A glossy, big-budget sword-and-sandals spectacle with strong star power, sweeping scale, and a handful of memorable duels. It’s best enjoyed as a muscular mythic blockbuster rather than a faithful adaptation of Homer; the drama is broad, the politics are simplified, and the romance is uneven, but the production… Read more
Troy
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · War · Action
Thu · 2h 43m
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana
Overview
In year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age, two emerging nations begin to clash. Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnon to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. They set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy.
Director
Wolfgang Petersen
Cast
Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, big-budget sword-and-sandals spectacle with strong star power, sweeping scale, and a handful of memorable duels. It’s best enjoyed as a muscular mythic blockbuster rather than a faithful adaptation of Homer; the drama is broad, the politics are simplified, and the romance is uneven, but the production values and battle staging still land.
Best for
viewers who want an epic ancient-war blockbuster
fans of Brad Pitt-era star vehicles
people who enjoy mythic history more than strict accuracy
audiences looking for large-scale siege action and pageantry
Skip if
you want a faithful retelling of the Iliad
historical nitpicking ruins the fun for you
you prefer intimate character drama over spectacle
you’re looking for subtext-rich queer or literary adaptation choices
Overview
Troy is a polished, old-school epic that aims for grandeur first and nuance second. Wolfgang Petersen keeps the film moving with clear battle geography, huge crowds, and a steady stream of duels, while the production design sells the Bronze Age as a world of bronze, dust, and ego. The movie’s strongest asset is its scale: it wants to feel like a civilization colliding, not just a story about one war.
Worth noting
The cast helps a lot. Brad Pitt gives Achilles a cool, almost alien self-possession; Eric Bana brings grounded nobility to Hector; and the supporting players keep the court intrigue watchable even when the script rushes through major turns. The film’s emotional beats are broad and sometimes blunt, but the central rivalry has enough force to carry the runtime.
Bottom line
Its biggest weakness is that it sands down the myth into something more conventional and less strange. The romance is flatter than the legend, the politics are simplified, and the adaptation choices often feel designed to make the story more straightforward rather than more resonant. Still, if you want a handsome, muscular, late-2000s studio epic with real momentum, it delivers more often than it misses.
Top Letterboxd reviews
ashley (2.5★) · 9770 likes
can excuse historical inaccuracies but i draw the line at achilles being straight
alyssa (2.5★) · 4728 likes
they made ACHILLES straight....... ACHILLES.......
erin 🦇 (3.5★) · 4456 likes
they made achilles straight bc 2004 america couldnt handle the raw power of brad pitt and his rippling buttocks topping garrett hedlund
Xande(R) (0.5★) · 3750 likes
I HATE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH. IT IS LITERALLY THE WORST. LET ME TELL YOU ALL THE THINGS WRONG WITH IT: 1) achilles and patroclus are COUSINS?!?! (THEY WEREN'T COUSINS, THEY WERE BEST FRIENDS AND LOVERS, ALSO PATROCLUS WAS OLDER?? AND ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD AT FIGHTING??) 2) they killed menalaus for some reason??? why??? 3) achilles is like...hyper-masculine and he was literally disguised as a woman and no one could tell 4) briseis was a priest of apollo instead of
Jaime 🏳️🌈✨ (2★) · 2949 likes
patroclus and achilles: we look like a couple david benioff: yeah a couple of cousins :)
Themes
ancient warfare, mythic heroism, siege and conquest, honor and glory, fatal pride, political ambition, love and betrayal, fate and mortality
Topics
sword-and-sandal, historical epic, war drama, mythic adaptation, siege warfare, bronze age, blockbuster spectacle, honor code, battle choreography, 2000s studio epic