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

Just finished watching this for the first time, and what an epic journey from start to finish. Glad I purchased this, as I will watch this again.

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 movie is still one of the greatest movies ever. With Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom … yes please!

Since I bought the directors cut on Blu-ray back in January, I felt I had to complete the Troy movie experience by getting the theatrical version (with the James Horner score) and I am one happy camper. Love this movie.

As a teacher of Classical Greek and Roman Mythology I was looking forward to "Troy." In the past I have put together a unit on the Trojan War that included not only Homer's epic poem the "Iliad," but also the plays of Euripides and Aeschylus and other ancient works on the stories of these characters. In other words I am familiar with this story to the extent that when Briseis showed up wearing a garment with long sleeves I was upset that we did not get to see the lovely arms that were part of her usual epithet. So, suffice it to say, that when characters who survived the Trojan War started dying in this film, I was not exactly happy. Consequently, the truth is that the less you know about the Trojan War of classical mythology, the more you will enjoy Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy." I have no problem with the idea that Homer and the other ancients have to be adapted in making a modern motion picture about the Trojan War. The decision to eliminate the gods is appropriate, getting away from the idea that this was a ten year war makes sense, and if the alliance of the Greeks is now political rather than as part of an oath sworn by the princes who were suitors for Helen's hand, I consider that to be legitimate. I do not understand why Iphigenia, Cassandra, and Hecuba are all eliminated but there are not fatal omissions. But when you start rewriting who gets killed that is going a bit too far, especially when one premature death starts a chain effect that means Athens will never develop the jury system, which means we probably lose out on it too. David Benioff's screenplay was "inspired" by Homer's "Iliad," which at least is an honest way to characterize what he did in this script, but I still do not have to like it or endorse it. The big selling point for this film was not Homer but rather Brad Pitt as Achilles. Stories abound about how Pitt worked six months to get in shape for this film, gave up smoking, and ended up hurting his Achilles tendon in one of those profound ironies that indicates that maybe the gods were not pleased with what was happening in this film. Pitt certainly looks good, not just in terms of taking several opportunities to display the line of his nude body, but in how he carries himself as Achilles. The whole idea is that this guy is the greatest warrior on the face of the planet and Pitt exudes that with the way he strides across the sands of Troy. Even more impressive is the choreography for the fights, because Pitt's movements are so smooth and powerful, especially compared with that of Eric Bana's Hector, that you do not doubt that this guy is in a league by himself as a warrior. I also like the way he uses the distinctive form of his shield when fighting. They thought this part out quite a bit. The fight choreography was worked out by Simon Crane, the film's stunt coordinator and second unit director, who describes Achilles as fighting with a boxing style but with the velocity of a speed skater and the agility of a panther. They also come up with a nice touch in that Achilles looks slightly to the side at his opponent until he is ready to come in for the kill. The best fight sequences of "Troy" are when Achilles is fighting. The giant battle sequences of computerized soldiers are not as impressive, mainly because the camera is always in motion and the cutting is so fast that we are left with an impression of the battle rather than always being able to tell what is going on (which has become my constant complaint with most movies with large battle sequences). Bana does a good job of capturing Hector's nobility without turning him into a marble statue, while Peter O'Toole fills the role of Priam naturally. On the Trojan side the problematic character is Paris (Orlando Bloom), again because of the writing more than the performance. Priam has negotiated peace between Troy and the Sparta of King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), but that is destroyed when Paris persuades Helen (Diane Kruger) to run away with him. Both Hector and Priam know that Paris is wrong and their reasons for supporting him and thereby dooming Troy ring hollow (the less than stellar "Helen of Troy" television miniseries did a nice job of providing a solid motivation for the Trojans to protect Helen). It you want to draw a clear distinction between Homer's story of Achilles and that of Benioff it is that the former is about the rage of Achilles (see the first line of the "Iliad") and the latter adds an equally strong love element. The one character whose role is most inflated in this version is that of Briseis (Rose Byrne), the Trojan slave girl who comes between Achilles and Agamemnon (Brian Cox), the king of kings for the Greeks. This change becomes the reasoning behind how the film rewrites the end game of the Trojan War, although I still do not understand why some of the key characters get to live happily ever after. But since Pitt's performance dominates the film and he is clearly the horse that director Wolfgang Petersen is riding to make the whole thing work, it makes sense that he has to be around until the very end. The good news is that when I teach mythology after this DVD comes out my students will probably enjoy attacking Benioff's changes in the original stories of Greek mythology in their papers. I think this will definitely help them understand why the writings of Homer and the other ancients are considered classics.

