| ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. | |
| OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
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.
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.
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.
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?
| Studio: | Warner Bros. |
| Director: | Wolfgang Petersen |
| Cast: | Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 163 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | May 14, 2004 |
| DVD release date: | January 4, 2005 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | graphic violence and some sexuality/nudity |