I managed to see this movie with a friend of mine just before it left the theatres. Now the story as you’ll all know is based on the legend of Helen of Troy.
In the movie, Eric Bana plays Hector, one of the princes of Troy who along with his brother, Paris(Orlando Bloom), visits the kingdom of Sparta. Paris steals Menelaus’s(ruler of Sparta) wife and takes her back to Troy with his brother. Menelaus seeks his brothers help. His brother, Agamemnon, is the ruler of the entire kingdom of Greece and assembles armies from all nations under his control to conquer Troy.
The makers of the movie have taken a lot of creative licence with the story. For example, in the book ’The Illiad’ on which the story is based, Achilles takes as a trophy, Briseis, the daughter of the ruler of one of the towns they sack. Agamemnon also takes a trophy, the daughter of one of the priests of another Trojan town they also sack. When the Greek army later suffers a plague the priests daughter is returned to her father to appease the gods and Agamemnon takes instead Briseis, making Achilles hate him. The movie, on the other hand, shows Briseis being Priams niece and a priestess. They combine two characters into one.
Many other changes can be noticed when you compare the book and the movie, not all of them good ones. A lot of the other main characters like Diomedes were left out of the picture. Also Nestor might have been given a larger role.
The movie was OK as far as action and special effects was concerned. But the script was completely terrible. Seriously, I’ve never heard so many bad lines in so short a time in my life. The movie was a bit disappointing when you look back at it. It failed to show the thoughts and anguish felt by characters like Achilles, Hector, etc.
It’s sad to see such a great story almost gone to waste by mediocre film making.