Product Description

Brad Pitt picks up a sword and brings a muscular, brooding presence to the role of Greek warrior Achilles in this spectacular retelling of The Iliad. Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger play the legendary lovers who plunge the world into war, Eric Bana portrays the prince who dares to confront Achilles, and Peter O'Toole rules Troy as King Priam. Director Wolfgang Petersen recreates a long-ago world of bireme warships, clashing armies, the massive fortress city and the towering Trojan Horse.

DVD Features:
Featurette
Photo gallery
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2713 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2005-01-04
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .35 pounds
• Running time: 163 minutes

Amazon.com
No doubt about it, the 196-minute unrated director's cut of Troy represents a significant improvement over the film's original 162-minute theatrical release--and not just because it has more sex and violence. As director Wolfgang Petersen notes in his new "Troy Revisited" video introduction to this 2-disc special edition, he didn't have the time or directorial discretion (prior to Troy's release in 2004) to present a cut that more closely matched his vision for the film. Three years later, Petersen approached the film with a more relaxed perspective, and the result is a well-crafted expansion on a film that was previously underrated, with 30 minutes of previously unseen material. Character dynamics have been improved and intensified; the epic-scale narrative is now easier to follow, with greater emphasis on the inner turmoil of Achilles (well played by Brad Pitt) and his rivalry with Hector (Eric Bana); and viewers will feel a more satisfying escalation of tension and suspense from battle to battle. The film's enormous battle scenes (impressively enhanced with CGI) are bloodier and gorier, but they're also more effectively integrated into the political story, which goes beyond Homer's The Iliad and the death of Hector to incorporate elements of Virgil and a more revealing study of the differences between Trojan king Priam (Peter O'Toole) and his megalomanical Greek rival, king Agamemnon (Brian Cox), whose lust for revenge is now one of the film's most powerful ingredients. Some of Troy's original weaknesses remain (such as Orlando Bloom's wimpy performance as Paris), but overall, this director's cut easily justifies its existence, regardless of the film's overblown and historically inaccurate depiction of Troy as a gigantic city of massive columns and statuary. The good parts are better, and the not-so-good parts are more easily forgiven. And no matter how you cut it, Troy is a lavish feast for the eyes. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
Despite a second disc, the initial DVD release of Troy contains only 45 minutes of extras. The best of the three featurettes deals with the impressive battle sequences and the training behind them (yes, that's Brad Pitt and Eric Bana doing the entire one-on-one fight). The history of Troy and the changing production schedule (including a last-minute move to another continent, a hurricane, and Pitt's injury, coincidentally to his Achilles) certainly are rich enough sources for more in-depth features than what is on this disc. The histories of the Greek Gods are given the once-over in a ho-hum interactive feature, but the Easter egg (think Trojan horse) is a hoot. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker
Adapting Homer's mighty Iliad into a two-and-a-half-hour spectacle, the writer David Benioff and the director Wolfgang Petersen compressed events, removed the mischievous gods, and turned the legends into a comprehensible political struggle. Agamemnon (Brian Cox), the chief of the Greek expedition, uses the loss of Helen to the Trojans as an excuse to conquer the eastern Aegean. The battles in front of the walls of Troy are cataclysmic and frightening, and the duels are fought out in the open, in clear space. You can tell, as at a championship boxing match, what's at stake in turning left rather than right, feinting rather than thrusting. Surrounded by an expert cast of international actors, Brad Pitt, as Achilles, tries and fails to speak in some classy mid-Atlantic accent, but he's fast as lightning in his movements. Eric Bana, as the Trojan Hector, is slower as a fighter, more dogged and earth-bound, but he makes a fine reluctant warrior. The ladies do not distinguish themselves, and James Horner's music-wordless wailing women, hollow pounding drums-comes off as an ominous cliché. With Peter O'Toole as Priam and Orlando Bloom as Paris. Cinematography by Roger Pratt. Shot in Malta and Mexico. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

No real Achilles' Heel
Based on Homer's Illiad, there is an ironic connection to how this movie was received. Some may have been wary of another big-budget Hollywood production, and thought of the classic proverb, "beware those who would bring false gifts." The concern was unwarranted, as this movie is stunning in every way from beginning to end, and PACKED with major players from the ultimate battle movies. Warriors from 300, The Lord of the Rings, and Braveheart all do battle in one movie!

