repelled. The sacking of Troy is a tragic scene. Achilles because of his status as a main character survives until the end of the film where he is killed by an arrow firing Paris, who shoots Achilles first in the heel, slowing the warrior and allowing him to pepper Achilles' body with several more arrows. Achilles rips out all the arrows except the one in his heel, leaving alive the legend of Achilles' heel. Paris does live to the end of the movie and I guess he escapes the sack of Troy. This I do have a bit more of a problem with but overall, this is an adaptation of the Illiad, not the Illiad on film. I found this film to be totally enjoyable and while it could have been better, it was not too bad. The dvd release is pretty pathetic with only a smattering of extra features, not even justifying the 2-disc set.

The Director’s Cut is laced with deeper stories, bloodier battles, and it’s noticeably longer than the original. This was an awesome purchase, and I’ll be watching this over and over again.

The movie is great but the copy I got is, I believe, a Chinese copy.. the movie is fine and it is in English 5.1 True-HD if you select the second audio track. The menus are all chinese and good luck navigating it if you don't know what you are looking at!

Deeply produced.