Comments on Wolfgang Petersen's Troy

(Spoiler warning) Brad Pitt's gratuitous butt notwithstanding, here are some of my problems with Petersen's Troy:

- The Trojan War supposedly lasted over 10 years. The movie made it seem more like 2 weeks.
- The final scene of Prince Paris killing warrior Achilles is not believable, after all the wussy Prince couldn't even beat Menelaus. They should have given us a clue that Apollo, angry at the desecration of the temple and the brutal killing of the defenseless priests, came down from the sky and redirected Paris' arrow toward Achilles' heel (get it? It's Achilles' heel).
- Petersen completely discarded the story of Agamemnon's demise: Legend was, before the war he slaughtered his own daughter as a sacrifice to appease the Gods and show commitment to the other Kings, and it drove his wife queen of Mycanaea to near insane. When he returned from Troy years after, she went crazy and stabbed him to death.  I don't know about you, I think this is a more epic story than Achilles killing Agamemnon to save a random hottie he'd just met.
- Love scenes are just too "Hollywood". Do you actually believe that the ancient Greeks do foreplay *exactly* the way people do nowadays? Check out the subtle incest scene in Gladiator,  it leaves everyhting to the imagination, now that's storytelling.
- A great general who's lead many victories, and he has a face (butt?) like a Backstreet Boy? Keep in mind that they didn't have antiseptic at the time, so the slightest wound can get infected and many times fatal...

On the other hand, mad props to Brad Pitt's battle coreographer. The opening scene of Achilles' lightning strike and quick stab to the shoulder of the Thessalonian giant is outstanding, I wanna see that again.

Moral of the story? The Trojan War explores the sinful deeds caused by greed and lust, but furthermore it also illustrates the proper conduct in war (and life in general?): respecting your women, children, and the dead...

(Everything I know about this topic is what I remember from reading and discussing Homer's Iliad way back in the day.

D'ohhhh!

 Leave comments if I am off)