Film Review Sheet
I. Introduction
Troy directed by Wolfgang Petersen and was is written by David Benioff is a American epic period war film released in 2004. The movie length is 186 minutes. It is loosely based on Homer 's Iliad in its narration of the entire story of the decade-long Trojan War - condensed into little more than a couple of weeks - rather than just the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon in the ninth year. Achilles leads his Myrmidons along with the rest of the Greek army invading the historical city of Troy, defended by Hector 's Trojan army. The end of the film (the sack of Troy) is not taken from the Iliad, but rather from Virgil 's Aeneid as the Iliad concludes with Hector 's death and funeral.
Genre: war, action,
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Rising action:
The next morning the Greeks march on Troy, and Paris challenge Menelaus to single combat, the winner talking Helen home to settle the conflict. Agamemnon initially refuses and tells Menelaus he came for Troy not for Helen. Menelaus convinces Agamemnon to agree to Paris challenge planning to attack Troy after Paris is dead. Menelaus handily defeats the inexperienced Paris but is killed by an intervening Hector after Paris cowardly retreat. A furious Agamemnon orders his troops to attack, but are easily repelled by the Trojan force. In the aftermath of the battle, Nestor and Odysseus persuade Agamemnon to make peace with Achilles, as the Greeks are hopeless in the battle without him. Greek soldiers attempt to rape Briseis but she is saved by Achilles. That night, Achilles talks to Briseis about the gods and taunt her about becoming a priestess.
Falling Action:
While troy mourns Hector’s death, Agamemnon over the truce, despite the walls still being unbreachable. Realizing that Agamemnon would see all the Greeks slaughtered before abandoning his ambition, Odysseus plans to infiltrate the city by building a giant hollow wooden horse. Before the operation is launched, Achilles makes amends with Eudorus and orders to him to lead the Myrmidons home while he stay behind. The Greek seemingly depart and hide their ships in a nearby cove, leaving the horse behind. The Trojans take the horse for an offering by
Patroclus’ death drives Achilles to seek revenge and Achilles rejoins the battle, vowing to kill everyone related to Hector. The Greek Army, led by Achilles fight their way to Troy, where ultimately Achilles and Hector find themselves alone. Hector, backed into a corner, vows to fight, but loses his nerve as he faces the greatest
At the beginning of Book 2 of The Aeneid, Aeneas tells his story about the fall of Troy. The Greeks constructed a massive wooden horse to which the Trojans believed was an offering goddess Minerva. They then sent one of their youths, Sinon, to give the offering to the Trojans. The Trojans brought the wooden horse into to please the goddess but, the wooden horse was actually a structure to house some Greek soldiers to infiltrate Troy as well as execute a sneak attack when the city was asleep. Similar to guerrilla soldiers, the Greeks exit the wooden horse to begin their attack on the Trojan city. When Aeneas sees the city in flames, he gathers his men to attempt to save Troy. Aeneas attempts to kill as many Greeks as he can, but forced to retreat.
In the tenth year Agamemnon, being obliged to surrender his captive Chryseis, made good his loss by depriving Achilles of a favorite slave girl, Briseis. Achilles withdrew from active service to sulk in his quarters, and the Greeks were so hard pressed in consequence that they sent a deputation proposing to restore Briseis with additional rewards. Achilles rejected their offer. At length, however, he agreed to lend his arms and armor to Patroclus, who was killed by Hector in the ensuing fight. Moved to fury by the death of his friend, Achilles made peace with Agamemnon, obtained new armor from Hephaestus, and eventually killed Hector. In the Iliad Achilles is already doomed to die before the Scaean Gate of Troy, and in the Odyssey there is a reference to his funeral. According to subsequent Greek legends Achilles was killed by Paris, who shot a poisoned arrow into Achilles' heel.
In book three of Iliad, “illustrious king” (9.126) and his Achaean armies fight the Trojans to stop wife stealing but despites that he still dishonors and takes Achilles prize, Breseis. Agamemnon in the Iliad can be seen as the mortal Aphrodite. In book three of Iliad, Helen disobeyed Aphrodite and she responds with rage and so does “lord of men” (9.112) in book one. Agamemnon feels that Achilles disobeyed him, so he answers with wrath just to show “how much greater [he] [is] than [him]…. for hoping to rival [him] strength for strength” (1.219-221). His statement makes Achilles furious with rage. “Why, why in the world if not for Helen with her loose and lustrous hair? Are they the only men alive who love their wives, those sons of Atreus? Never!” (9.411-414). Achilles expresses his feeling on how contradicting the whole Trojan war is and that is he going to involve himself, it will be for Bresies only. Bresies is who he loves not
Thus, Agamemnon requests another prize. Achilles responds to Agamemnon's request, “Whatever we dragged from towns we plundered, all's been portioned out. . . . We Achaeans will pay you back, three, four times over, if Zeus will grant us the gift, somehow, someday, to raze Troy's massive ramparts to the ground” (146-153). Again, strong-willed Agamemnon refused to give up Chryseis without taking one of the other soldiers women, specifically Achilles' woman, Briseis, “if our generous Argives will give me a prize, a match for my desires, equal to what I've lost . . . But if they give me nothing I will take a prize myself-your own” (159-163). This fustrates Achilles and he threatens to withdraw from the battle and return
When the men of Agamemnon come to take Briseis, Achilles gives her up without a fight, despite how heavy his heart is at the thought of losing her. Once she is gone, Achilles withdraws from his companions and sobs, praying to his mother to understand why he is treated the way he is, why he isn’t treated with respect. His mother, hearing his laments, comes to console him, telling him that she will visit Zeus and try to sway him towards helping the Trojans and destroying the Achaeans, to make them pay for disrespecting the son of Thetis.
