Here's a bit of trivia: in the 'Lord of the Rings' dramatized BBC radio broadcast, Sir Ian Holm plays Frodo. It threw me off when I first heard his voice in the movies as Bilbo.

 

Yeah, my dad got all excited when we went to see the film.

We'll finally get to see Smaug and the Lonely Mountain...

Smaug!!!

and a pile of treasure!

hey! Anyone seen Troy? I didn't, but all my friends told, it's great, Even better the LOTR...

 

As for me, I just love the Iliad, it's one of my favourites!!! And I'm afraid, that it can't be really adapted to screen.

I would like to hear some comments, from those too, who have read Homer's Iliad, and also have seen the movie. Just to know, what you guys think..

I saw it and I didn't like the movie. Sure the battle and the scenography are impressive, but the adaptation of the Iliad could have been a lot better. The turned a ten-year-war into a six-day war!!!

It was a way too hollywoodesqe perversion of the original epos, like the "happy ending", Agamennon's Death, etc... I think the screenplay could have been better or that Troy could have been made into a duology with one part dealing up to Hector's death and the other dealing with the last year of the war.

I also missed the appearance of Deities in the movies, when reading the Iliad you know that even Zeus has its doubts about the war and wants to save the Trojans... And the soundtrack, well it sound too much like LOTR.

Acting was a mixed issue, Eric Bana, Sean Bean, and Orlando Bloom and Peter O'Toole did pretty well but I didn't like Brad Pitt's, nor the girl that played Helena.

I saw it and I didn't like the movie. Sure the battle and the scenography are impressive, but the adaptation of the Iliad could have been a lot better. The turned a ten-year-war into a six-day war!!!

It was a way too hollywoodesqe perversion of the original epos, like the "happy ending", Agamennon's Death, etc... I think the screenplay could have been better or that Troy could have been made into a duology with one part dealing up to Hector's death and the other dealing with the last year of the war.

I also missed the appearance of Deities in the movies, when reading the Iliad you know that even Zeus has its doubts about the war and wants to save the Trojans... And the soundtrack, well it sound too much like LOTR.

Acting was a mixed issue, Eric Bana, Sean Bean, and Orlando Bloom and Peter O'Toole did pretty well but I didn't like Brad Pitt's, nor the girl that played Helena.

 

Yeah, I fear that the adaptation is too Hollywood-like, that's certainly not good for the Iliad. I'm supprised about your oppinion about Brad Pitt however, since I know him as a very talented actor. Of course, it could be that he just didn't felt this one.

I didn't like the way his character was portrayed, too rebellious and bloodthirsty, and Brad Pitt's acting relied to much on those two facets and ultimately lacked any "strength". Achilles in the end was only an action hero with a half-invented love-story to back him up.

 

Or it may just be that I never liked the character of Achilles...

Or it may just be that I never liked the character of Achilles...

 

Me neither. (My favourites were Tydeides, Aias and of course Odysseus) But it seems to me, that Brad played his role well again, but his role was not well written...perhaps. Thanks for your reply anyway.

I always sympathized with Hector, which may explain my dislike for Achilles, I liked Ulysses (Odysseus), but I had a problem with some of his decisions (particularly involving the issue with Achilles's armor and Ajax). The one always hated more than Achilles was Agamemnon (and the movie only intensified the hatred), well in the end he got what he deserved when he returned to Micene. [Or in Troy as the movie altered it]

Hector is obviously meant to be the more sympathetic character. Achilles is their throwing a tantrum and dragging bodies by his chariot while Hector is being a much more honorable character.

Didn't you guys think it odd to insert the Hector's sobriquet Tamer of Horses in the movie when this didn't come across at all?

Didn't you guys think it odd to insert the Hector's sobriquet Tamer of Horses in the movie when this didn't come across at all?

 

But he was called something like that in the book too...Although, I can't recall it exatly.

But he was called something like that in the book too...Although, I can't recall it exatly.

I know that... but they didn't do much with it in the movie, now did they?

No they didn't, but again after seeing all of the symbolism relating Troy to horses, they could have at least have Priam or someone else explain that a bit somewhere in the movies, so that the Tamer of Horses epithet made sense.

Yes, thats logical. You're right.

No they didn't, but again after seeing all of the symbolism relating Troy to horses, they could have at least have Priam or someone else explain that a bit somewhere in the movies, so that the Tamer of Horses epithet made sense.

This is exactly what I mean! But then again, a lot of movies have that problem. By the way, don't you agree that they could just as well have named the movie Achilles?

That's true. It's all about Achilles, but the Iliad had Achilles in the centerstage as well, it's in the Odyssey that the tale of the wooden horse is told, it's the Aenid that the story of the escape of Aeneas is told and it's a few of small tragedies by Euripides, Aeschylus, and Sofocles that the final fate of Agamennon, Menelaos, Ajax Telamonid, Andromaca and Helena is told. None of which matches the movie...

None of which matches the movie...

Somehow that doesn't surprise me...

If they had copied the Iliad exactly it would have been less satisfying for many more people. Since they didn't it's only the few who know the real story who are displeased.

If they had copied the Iliad exactly it would have been less satisfying for many more people. Since they didn't it's only the few who know the real story who are displeased.

 

...ANNNND...they would have to included the Greek Gods who started everything with that bloody beauty contest....Athena; goddess of wisdom?

 

Yeah right!

 

The Olympions were a fickle bunch of boys and girls...

Yep the whole golden apple deal...

 

EDIT:Well the apple thingy wasn't part of the Iliad itself actually...

True, the Iliad starts with the Briceida thing and makes a flashback to the beginning of the war and then ends with Hector's death.

If they had copied the Iliad exactly it would have been less satisfying for many more people. Since they didn't it's only the few who know the real story who are displeased.

You have definitely got a point there... Even as I was leaving the cinema, my friend remarked that it was funny that probably about 99% of the audience didn't realise there was an ancient story behind that movie...

 

The Olympions were a fickle bunch of boys and girls...

That's exactly the point about Gods, innit?

I think a few more of the "literary" realism couldn't have hurt that terribly, as it is it's way too hollywoodesque.

I think a few more of the "literary" realism couldn't have hurt that terribly, as it is it's way too hollywoodesque.

bWhat did you expect from a Hollywood production?!