Great action movie.

great movie to watch again and again

With the racist abomination that is Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey coming out soon, I wanted to see Troy again to harken back to when Hollywood still made good movies. Unfortunately, the version I own and the version on Blu-Ray is the Director's Cut, which adds a bunch of scenes that slow down the pacing and add nothing of consequence, turning the movie into a boring slog. Searching in DVD format returned several results for the Full Screen edition, but this seller had 1 copy of the Wide Screen so I was glad to be lucky one to snag it. Item arrived quickly in brand new condition. A perfect addition to a discerning cinephile's collection!

What can I add to reviews so far? Homer's Illiad it certainly isn't; I am not even going to begin, as some reviewers have done, to compare the two and list the deviations and omissions, a waste of time and energy. It is "Hollywood" at its best/worst (choose according to viewpoint and preferences). From fight scene one before the two assembled armies, my heart sank. Many people have obviously enjoyed it so I "don't want to rain on the parade". I found it unconvincing but, that's probably more to do with me than the film. I like to have my "historical films" approximating to the truth as we know it (after all its been good enough for generations!) and I wonder what future generations will know of some of our legendary characters, e.g Robin Hood, William Wallace and so on. Typical Hollywood "epic".

史実と神話が融合した娯楽作です。 19世紀には、トルコ西部の発掘調査で、紀元前12世紀頃の地層から大火災の痕跡が見つかり、実際にトロイア戦争が有ったのではないかと言われています。 歴史物語は、前もって歴史の勉強を済ませて観ると面白いですよ!

Excellent historical action film by Wolfgang Peterson featuring some big names and some you definitely haven't heard of before. Excellent acting from the entire cast, even Orlando gave a good performance. The director's cut is nothing groundbreaking, maybe 15 minutes or so of extra content. However, it it true cut content they wanted in the film that lends more depth to some of the characters. It's not just deleted scenes put back in. The special features were great too and will give you a new appreciation for the film. They actually built the front wall of Troy in the movie... twice! If you have not seen the movie it is 100% worth a watch and probably a few rewatches. If you are a fan of the film, the audio is excellent on this Blu-Ray and made a fine addition to my collection