Achilles is also angry at having to fight another man's battle. The Trojan War is being fought because Paris stole Helen, Agamemnon's sister-in-law. In his argument with Agamemnon, Achilles points out "It wasn't Trojan spearmen who brought me here to fight. The Trojans never did me damage, not in the least" (107). Achilles' rage heightens in the argument and he declares "No, you colossal, shameless--we all followed you, to please you, to fight for you, to win your honor back from the Trojans---Menelaus and you, you dog-face!" (108). Achilles is also angry because even though he and many other soldiers are there risking their lives for Agamemnon and Menelaus, Agamemnon is sly enough to avoid personal injury. Achilles says to Agamemnon, "Never once did you arm with the troops and go to battle or risk an ambush packed with Achaea's picked men--you lack the courage, you can see death
The Iliad: Book I, is about the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon in the beginning of the Trojan War. It shows how vigorous Achilles’ rage was and that he is no one to mess with. The book states “Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed”. This shows his fury in just a few words. Achilles was a Greek hero who was the son of a Goddess named Thetis. He was an incredible solder; brave, violent and godlike. However, Agamemnon was the commander of the Achaean Army. He was greedy, aggressive and selfish. He was described as “the most grasping man alive”. He absolutely hated Achilles. I feel that he was jealous of how respected Achilles was among the ranks in the army because of his superior skills in the field of battle. Agamemnon claimed Chryseis as his prize, after sacking a Trojan town. Chryseis was a daughter of a Priest of Apollo, Chryses. He offered an enormous ransom to get his daughter back. At first Agamemnon didn’t want it but the people round him persuaded him that it would be best to let her go so they could be released from the plague that Apollo put on them. Agamemnon then poised to Achilles that he is going to steal Achilles prize, Briseis. This is when Achilles’ rage shows at its best. He nearly draws his sword to kill Agamemnon but he is stopped by the goddess, Athena.
Paris then took her back to Troy. Menelaus heard and the ex-suitors of Helen made a deal with Agamemnon saying that If the princess of Grease won that Menelaus would get Helen back and Agamemnon would get Troy. Rumors have it that Odysseus the king of Ithaca, was sent on a journey to find you and persuade you to join the war between the princes of Greece and the Trojans. Odysseus was a great persuader , and with you thirst for adventure and glory, he talked you in the joining the fight and you sailed for Troy. You took 50 ships, each carrying 50 men of your best men from your private army, the Myrmidons. Is it true that Agamemnon and you had a falling out and you withdrew from the conflict? and that the quarrel started after you had taken two women in one of your raids? and that you gave one of the women to Agamemnon. But, the girl’s father offered a ransom for the girl’s safe return. and that Agamemnon refused because the girl was a priestess of Apollo, and that the god was unhappy with this decision and sent a plague to wreak amongst the Greek camp. and that Agamemnon eventually gave back the girl, and to mourn the loss, he took your woman from you? and without you, the Greeks were fearful of loss and the Trojans gained confidence of winning from your absence, even reaching close to the walls of the Greek camp in their attacks and managing to set a few Greek ships on fire. what was your thoughts when your great friend Patroclus begged you to re-enter the war or at least allow him to lead out the Myrmidons in battle? and when you agreed was it hard to give him your armour made of gold, silver, and enamel, and the graves were of shining tin and army? and why did you make him promise only to engage in defensive action and not pursue the Trojans back to Troy? To my understanding you killed Troilus and were very smitten with Priam's daughter Polyxena. Priam decided
One last lesson Odysseus and I have both learned is how tricks can sometimes be successful, yet sometimes they can fail. When sly, cunning Odysseus built the wooden horse to send to Troy as a “surrendering” gift, the Greek who said it was an offering to Troy was convincing enough to bribe the soldiers into bringing the horse inside the walls of Troy. Then, Odysseus and his men snuck out of the horse in the night, defeated the Trojan army, and were finally
Over the thousands of years that the epic story the Iliad has survived, there has no doubt been some form of alteration to Homer’s original. Last May, Wolfgang Petersen directed a movie based on the Iliad. This movie, Troy, has proven to be a very loose adaptation of Homer’s original, as are almost all stories that are made into movies, unfortunately. With its timeless storyline, amazing scenery, gorgeous actors/actresses and most of all, its reported two hundred million dollar budget, it is easy to see why Troy was hyped up to be a box office hit. However, the film critics were harsh on this movie, as they had every right to be, and it ended up being a total flop. Compared to Homer’s Iliad, Troy is rather
In The Iliad, the first of many quarrels between Agamemnon and Achilles is ignited by Briseis and Chryseis. Because Agamemnon is forced to relinquish his prize,
Over the thousands of years that the epic story the Iliad has survived, there has no doubt been some form of alteration to Homer's original. Last May, Wolfgang Petersen directed a movie based on the Iliad. This movie, Troy, has proven to be a very loose adaptation of Homer's original, as are almost all stories that are made into movies, unfortunately. With its timeless storyline, amazing scenery, gorgeous actors/actresses and most of all, its reported two hundred million dollar budget, it is easy to see why Troy was hyped up to be a box office hit. However, the film critics were harsh on this movie, as they had every right to be, and it ended up being a total flop. Compared to Homer's Iliad, Troy is rather disappointing. But, to be
Homer’s Iliad does not fail to portray the role of the gods in the Trojan war and it also includes several magical elements within the poem. However, in the 2004 movie Troy, these significant elements are rather neglected. In addition, some of the history of the characters are changed in the film, resulting in a change of plot. Nevertheless, the portrayal of the characters, gods and magical elements in the epic and the film differentiate from each other in a multitude of ways. The differences between the two are definitely worth pointing out and discussing.
Moreover, the film is about a battle between Troy and Sparta. The whole conflict starts