Troy

Troy (2004) starring Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Eric Bana, Rose Byrne, Peter O'Toole, Sean Bean. "Inspired by" Homer's Iliad, Troy tells a story that will be familiar to anyone who was paying attention in school. Prince Paris of Troy (Bloom) steals Helen (Kruger), the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and takes her back to Troy with him. The furious Menelaus gathers the forces of Greece to sail across the Aegean Sea and attack Troy, a city whose walls have withstood all assaults for untold hundreds of years. Pitt plays Achilles, the nearly invulnerable warrior who fights for the Greeks, and Bana plays Hector, elder prince of Troy, who ends up fighting Achilles. It's an epic movie told on a grand scale, and as I recall it lost money at the box office. I found it pretty entertaining, though a little long at two hours and forty-three minutes. (English subtitles are furnished on the disc, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+