Was für ein Toller Film, ich wage sogar zu behaupten einer der besten Filme mit Brad Pit. Die Blue Ray ist in einer sehr stabilen Hülle und das Cover ist schön gestaltet. Der Film ist qualitativ sehr hochwertig und der Sound rund um gelungen. Das Bild ist sehr Scharf und die Farben sind kräftig und ansprechend. Mein Fazit: Rund um perfekt gelungen und auf jeden Fall eine Empfehlung wert Wer den Film noch nicht kennt, hier eine kurze Beschreibung der Handlung (Quelle: Wikipedia) König Agamemnon von Mykene hat die Griechen nach und nach unterworfen und zu einem losen Staatenbund vereinigt. Als er mit seiner Streitmacht Triopas' Armee gegenübersteht, vereinbaren sie, dass jeder seinen besten Krieger schicken solle, so dass dieses Duell anstelle einer Schlacht über Sieg und Niederlage entscheiden soll. Triopas schickt den Hünen Bogarius, Agamemnon schickt Achilles, den größten Krieger seiner Zeit. Achilles und Agamemnon hassen sich gegenseitig und Achilles ordnet sich diesem König nur wiederwillig unter. Er besiegt Bogarius ohne große Mühe und Triopas unterwirft sich Agamemnon. Der trojanische Prinz Paris ist derweil als Mitglied einer Gesandtschaft unter der Führung seines Bruders Hektor zu Gast in Sparta. Während die Trojaner und Spartaner einen zurückliegenden Konflikt beilegen und einen Friedensvertrag aushandeln, verlieben sich Paris und Helena, die Frau des spartanischen Königs Menelaos, ineinander. Als die Trojaner abreisen, „entführt“ Paris Helena mit ihrem Einverständnis in seine Heimat. Hektor macht Paris schwere Vorwürfe, da er weiß, dass dieser unbedacht Krieg über seine Heimat gebracht hat, sieht sich aber außerstande, seinen Bruder zu opfern und kehrt daher nicht um, sondern fährt weiter nach Troja. Der betrogene Menelaos bittet daraufhin seinen älteren Bruder Agamemnon um Hilfe. Dieser herrscht als machthungriger König von Mykene über die unterworfenen griechischen Stämme und sieht in der Affäre einen günstigen Vorwand zur Eroberung des neidisch betrachteten, reichen Troja. Ein Sieg über Troja würde ihm die unangefochtene Herrschaft über die Ägäis sichern. So führt er die bis dahin größte Armee aller Zeiten nach Kleinasien. Achilles, der sich danach sehnt, unsterblichen Ruhm zu erlangen, schließt sich der Armee an, obwohl ihm seine Mutter Thetis prophezeit hat, dass er aus Troja nicht zurückkehren wird. Dort hat der greise König Priamos Helena mittlerweile in seine Familie aufgenommen. Den aufziehenden Krieg mit den Griechen will er entgegen Hektors Rat annehmen, weil er Troja für stark genug hält und auf den Schutz der Götter vertraut. Die Griechen erobern zunächst unter der Führung Achilles' und dessen Myrmidonen die trojanische Küste. Dabei nimmt Achilles Briseis, Paris' Cousine, gefangen und begegnet zum ersten Mal Hektor. Diesen lässt er kampflos zurück nach Troja entkommen, da er sich mit diesem auf dem Schlachtfeld messen will. Agamemnon, neidisch auf Achilles’ Ruhm unter seinen Kriegern, beansprucht die Beute Briseis für sich. Der gedemütigte Achilles weigert sich daraufhin, weiter gegen die Trojaner zu kämpfen. Als die griechische Armee vor Trojas Mauer steht, fordert Menelaos Paris zu einem Zweikampf heraus. Paris droht dabei zu unterliegen und wird schließlich durch das Eingreifen seines älteren Bruders Hektor gerettet, der Menelaos tötet. Der Angriff der Griechen auf die Stadt scheitert an Hektor, dem es während der Schlacht zudem gelingt, Ajax zu bezwingen, den zweitgrößten Krieger Griechenlands. Zur Einsicht gezwungen, gibt Agamemnon Briseis an Achilles zurück, der aber weiterhin den Dienst verweigert. In der Nacht werden die Griechen von den Trojanern überraschend in ihrem Lager angegriffen und können sich erst zu effektivem Widerstand versammeln, als ein vermeintlicher Achilles auftaucht, der die Myrmidonen anführt. Dabei handelt es sich jedoch um Achilles’ jungen und unerfahrenen Cousin Patroklos, der in Achilles' Helm und Rüstung kämpft und im Zweikampf von Hektor getötet wird, der glaubt, Achilles vor sich zu haben. Erschüttert und wütend über diesen Verlust, zieht Achilles am nächsten Tag allein vor die Mauern Trojas und fordert Hektor zum Zweikampf heraus. Hektor erscheint und fordert das Versprechen, dass der Sieger dem Besiegten die Bestattungsrituale gewährt. Achilles, von Hass zerfressen, lehnt dieses ab. Unter den Augen der Trojaner und seiner Frau wird Hektor von Achilles getötet, woraufhin dieser Hektors Leiche hinter seinem Streitwagen her in das griechische Lager schleift. In der Nacht erscheint König Priamos bei Achilles und bittet ihn um die Leiche seines Sohnes. Bewegt von diesem Auftritt gibt Achilles des Königs Bitte statt, lässt zudem Briseis frei und gewährt einen Waffenstillstand von zwölf Tagen für die Bestattung Hektors. Odysseus, Agamemnons klügster Gefolgsmann, ersinnt inzwischen eine List, um die als unüberwindlich erscheinenden Mauern der Trojaner zu überwinden. Er lässt ein riesiges Holzpferd bauen, in dem sich die stärksten Krieger der Griechen verbergen. Nachdem das griechische Heer scheinbar den Rückzug angetreten hat, finden die Trojaner das Pferd am verlassenen Strand. Paris trägt seine Zweifel daran offen vor und will das Pferd lieber sofort verbrennen, wird jedoch wie zuvor auch Hektor in seinen Bedenken durch seinen Vater und die Priester überstimmt. Die Trojaner bringen das Pferd als vermeintliches Götteropfer in ihre Stadt. Ein trojanischer Späher, der derweil die griechische Flotte in einer nahen Bucht entdeckt, wird getötet. In der Nacht klettern die Griechen aus dem Pferd, öffnen das Stadttor für ihr zurückgekehrtes Heer und massakrieren die Stadtbevölkerung. Hektors Witwe Andromache kann durch einen Geheimgang aus der Stadt unzählige Trojaner retten. Derweil macht sich Paris auf die Suche nach Briseis, gibt jedoch zuvor dem jungen Aeneas das Schwert Trojas. Er sagt ihm, dass solange dieses Schwert in den Händen eines Trojaners sei, sein Volk eine Zukunft habe. Agamemnon tötet im Palast heimtückisch König Priamos und versucht, Briseis habhaft zu werden, wird aber von dieser erstochen. Achilles, der ebenfalls Briseis sucht und sie dabei vor Agamemnons Leibwachen rettet, wird wiederum von Paris durch Pfeile getötet, dabei führt ein Pfeil, der ihn in seiner Ferse trifft, letztlich zum Tod. Der Sterbende nimmt Abschied von Briseis, bevor er seinen Wunden erliegt. Paris, Helena, Briseis, Andromache und weitere Trojaner können entkommen. Nach der Schlacht wird Achilles von Odysseus und den anderen Griechen in Troja bestattet. Odysseus sagt, dass man eines Tages von ihm sagen wird, er habe zur selben Zeit wie Achilles und Hektor gelebt.

