TROY - HD DVD review

"Sing, O goddess, of the wrath of Peleus' son Achilles, the deadly wrath that brought upon the Achaeans countless woes and sent many mighty souls of heroes down to the house of Death...." --Homer, "The Iliad"

Maybe I'm in a minority liking director Wolfgang Petersen's 2004 production of "Troy." Still, the one thing I didn't care for in the original theatrical release was its length at 162 minutes. Much too long. So when I heard Petersen was going to make a Director's Cut, I hoped for the best: Maybe he'd shorten it. No such luck. Instead, he added over thirty minutes of "never-before-seen footage."

Here's how Petersen explains his new Director's Cut in a press release: "The raw power of Homer, the sex, the brutality and the uncompromising battles really come to life in this version. We went back to the way I first envisioned the film, when the full energy and impact of each scene had time to play out. Now, with great new visuals and sound design, audiences are going to have a deeper emotional experience of this literary classic. Thanks to Warner Home Video for giving me the opportunity to restore the creative integrity of my original version."

Petersen never mentions in there why Warner Bros. didn't give him the opportunity to exercise his creative integrity in the first place. I suspect they wanted a shorter and more marketable film. So did I. Or they foresaw a double-dip all along. Who knows. With this edition, it brings to seven different versions of Petersen's "Troy" that WB have to offer: SD theatrical versions in widescreen and fullscreen; an HD DVD theatrical version; an SD regular and an SD Collector's Edition of the Director's Cut; and Blu-ray and HD DVD Director's Cuts. Whew! You can't say the studio isn't giving you a choice.

But the question here is whether the Director's Cut is any better or any worse than the original theatrical release. The answer is neither. It is simply another edit of the film, incorporating more material. In a video introduction to the new cut, Petersen says that the pressure's over, so he could be more creative, giving the film more room to breathe. He tells us he expanded the relationship between Helen and Paris, their "desperate love," as he calls it, making it more emotional; and he better developed the tension between Achilles and Agamemnon. He explains that the movie is now closer to what he originally intended.

I'm not going to reveal all the changes he's made, but there are some obvious ones I'll generalize about. The first thing you'll notice is a new opening, a more sobering one involving the casualties of war. I liked it, especially the entrance of a dog in the scene. The second thing you'll find is more violence. The battle sequences are not just more intense, they're more brutal. Expect to be wiping the blood and guts from your screen for days. Petersen's third most obvious change is the addition of more sex and nudity. For instance, we now get a better idea why Helen caused such a ruckus. But for me, the most important modification is the apparent expansion of Odysseus's part. Sean Bean plays the wise and wily Odysseus, and Petersen's next good move would be to make a movie of Homer's sequel, "The Odyssey," with Bean as the lead.

Now, about the film. The trouble with any movie based on literature or history is that filmmakers invariably want to change things. When filmmakers base a movie on both literature and history, the problems only intensify. So it is with this film version of the Trojan Wars.

"Troy" is based in large part on the writings of the early Greek poet Homer in his "Iliad," in smaller part on "The Odyssey," and for the ending on a portion of the Roman poet Virgil's "Aeneid." Screenwriter David Benioff combines these literary elements with some of the historical record and with his own pure imagination. The result is not at all unsatisfactory in either the theatrical edition or this new Director's Cut, but it may frustrate anyone hoping to find in the movie either the beauty of the ancient literature or the revelations of modern archeological evidence.

The History:
According to the "Encyclopedia Britannica," the ancient city-state of Troy "commanded a strategic point at the southern entrance to the Dardanelles (Hellespont), a narrow strait linking the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea. Troy probably used its site astride these two lines of communication to exact tolls from trading vessels and other travelers using them. This practice probably accounted for the wealth of ancient Troy; it may also have been the Greeks' actual motive in waging war against the city, which chronically interfered with their trade through the Dardanelles."

"Britannica" goes on to say that "the location of Troy was well known from references in works by ancient Greek and Latin authors. But the exact site of the city remained unidentified until modern times. In 1822 Charles McLaren suggested the site of Homeric Troy, but for the next fifty years his suggestion received little attention from classical scholars, most of whom regarded the Trojan legend as a mere fictional creation based on myth, not history. The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann deserves full credit for adopting McLaren's identification and demonstrating to the world that it was correct."

