Troy [Blu-ray] [2004] [Region Free]

good stuff

A truly awesome film. Made even better because it's the director's cut with loads of extra footage.

Troy is a very entraining and enjoyable film. It's full of more than its fair share of action and, although long, it keeps up a good pace and is never in danger of dragging.The battle scenes are probably its greatest strength. Some of these were relatively grand and epic in scale and were very impressive from a visual perspective; but it was the one-on-one battles that really stood out for me. I enjoyed the fight between Achilles and Boagrius which got the film off to a strong start and the battle between Hector and Achilles outside the gates of Troy is the best scene in the film - the action sequence here was superb.If you haven't seen Troy I would definitely recommend watching this Director's Cut version over the version that was released in the cinema. Firstly, this contains an extra 30 minutes or so of footage which is skilfully included in this new cut. This version also contains some other tweaks which, although minor, make a real difference - background music is included on several occasions and the fight scenes are generally slightly more graphic and last slightly longer. In almost every case the alterations and additions enhance the film and add weight to it. The only exception would be the change in the music used to accompany the battle between Hector and Achilles - this was too loud, became distracting and did not add to the tension and atmosphere of the scene in the way that the original music did. It's a shame that Peterson chose to alter something that had worked so well originally. The only other thing I would perhaps like to have seen in Troy is some sort of representation of the Gods - not necessarily in terms of actors to play their roles, but something like high winds or storms to signify their presence at key times.Overall I'd say that if you really didn't like the original version of Troy then you won't find anything in this Director's Cut edition that will change your mind. However, if you either haven't seen it, or you have seen the original but were left slightly disappointed by it, then I'd recommend this. Almost all the additions and alterations made in this Director's Cut version add up to provide a more epic and impressive film than was the case previously.

This movie brings us one of the most beautiful mixes between the Greek myth of the hero Achilles, the love of Peers and Helen and the Trojan War, which begins as follows: King Menelaus of Smart constantly seeking peace with Troy, but this desire peace is shattered when the couple lost love for Helena, who was then queen of Smart, gets enchanted by her beauty, and she with him. The two taken love flee, thereby undoing all lies made peace pact between the kingdoms. There then begins the start of a war that was recorded in world history. Familial pride dictates that an affront to Menelaus is an affront to his brother Agamemnon, powerful King of Mycenae, who soon unites all the tribes of Greece to steal Helen back from Troy in defense of his brother's honor.But in truth, Agamemnon's pursuit of honor is corrupted by his overwhelming greed - he needs control of Troy to ensure the supremacy of his already vast empire. The walled city, ruled by King Priam and defended by mighty Prince Hector, is a citadel that no army has ever invaded. The key to victory or defeat over Troy is one man: Achilles, considered the greatest warrior alive. Achilles was a young one feel as intrepid, fearless, a little arrogant, who did not seek this war, nothing but their own interest "to be remembered for all eternity. ""It is his insatiable hunger for eternal renown that leads him to attack the gates of Troy under Agamemnon's banner - but it will be love that ultimately decides his fate. " Two worlds are at war, in search of glory and power, thereby reducing the life of a nation to dust and ashes.

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'Troy' is a star-studded 'swords and sandals' thriller, with copious attempts at also being dramatic, dating from 2004 and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. I've seen a few of his earlier 'Hollywood' films ('In the Line of Fire', 'Outbreak', 'Air Force One') and found them to be well-made, overt in nature but largely forgettable - the only contradiction to that form is he also responsible for the excellent 'Das Boot', which manages to combine drama and thrills much more effectively.And so to this film, quoted as being based on the poem 'Iliad' by Ancient Greek Homer, but being much wider in scope as it essentially covers all of the matters arising from the decade-long Trojan War. As I have never read 'Iliad', nor do I have any knowledge of the history related to the Trojan War, whatever controversies are prompted by the content of this film about historical accuracy they were never going to be an issue for me.Instead, I viewed 'Troy' on Blu-ray purely for it's cinematic entertainment value as an evening's viewing of the 'popcorn' variety of movie - I was not disappointed, but boy do you need the whole evening free if you watch it in it's entirety (the standard UK disc contains only the Director's Cut) as it runs in excess of a bum-numbing 3hrs ! Fans will also be pleased to know that despite that film length, it still manages to look and sound very good in HD and there are a stack-load of disc extras with a running time of over 1hr...!If you read the Amazon synopsis for this film it gives a good idea about the overall direction of that lengthy story; it also gives you decent insight into the polar-opposite lead cast in terms of screen 'beauty' and (in my opinion !) acting ability/screen presence. With a central Brad Pitt, balancing Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger and Eric Bana we have the esteemed talents of Brendan Gleeson, Brian Cox and (albeit in an almost soporific state !) Peter O'Toole.The production-values and battle-scenes in this film are very high and copious/expansive respectively; there is a lot of CGI to depict the respective masses and enormous ancient cities etc. The performances are, unsurprisingly, proficient rather than outstanding and occasionally you might sense the potential use of soft-focus for the various emotional/love scenes - this is a Hollywood blockbuster after all !Even the standard cut (issued in a few other countries) runs for over 2hrs30mins, so whatever has been added should be acknowledged with that in mind, either way I never really got the sense that any of the scenes were either superfluous or needlessly long - the story, it's timeline and the plot lines (essentially sexual/political shenanigans) were always going to make this a long film; fans of pure action will just have to swallow the periods of reflection, discussion and emotional interaction which help to contribute to that lengthy running-time !I've attached photos of the case front and back, with all the disc info, as those on the Amazon webpage are devoid of the front legends advertising the extended cut AND the front/back cast/production credits which mine has....One thing I did find surprising was that the film has a '15' viewing certificate - a lot of 'strong battle violence' there might be, but it never really struck me as being of the '15' variety (ESPECIALLY after recently seeing the '15' certificated 'Deadpool' !!!); blood yes, but no true gore or violence - so some may consider this film (when the overall type of content is also taken into account) more worthy of a '12'...On Blu-ray everything looks and sounds as good as you would expect of a modern release; the regular periods of energetic action and expansive external sets particularly lend themselves to an HD presentation, which also helps to show-off the decorative armour/buildings etc - even if a lot isn't 'real'. One surprise was the soundtrack is 'only' of the TrueHD variety - however, it still sounded perfectly acceptable to me.The disc extras, all of the featurette type, are extensive and individually quite short, but they are playable in themed 'chunks' - I've watched a few and they were quite informative and not overly 'promotional' in nature.It is possible to get this disc for a very affordable 'used' price....So, whilst I cannot comment on (or get distracted by !) historical accuracy matters, overall this film delivered no great surprises in terms of content or presentation as I approached it as a (rather lengthy !) Hollywood blockbuster action type flick. It has well-depicted action, adequate acting performances, very good production-values and a decent HD presentation plus a good collection of disc extras.