Oh !Merveille! Comme nous sommes heureux de découvrir quel film superbe devient "Troie" en Director's Cut ! Avec le profond remaniement qu'a effectué Le réalisateur Wolfgang Peterssen sur sa première mouture, nous sommes en présence d'un film d'une toute autre ampleur artistique! A plusieurs endroits , on constate que la musique a été entièrement retravaillée , apportant ainsi un souffle tout à fait exceptionnel à certaines scènes! Le remontage complet de nombreux passages du film avec l'inssertion de 35 minutes de matériel supplémentaire, est tout à fait remaquable !!! Le jeux des acteurs , de Brad Pitt , de diane Krugger , d'Eric bana , D 'Orlando Bloom et du grand Peter O' Toole, peuvent enfin etre apprécié à leurs juste valeur ! Tout cela est tellement flagrant , qu'on a souvent envie de se lever de son siège et d'applaudir à la magnificence et la la cohérence de l'ensemble ! Le montage précédent du film , c'est à dire celui sorti en salle "version cinéma", est vraisemblablement, comme il fallait s'y attendre ,totalement ridiculisé ... et je pèse mes mots !!! Ainsi nous comprenons encore une fois ,à quel point, certaines "Director's Cut" deviennent capitales pour rendre justice à la vision de Grands réalisateurs Tel Wolfgang peterssen ! Brad Pitt (en Achille) atteind des sommets! et Eric Bana est un Hector tout en charisme et bravoure ! Au final une des meilleures "Director's Cut" qu'il m'ait été donné de voir et qui fait de "Troie" , une oeuvre cinéma de première force ! une fresque intemporelle , grandiose et éblouissante !!! Troie est un très grand film ! Merci et Bravo à vous M. Wolfgang Peterssen!!!