The Legend:
As I've said, the filmmakers base most of "Troy" on the work of Homer, mainly in the "Iliad" and parts of the "Odyssey," with a good part of the movie's ending based on the work of Virgil in the "Aeneid." In these books we learn that the Trojan War, fought between the Greeks and Troy, began in a rather convoluted way. Paris, the son of the wealthy and powerful King Priam of Troy, was asked to judge a kind of heavenly beauty contest among the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. Each of the goddesses tried to bribe Paris to win the prize, but Aphrodite's gift was the most tempting; she promised to give Paris the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris went for it, but unfortunately the prize woman, Helen, was already married to another guy, who just happened to be a King, Menelaus of Sparta. So Paris wins Helen's love, as promised, but to keep her the young couple have to sneak back to Troy, where the Trojans welcome Helen as a queen (a princess, actually).

King Menelaus is incensed and gets his brother, Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, to mount an expedition of a 1,000 ships and 50,000 men to bring her back. The Trojans, however, refuse to give her up. The Greeks lay siege to Troy in a war that would last for ten years. The "Iliad" takes up the story in the tenth and final year of the war but provides details about previous events in flashback. The gods take sides in the war, too, with Hera, Athena, and Poseidon rallying for the Greeks and Aphrodite, Apollo, and Ares for the Trojans. Homer then tells us of a quarrel between Agamemnon and the Greeks' finest warrior, Achilles, favored of the gods; of the death of Achilles' good friend (or cousin in the movie) Patroclus; of the death of the Trojan's finest warrior, Hector; and finally of Achilles' own demise at the hands of Paris, who hits him with an arrow in his only vulnerable spot, his heel.

The war ends when as a parting gift to the gods the Greeks build a huge wooden horse concealing several Greek warriors, while the remainder of the Greek army pretends to sail away. At night, the Greeks hidden in the horse sneak out and open up the city's gates to the Greek army, who pour in and sack the place. According to legend, Priam and his remaining sons were killed and the Trojan women sold into slavery.

The Movie:
It surprises me that I liked "Troy" (in either version) as much as I did, considering there is not much more to it than flashing swords, glistening bodies, and CGI effects. I mean, it isn't the filmmakers fault that Homer chose as petulant, arrogant, and generally unlikable a figure as Achilles for his central character, even if it is the filmmakers' fault for casting Brad Pitt in the role.

"Troy" sticks mainly to the poets' stories, but it leaves out one key ingredient that has always fascinated readers for 2,500 years; namely, the gods. People in the movie talk about the gods, but we never see them. The movie tries to combine literature and history into a believable reality that would explain the influence of the gods without showing their actual presence; but in the process, the movie loses some of its mystery and adventure.

So, instead of the gods, we get Brad Pitt. You're right; it isn't a fair exchange. Pitt is youthful, handsome, muscular, and athletic, but with his long blond locks and Southern California tan he looks more ready to jump on the back of a surfboard than the back of a chariot. And why do actors in historical epics always want to speak in posh British accents, whether or not they are British? Pitt's voice inflections vary between what is presumably his own and a sort of British Shakespearean. Frankly, the less he says, the better. But, I admit, he looks good, and in the Director's Cut we do see more of him, literally.

Hence, the movie "Troy" basically reduces the poets' grand epics to the stuff of Saturday-afternoon matinees for which Ray Harryhausen used to provide the stop-motion animation. But you know what? I loved those old Harryhausen special-effects movies, and maybe that's why I like many of today's similar, big-screen, historical, CGI-filled blockbusters.

Anyway, the story line begins with Paris and Helen running away to Troy, then spends the bulk of its time on the siege, and ends with the big wooden horse, the sacking of the city, and most everyone dying. Petersen's one big concession to traditional filmmaking is reducing what Homer described as a ten-year war into a mere few weeks.

Not unexpectedly, the movie's most-veteran actors, Brian Cox and Peter O'Toole, provide some of the film's most serious dramatic moments. Cox plays the bullying, selfish, power-hungry King Agamemnon, who feels frustrated because he is able to push around everybody except his own best warrior, Achilles. He feels that Achilles would just as soon put an arrow in his back than in the enemy. And he'd be right. Homer made the Agamemnon-Achilles rancor the centerpiece of the "Iliad," and at least Cox makes it an important element in the movie, with Petersen adding a few more words in the Director's Cut to explicate the relationship further.

