The story of the Trojan War is given the epic treatment by Wolfgang Petersen in TROY. Both cuts of the 2004 film are presented in 4k UHD & Blu-ray by Arrow Video.
The Film
All the talk of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey as one of the success stories of the summer, along with Spider-Man and Obsession, has stirred up public discourse about the last major film to cover the fall of Troy at the hands of an Agamemnon-led Greek force. Within the post-Gladiator & Lord of the Rings “let’s try big budget 50s/60s epics again” trend, Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 film Troy, written by Game of Thrones’ David Benioff, tells the oft-told tale of the Greek siege and destruction of the now-Turkish city of Troy.
And of the short-lived 2000s epic rebirth, Troy is the best of them in both cuts. Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven is fantastic in the director’s cut, but a jumbled mess theatrically. Oliver Stone’s Alexander is a bloated monster theatrically, and more so in the extended. If you count Pirates of the Caribbean as an epic, it sank by the end (plus two more sequels, but LOTR had The Hobbit so they’re even). But Troy is solid in both the 2h40m theatrical cut and the 30-minute-longer director’s cut. It has solid takes on the characters, intrigue between them, big action sequences (with the director’s cut having barrels more blood… and some bewbs if we’re on that… and, I guess, some more character bits if we’re not being 12), and a great sense of pathos.
Yes, in some ways it’s a bit too big for its britches. But yet, I think it makes it work. Go big or go home (to Greece; might take longer for others). It’s big. It’s brash. Everyone’s playing for the fences. And I mean Everyone. That old school pulls as many big names as one can. Brad Pitt for Achilles, glowering but making it work. Two Scotsmen, Brian Cox and Brendan Gleeson, as Greek brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus (constantly mispronounced). Sean Bean as Odysseus. Epic Movie Favorite Boy Orlando Bloom (with LotR, Pirates, and Kingdom of Heaven) as Paris. A really freakin’ good Eric Bana as the conflicted and heroic Hector (the real hero of this story). Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia himself, as their dad Priam. Even some up-and-comers like Rose Byrne and Diane Kruger (a German as Helen of Troy… BLASPHEMY…there, that’s what you sound like that stupid corner of the internet). It’s all big, and everything is playing to the back row. But to Peterson’s credit, he reins them in just enough to keep from sliding into camp. Some readings of the lines are a bit overdramatic (looking at your Bloom and Kruger, but it fits their characters), but it mostly lands.
There’s a great deal of CG, as it was very much on the up and up, and used well in LotR to take something big and make it bigger, and Peterson takes the same approach with a sense of costuming and space, with as many big, practical sets. Hundreds of people piled onto beaches (and sometimes, obviously, repeated). Maybe a little overly designed, but that’s teh style. It’s for the screen, and that’s what’s wanted. And just the same as the epics it refers back to.
Interesting rewatching it (3 times with the package as it is) and seeing that my thought process on the film had shifted. Perhaps framing it around Achilles (like The Iliad) reinforced the idea that “Greeks are presented as the good guys,” which stuck in my head and never sat well. That and Paris’s cowardice. But this was far more even-handed than I remembered, with, yes, Agamemnon being very much the aggressor. As with Nolan’s The Odyssey, if one focuses on the shifts in storytelling that stray from the poems (plural, as it freely draws from the Aeneid and the story’s cultural feel), one might get upset. My biggest peeve: (here I note I once wrote a 15-page paper on the discovery of the original site during college) a 10-year story seems to be about a week here. So weird. Does it take Odysseus the same amount of time to get home? Not quite the same journey.
Troy is a solidly made, grand epic. Not without a few foibles, but it goes big in ways I appreciate. Wolfgang Peterson does well balancing all the drama and action, with the help of a Who’s Who cast. When following up Nolan’s Odyssey, a visit to a different version of the tale that precedes it with Troy can’t go wrong.
