I saw "Troy" this evening.  I thought I'd share a few comments.

This movie was easily one of the most truthful and honest portrayals of humanity I have ever seen.  How many movies about war have there been?  20? 50? More?  There is a simple reason why.  People will always see movies about war because they have the singular power to evoke such a variegatied set of emotions from the audience.  Rarely, though, do I get to see a movie that is centered around a war -- but not about it.

This movie was about pain.  The pain a father feels when he sees his son stumble.  The pain a brother feels watching his sibling falter.  The pain a lover feels when he must say goodbye.  The pain a human being must endure to remain human.

It smacked of such reality, that I was taken back by the sheer ardor of life on screen.  There were no caricatures in this movie; no stock characters to move the story, stringing along the audience in a predictable way.  So stunning was this movie, that I didn't even think about the cinematics of it until I had left the theatre.  And what a shame, too. 

The acting was some of the best I've seen.  Brad Pitt did wonderfully well with his (patented) tormented soul routine.  Bloom really nailed this character like none other.  Eric Bana, playing Hector, did -- I think, the most amazing job.  Hector's character will be forever emblazoned in my memory as nothing less than a paragon of all that is noble and courageous, in such a way that I never got from reading Homer.  My favorite performance in this film, though, was Peter O'Toole's as Priam, king of Troy.  I will never forget the moment he looked over the balcany at a burning Troy with tear-soaked eyes.  I felt such an incredible loss -- not for Troy the way Priam felt -- but for Priam himself.  I can't imagine what it must be like to love something so completely and to watch it burn, like a wildfire, before your eyes. 

Wolfgang Peterson has completely renewed my faith in the possibility of the Ender's Game movie being fantastic.  If he can revive Homer's world in such a vivid and moving way, what will he accomplish with Orson Scott Card's already poignant and haunting text?

O, you nailed this commentary! I'm not one to analyze a movie, but this one I just thought was amazing. I loved what you said about Peter O'Toole's looking over the burning city of Troy, and I also think the actors did a fantabulous job. I was most impressed by the fact that the movie was not as bloody as it could have been. It could have been just as bloody as Braveheart, and for someone like me (fearful of blood) that takes away from the movie. This movie will be talked about for a very long time! Miss and luv ya, Oliver!!!