O'Toole plays the aged King Priam of Troy, and just listening to this actor's voice is enough to warrant the price of a movie ticket. As the old saying goes, he could make the phone book sound interesting. Priam's conversations with his sons and later with Achilles are some of the most affecting parts of the story.

Pitt is appropriately peevish and temperamental as Achilles, but he never seems particularly heroic, just foolhardy. In Greek myths, Achilles was the son of a mortal, King Peleus, and the sea nymph Thetis. One story about him is that as a baby his mother dipped into the waters of the River Styx, making him almost totally immune to wounds except for the tiny portion of his heel by which she held him. Thus, we get our expression about an "Achilles heel" being a vulnerable spot. Well, here we have no such sea-nymph mother (except that during one of the few times we see her, she is collecting shells by the seashore), and Achilles' courage in battle seems primarily to come from some innate brashness on his part. Besides being a sulker and a slacker, he's something of a reckless show-off, too. He simply says he doesn't fear death. We never know why; the movie hints he's just in for the glory. Maybe he knew that Homer and now Petersen would immortalize him. Incidentally, Julie Christie plays Achilles' mother, and it's a pity her role is so small. Like most men of my generation, I fell in love with Ms. Christie when I first saw her in "Doctor Zhivago"; she was a beautiful woman and a fine actress, and I'm happy to say that the years have not diminished either quality.

Hector (Eric Bana) is the story's most noble hero, but he doesn't get enough screen time even in this Director's Cut for the notion to sink in. Besides, for over two-and-a-half millennia people have known Achilles was going to kill him and drag his body around the city walls. Although it doesn't lessen our respect for him, it doesn't invest any confidence in him as a main character, either. As for Paris (Orlando Bloom) and Helen (Diane Kruger), they are typically naive young people, more infatuated with one another than in love. Bloom is a bit wimpy, and while Ms. Kruger is beautiful, I'm not sure she has a face that would have launched a thousand ships.

Of all the actors in the picture, though, I enjoyed Sean Bean best as Odysseus, the King of Ithaca. Homer says he was the cleverest and most cunning of the Greeks, and Bean has both the experience and the gravitas to play him that way. He is at once heroic, capable, and admirable. Now, as I've said, if Petersen wanted to direct "The Odyssey" and keep Bean in the starring role, I'd be all for it. Especially if he chose to keep the mythological fantasy element of "The Odyssey" intact.

All and all, there is much I liked about the Director's Cut of "Troy," enough to keep me occupied for the better part of the film, despite its extreme length. Foremost, I liked the spectacle. I don't know how the special effects showed up in a big movie theater, but they look quite realistic on the home screen. The armies, the fleets of ships, the huge walled city of Troy are all quite impressive. In fact, Troy is a lot bigger and more glamorous in the movie than the real-life city's ruins would indicate, but that's part of the exaggerated fun and spectacle of the show. I liked the battle scenes, which director Petersen handles with sweep and grandeur. They may lack the overall impact of the battles in "The Lord of the Rings," but they are exhilarating, nonetheless. I liked the fight between Hector and Achilles, and even though we know full well how it's going to end, the combat is intense. And I appreciated that the scenes of war themselves were even more realistically graphic this time out, without resorting to grossness or sensationalism for their own sake.

OK, so I could take or leave Brad Pitt in the pivotal role, and I missed the gods. But Petersen's adroit direction of the warfare, the general pomp and splendor of the imagery, and the acting of Cox, O'Toole, and Bean won me over. "Troy" is not a great film, not even in its new Director's Cut, but it is still an engrossing film, sometimes for the wrong reasons but close enough for Hollywood.

As far as the Director's Cut goes, do the additions substantially improve the story and make it a better motion picture? I don't know. It probably depends on whether or not you liked the film to begin with. If you did, you'll like the new cut even more. If you didn't like it, nothing will help. I appreciated the added material, and I didn't notice that the film was any longer. Heck, it already started out long, so what's another half an hour? It's an epic, and epics are supposed to be long. You take things for what they are.