Agamemnon (Brian Cox - who was awesome in Braveheart as Argyle Wallace and showed enough range to be hilarious as Captain O'Hagan in Super Troopers) is a power hungry king who has challenged enough other kings to control most of Greece. The only land that stands in his way of controlling the Aegean is Troy, ruled by pacifist-leaning Priam (Peter O'Toole). Boromir from LOTR (Sean Bean) - plays Odysseus, a sycophant king to the now ruler of kings, Agamemnon. Odysseus just happens to be a mentor and friend to the greatest warrior ever, Achilles (Pitt). Fighting alongside Achilles is his second-in-command, Eudorus (Vincent Regan). You will recognize him as the guy who was awesome as Leonidas's captain in 300.

As peace is being worked out between Agamemnon's Greek forces and the emerging armies of Troy, two Trojan princes are treated as guests by Agamemnon: Prince Hector (Eric Bana) is his land's greatest warrior; and Prince Paris (Orlando Bloom aka Legolas from LOTR) is his younger, "Don Juan" brother. When they leave they have an extra passenger, Helen (Diane Kruger) - who is now "of Troy" but was once "of Sparta" - and the peace being discussed is destroyed because she just happens to be married to King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson - Hamish Campbell from Braveheart), Agamemnon's brother. Now disgraced, Menelaus gives Agamemnon the reason he needed for war with Troy, a previously unbreached city thought undefeatable. And, just for good measure, the rugged Campbell father from Braveheart plays Glaucus (James Cosmo), a top soldier in the Trojan Army.

If all this is confusing, don't worry; the movie is still great. Enjoy the epic war scenes similar to the movies from which they have borrowed cast members, tragically snicker at the fact that you know what the "Trojan Horse" is all about (and that the city of Troy falls to such a ridiculous trick), and revel in a classic sword battle between Achilles and Hector. Actually, try not to enjoy one battle more than others, because this movie is saturated with great action like Achilles' complete domination of the monstrous Thessalian warrior Boagrius (Nathan Jones aka Petr from The Condemned).

From beginning to end this movie is superb. The lighting, acting, scenery, musical score, costume design and casting all reflect impressively on the entire movie's efforts. I didn't care to go too much into the historical aspect of the movie, but from what I can tell all the major details fairly consistent with the truth. This is right up there with 300 and Braveheart, and is a can't miss action flick.

Should have theatrical Version!
Blu-ray discs can fit so much, yet this only has the director's cut, there is a reason why a group of people told the director that these scenes were going to be taken out and these were going to stay. The directors cut just about ruins the whole movie. Even the fight scenes, he shows them from different angle's and there is no more poetry to them. I would give this a 1 star but the original versions is one of my favorite movies, so i have to give troy 3 stars. if i were you, i'd wait until a blu-ray with both versions comes out.

Can someone show me where this is titled The Iliad and not Troy?
This is mainly a reply to all the 1 star reviews which don't take anything into account other than the inaccuracy in how this relates to The Iliad. I'm sorry that they might have raped your image from The Iliad, but this isn't a movie called The Iliad, it's called Troy. In the Iliad the siege took 9 years, does anyone actually expect something like that ever to be put to film? There is so much that would not translate well to film, I don't have a problem with other character changes they made.

Get real, this is a 'fun' movie. It wasn't made to piss you off, giving something a 1 star review based soley on how it was not completely accurate to something is ridiculous. Pull up $300 million of your own money and make it how it how it was in The Iliad and see you recoup 1% of your production cost.