Troy (R, 2004)

common sense media says

Violent, watered-down version of The Iliad.


parents & educators say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know the movie has almost-constant battle violence with graphic and brutal injuries. The weapons include knives, swords, spears, arrows, and fire. Many characters are killed. The movie also has sexual references and situations and brief nudity. A virgin priestess is made available to the soldiers for rape as part of the spoils of war, but this is unacceptable to one of the warriors.

Positive messages: The movie, which is based on The Illiad, should be about love, honor, betrayal, fate, ambition, and of course, hubris, but it is really more about fighting.
Positive role models: Not a lot of positive role models.
Violence: Extreme, intense, and graphic battle violence with swords, knives, spears, and fire; many characters brutally killed.
Sex: Sexual references and situations including threesome, reference to rape, nudity.
Language: Not applicable.
Consumerism: Not applicable.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Characters drink wine.

More on Troy

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
  • Families can talk about how this story has continued to be vital and meaningful for generations throughout the centuries. Which elements of the story are relevant to contemporary conflicts? The treatment of prisoners? The role of advisors?
  • Achilles was given the choice between a happy life and eternal fame. Why did he decide in favor of glory? What did he mean by saying that the gods envy us because we are mortal?

What's the story?

What's the story?

Prince Paris (Orlando Bloom), son of King Priam (Peter O'Toole) of Troy, steals the wife of King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) of Sparta: Helen (Diane Kruger), the most beautiful woman in the world. Menelaus and his brother, Agamemnon (Brian Cox) take the Greeks (including Brad Pitt as Achilles) to war against Troy, partly because of Helen, but more because it is an excuse to conquer the Trojans.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

The Iliad is a story about love, honor, betrayal, fate, ambition, and of course, hubris -- the adventure of the best warrior there ever was or will be. This movie is the watered-down, greatest hits, Classic Comics version. It's mostly about the fighting. And Achilles doesn't rage so much as pout and glower.

Aside from two key scenes centering on Achilles, TROY is uneven and unsatisfying. The dialogue is as inconsistent as the accents, with modern pronouncements like "we need to talk" and "do it!" alternating with ponderous approximations of classical meter. In an attempt to make one of history's greatest epic sagas manageable on screen, the movie tells us both too much and too little about what is going on and keeps reminding us about everyone's passion for a place in history but does not show us enough about who the characters are and why their destinies are so entangled.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Warner Bros.
Cast: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom
Genre: Drama
Run time: 163 minutes
Theatrical release: May 14, 2004
DVD release: January 4, 2005
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: graphic violence and some sexuality/nudity

This review was written by Nell Minow
 
 

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What parents & educators say

12

Most useful reviews by all members

 
question
i have a question im going 2 bring it in (im 12) for a greek day and i need to no if theres any real hard core sex or nudity (btw im probably going 2 only play a couple scenes) some1 please answer thank you.

 
Poor role models, of course some nudity including the threesome, nude butts here and there, cheating wives/husbands, useless violence, overall a movie with not much to offer...goes to show there are egotistical idiots even way back then.

 
Quite violent, but not bad for younger teens.

Plague
parent
 
Troy
This was a truely impressive movie. Far from a masterpiece, but very fun to watch.

Taras
adult
 
Troy Review For Mr. Stoltman's class :)
There is a movie called Troy. In the movie, it tells about a famous mythological hero. Achilles was helping Greece conquer Troy. The movie took place in Greece, but a very long time ago. It was the time when people still fought with swords and there were world leaders always trying to conquer more land. The Genre of this film is action with a bit of adventure. There was once a hero name Achilles. His father was a god from Olympus while his mom was a human oracle. One day, Greece asked Achilles to help them in the war with Troy. He went to his mother for advice. Talking to him, she said, if Achilles stays where he is now, he will live a happy life and kids. But, if he goes to war, he will take down Troy, but he will go down with it. Then next morning he left of to Troy. Achilles and his army arrive and see a Trojan temple to the Trojan god, Poseidon. They start to attack the worshipers of it and kill most of them. After a while, the king’s son comes to defend it and sees that Achilles took over it. Once Achilles sees the son come, he chops the head of the statue of Poseidon. Next morning they take their army, and decide to attack Troy. Troy’s walls are very big so it was hard for Greece to penetrate them. After a long day of fighting the Grecians come up with a very good plan. At night they craft a big wooden horse that is a sign of peace for Troy. A lot of soldiers get in it and other roll them to the Trojan gate. The Trojans accept it as a sign of peace and take it into their city. At night Achilles and his army get out and open the gates for the big army to get in. They burn the city down and run everyone out of it. Achilles goes to the highest point of the city and sees that his beloved was going to be persecuted. He runs to save her but doesn’t see a man with a bow and arrow behind him. Once Achilles gets to her, the archer shoots him in his heel and then he shoots him many times. After a while, the great hero Achilles died. After the win, all the people remember the name Achilles, for he was a great hero of Greece. The costume design was very creative and they used a lot of detail on it. It looked slim so it was like older armor with a modernistic touch. Their weapons looked like real ones and so did their shields. They could swing them so quickly and easy because they were light.