Video:
The picture quality in standard definition was already excellent, and, not surprisingly, the HD DVD outshines it. The screen size equals the movie's 2.40:1 theatrical ratio (measuring about 2.26:1 across my television, given its small degree of overscan), and almost everything about the image is first-rate. What impresses me most about this video is the naturalness of the colors. While they can be bright and deep, with solid black levels, they are never gaudy as in so many modern motion pictures. They simply look realistic, often filmed in what appears to be natural light; yet detail is clearly visible even in the darkest scenes. The blues of the sea are especially rich, as are the sands of the plains and other earth tones. There is good definition, of course, if sometimes a trifle soft, probably a condition of the original print; there is little or no grain; and there are practically no moiré effects, rippling lines. Pitt shows some rippling muscles, true, but there's nary a distortion in sight. I love high definition.

Audio:
As on WB's previous HD DVD release of "Troy," the studio includes both Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and they are splendid. The frequency response is remarkably wide, from the highest treble to the deepest bass, the latter making itself eminently manifest during the opening title music. The dynamics are strong and forceful, with a sharpness of attack that is as impressive as almost any movie soundtrack you'll hear. The impression one gets from both DD+ and TrueHD 5.1 is of clean, clear sonics, certainly cleaner and clearer than in regular Dolby Digital 5.1. The front-channel stereo spread is broad, the lows are taut, and the surrounds fill the listening area 360 degrees with the noises of war, the clash of armies, and the activity of men and equipment. Yet it is done with restraint and never overpowering. The advantage I hear with TrueHD 5.1 is slightly greater smoothness and openness and a more-incisive transient response.

Note, however, that Dolby Digital Plus is the movie's default audio; if you're going to use TrueHD, remember to select it from the disc menu.

Extras:
Besides improved picture and sound, another advantage of HD DVD is that a single disc can usually embrace an entire feature film, even one as long as this Director's cut, plus have room left over for extras. Moreover, we get forty-five scene selections; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, and Korean subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

In addition, the disc contains all of the bonus items found on the second disc of the SD Special Edition. These begin with a two-and-a-half minute introduction by director Wolfgang Petersen, in HD, and a number of brief but worthwhile featurettes in standard definition. The first featurette is an eleven-part, making-of documentary, "Troy in Focus." It contains, in order, "Adapting Homer," about two minutes; "On Set With Brad Pitt," two minutes; "Casting Helen," a little over a minute; "Agamemnon," three minutes; and "From Malta to Mexico," three minutes; "Battles and Weapons," two minutes; "Hector and Ajax," one minute; "Breiseis and Achilles," two minutes; "Two Great Warriors," one minute; "A King's Request," two minutes; and "The Trojan Horse," two minutes. Fortunately, there are "Play All" features to make this stuff more manageable. Next is another multipart, behind-the-scenes sequence, the seventeen-minute "In The Thick of the Battle," that shows us how the filmmakers created some of the action sequences. After that is a fourteen-minute, six-part extra, "From Ruins to Reality," that explains how archaeologists found the ruins of ancient Troy and excavated them, and how the moviemakers fashioned their own design for the city. After that is "Troy: An Effects Odyssey," seven parts, revealing how the filmmakers created some of the movie's visual effects. Then, there is the three-part "Attacking Troy" that includes "Homer, A Story for the Ages," seven minutes; "Designing a Fighting Style," six minutes; and "Flipping the Chariot," two minutes; followed by a cute CGI bit called "Greek Ship Towing" that you won't want to miss. Finally, there is a widescreen theatrical trailer.

As always with WB's HD DVDs, the disc also includes pop-up menus, a guide to elapsed time, a zoom-and-pan feature, bookmarks, and an Elite Red HD case.

Parting Thoughts:
I'm not sure what I expected from the Director's Cut of "Troy," since I already thought the theatrical version was too long. While "Troy" turned out to be a better picture than I thought it was going to be, it was not quite the rousing swashbuckler I was hoping for nor the thrilling romance. Yet despite these disappointments and the question of so characteristically a Tinseltown star in the lead, I found myself moved by the spectacle, moved by director Petersen's forward pace, moved by the big battle scenes, and moved by several of the supporting performances. The Director's Cut gives us even more of the same. It does not change the story, nor does it reveal much about the characters we didn't already know. But in its favor, the additional moments of carnage, sex, nudity, and Sean Bean do no harm to the film.

"Troy," the Director's Cut, may not be the most awe-inspiring sword-and-sandals epic ever made, but enough of it worked in this HD DVD edition to keep me interested for the movie's three-and-a-quarter hours duration. I did not leave dissatisfied.