Epic struggles

Troy
R
Starting tomorrow at area theaters
Two-and-a-half reels out of four

Troy is one of those movies we in the reviewing biz call a near-miss. Or a marginal thumbs-down, as a certain Chicago-based reviewer might say.

Though not in the league dramatically of the classic PBS miniseries I, Claudius, the film aspires to a certain gravitas that most epics don’t anymore. It also has some amazing battle scenes that recall the day that a cast of thousands meant actors and not employees of the computer-graphics department.

Troy begins as Paris (Orlando Bloom), a prince of the city-state Troy, whisks away Helen (Diane Kruger), Queen of Sparta. This does not sit well at all with Helen’s husband, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), and he sets sail for Troy with his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) and the entire Greek army.

Greece’s greatest warrior, Achilles (Brad Pitt), refuses to fight in the war, and the formidable Trojan army defeats the invaders. But when Achilles’ good friend Patroclus is slain by Trojan prince Hector (Eric Bana), the warrior goes ballistic and challenges Hector to fight.

Achilles kills Hector and drags his body outside the city’s walls. King Priam (Peter O’Toole) comes to Achilles’ camp to beg for the return of his son’s body. Just as it seems Greece has lost the war, the Greeks leave a large wooden horse and pretend to flee. The Trojans tragically take this gift into the city and are surprised after nightfall as Greek soldiers emerge from the horse and let their compatriots into the city to wreak destruction.

As previously mentioned in this column, The Lord of the Rings trilogy raised the bar for epic adventure films. The fact that Troy might be based on a true story doesn’t matter.

There are many parallels between Tolkien’s trilogy and Greek mythology. But LOTR director Peter Jackson succeeded in illustrating the grandeur and nobility of such mythic struggles, yet still made the whole thing quite entertaining.

Troy is certainly not a bad film and, indeed, when it concentrates on the pure drama of the whole affair, it seems to be at its best.

The great cast adds gravity to the story, and if there’s any justice at all, O’Toole will get his first non-honorary Oscar (albeit in the supporting category) next spring. But it is Bana who owns this movie as the noble savage, Hector of Troy. Bana, who had no formal training as an actor, is totally believable as a formidable warrior who also happens to be a good husband, father and person.

Which brings us to Pitt. Although he has proven much more than a pretty face (his superb performance in Twelve Monkeys being just one example), he is out of his league here. As he wavers between a phony British accent and a surfer-dude attitude, Pitt fails to give a convincing portrayal of Achilles, who is probably the most interesting character of the story.

Troy is certainly not the worst movie ever made and will please hardcore fans of ancient history and epic films. But perhaps the real Greek tragedy is how good it could have been.

Recommended rental

Miracle
PG
Available Tuesday

Kurt Russell is one of those actors who is underutilized and underrated. He received some of the best reviews of his career as Herb Brooks, the maverick college coach who took an initially undisciplined crew of college hockey players all the way in the 1980 Olympics. The movie eschews most conventional sports clichés while embracing others, and concentrates much more on character than how fast the puck goes into the net. The movie did OK box office, but wasn’t the smash it should have been. You can change that by rushing to the video store right now.