peapod1
teen, 17 years old
 
bad beyond belef
this movie has not one good thing about it. It should not have been made. Do not see this film.

adambomb252
kid, 12 years old
 
Love it. Good movie

iraoc01
parent of 10 year old
 
Inaccurate, yes. But for a child just learning about Mythology or Ancient Greece, this puts faces to names and the names are difficult enough for a kid to remember. Discuss the inaccuracies and that gets them talking we get the ykids books and, at this age, it introduces him to names, places, events. He will identify with these later, when it comes time to study. Fast forward through the dead hector part or choose then to pause for popcorn and fast forward. It's not one experience, it is all that will give him the introduction to Greek Mythology. (BTW>>>YKids..amazon..actually got him to read Treasure Island..the real book). I was on the fence about this movie. My son and I are studying Homer, and at the same time, Ancient Greece and it's mythology and warfare, etc. The whole gammit across the home school board. He loved the myths, loved Homer's works. So I have to weigh the educational benefits vs. the violence etc.I have decided to go ahead with this..I've allowed Age of Mythology and he's become familiar with many characters, places, etc. He's 9, and is pretty good about closing his eyes during romance stuff...I think he will either fall asleep from boredom (at 9 yrs. old, this is boring) or he'll learn from it. If he falls asleep, we'll wait another year. He recently watched Empire of the Sun and enjoyed it..but was somewhat bored during parts..but relayed the story well to me. You know your own child...how will they react..remember to watch it first, then watch it with them...you may have to use the pause button. We will discuss how it compares with the Greek myths. The positive role models I found were in Priam and Hector. I will be discussing their pros and cons with him.

ajax 5
adult
 
It's Great, Good and GREEK!
Hey I believe this is one of the best movies of the year. I don't know what the other reviewers were thinking but as a kid, I know that people kiss and love each other. As for the violence... PG 13 matierial for sure, I mean the worst part was the gore, which really wasn't that bad. Overall I give this movie a 11 out of 10 on quality and that anyone above 11 should be able to handle it (unless you don't like Ancient Greece or LOTR!)

Louisa B
parent of 10 year old
 
Perfect for tweens and
I think this is a perfectly appropriate movie for children 10 and up. I think at that age they know what is appropriate for them to see. It is only rated R because of all of the violence. There is barely any use of bad language and I think it is perfectly fine.

bdunn98
teen, 16 years old
 
Great movie
this was a very good movie but there was a lot of violence like when achillies kills hector

Entropy
teen, 15 years old
 
Troy
This is a really good movie! Lot's of action! Although there is some sexual content, but it is mostly implied. It will be OK for most teens.

Seminolefreak
teen, 14 years old
 
Perfect!! Awesome movie!!
My MPAA Rating: Graphic bloody violence, intense battle sequences, strong nudity/sexuality

 
Great!
I would recommend this movie to anyone who can handle movies with blood and gore. I closed my eyes at some parts. There was some sex and nudity also. This movie is not OK for kids, but think adults and mature teens will appreciate it.

Liz Perle
parent of 17 and 19 year old
 
at least my kid learned about homer
this movie was basically a repeat of lord of the rings. battle after battle which pleased my 10 year old son. a guy gets his throat cut and there's tons of blood and brad pitt's naked tush. Otherwise it's no more or less than any of the lord of the rings movies. My husband's favorite line was Will this never end? But the boys loved it. I appreciated it because we came home, brought out the oddysey and the iliad and talked about who homer was and the real trojan war. The next day my son showed one of his friends a copy of the iliad and said,"did you know that this is all one poem?" So not a total loss.

 
Not Really Bad.
So the movie was insanely historically inaccurate. How else are you going to get a record-breaking number of people out of their homes to see an adaptation of one of the oldest published poems ever written? The battle scenes were stunning, the art direction- phenomenal. The acting- not too bad. This movie's violence honestly didn't shake me at all, probably because I've seen most of the horror movies available at Blockbuster, and I'm a survivor of "Testosterone Movie Night" with my dad- every Friday! The sexual content was a little harsher for me to deal with, the near-brutal treatment of Briseis was tough. In general, nothing that you haven't seen before in the sexuality category. This movie can be my new guilty pleasure, a Hollywood-style epic that captured my attention for three hours-imagine that!- and turned a whole new generation on to the charms of the Ancient Greek empire.

purplefloyd2
teen, 18 years old
 
A good movie for people who can handle R rated movies.
This movie was very good, that is if you like blood, gore and a little bit of sex. If you have a choice whether to watch it or not, you should go unless you don't apply to the info above. If you don't apply, i would not recommend this movie to you.

dmac
teen, 18 years old
 
I loved it

 
Great Movie
Don't look at all those other reviews! This movie should not be rated R. Unless you can't take a little bit of violence and gore you should definatly see Troy. As for sexuality and nudity, all you see is half of Brad Pitts butt! This is definatly a must see for any action/battle movie fan. Everyone I know likes it!

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