Want even more tales around this world? I recently covered Iphigenia for Radiance, a story of Agamemnon forced to sacrifice his daughter for the winds to take his fleet to Troy. It’s briefly noted in The Odyssey and ignored here. And of course, the recent proshot release of one of my favorite musicals, Hadestown, is also yet another retelling of a Greek myth. It’s an old song, from way back when. And we’re going to sing it again. Troy, Odysseus, Orpheus & Euridice. Greek Myth still makes great storytelling.
The Packaging
Arrow puts Troy on 3 discs. Discs 1 & 2 are the two cuts of the film in 4k UHD or Blu-ray (your choice). Disc 3 contains the picture-in-picture and other special features and is on Blu-ray in both editions. All three discs are housed in a black 4K case with a booklet. The sleeve is reversible, with the original Brad Pitt vs Eric Bana poster on one side and handsome, striking Trojan Horse-based art on the other. The Horse art is on the outer cover as well.
The Presenation
Both cuts look astounding. This was a big movie, and all the money was thrown at it to look great in 2004 (and was an Show Off Blu-Ray), and it still does with the new 35mm transfers. It’s a film of largesse and detail, putting it all on the screen, and damned it doesn’t look great. Those sweaty, sandy movies best show the upgrades, and this is true here. I really appreciated the darkness and the way the light moved. The sound, with original 5.1 and stereo available, is similarly great. Big, loud, epic, with all sorts of noise at all times (note the weird sound here and here in the longer cut; it has always been there). In English with English subtitles.
The Features
Arrow doesn’t provide any new extras to Troy. But what they do here is gather up the spread-out cuts and features from the handful of other releases. Before, I had the Blu-Ray double feature with Alexander. It only had the director’s cut and some featurettes, no theatrical cut, picture-in-picture, and a few of the featurettes. Weirdly, it only had the first disc of Alexander (director’s cut), so only half of that pile of trash.
Thus, this edition puts both cuts and the spread-out features in one place. And it’s no issue to have nothing new, as there is quite the volume: remember this is when studios loaded up discs after LotR and their appendices. The only thing from my Blu-ray I don’t see here is the effects bloopers, but maybe that’s the easter egg I forgot to look for.
Disc 2:
Introduction by Wolfgang Petersen;
Talks about why he returned to it – less “gotta do this, gotta do that,” and wanted to return with less pressure and time constraints (3m)
Disc 3
In Movie Experience
This Picture-in-picture track serves as commentary. Just about everyone involved, both in front and behind the camera, pops in and gives their bit of the creation. For films like this, I love the sheer creation. Arrow apparently reconstructed it and fixed it up a bit. I wish there were a few more interjections, but it’s a long movie, so that’s fine.
Troy in Focus
In 11 small parts, with lots of Peterson giving his reasons for many of the choices mixed in with some groundwork for the later features and the film’s needs. (23m)
From Ruins to Reality
Six parts: I wish this had more to do with actual ruins, but I get it. What this is mostly about is the production design: where they sourced from, what they chose to keep from actual Greek/Turkish history, and what shifted for a more cinematic look. (14m)
In the Thick of Battle
In five parts, this looks at, as the title shows, the combat. That is plentiful, and I loved seeing it. (17m)
Troy: An Effects Odyssey
Seven parts about crafting what was physically there to extended make grand or make out of whole cloth. (11m)
Attacking Troy
Three parts on adaptation: both in the Iliad itself and in how fighting was altered for the character and modern needs. (15m)
Gallery of the Gods
A look at the Greek Pantheon (11m)
Trailer (2m)
The image gallery
Stills and behind-the-scenes. I forgot to write down how many of each.
Booklet
The bound 40-page book has the norms plus extras, both archival and new. A Personal Message from Wolfgang Peterson (2004) introduces the director’s cut. A Letter to Wolfgang Peterson from Brad Pitt (2004) gets into his head a bit for Achilles. The Immortality of Troy by Priscilla Page chronicles Peterson’s passion for the project and the care that went into Troy. Casting: An Excerpt from the Original Production Notes is the basic studio notes for who’s who. Representing Helen of Troy by Laurie Maguire is an excellent breakdown of how Helen has been adapted, all the more so in light of the discourse around The Odyssey on this topic.
Final Thoughts
Troy is a good film to revisit after The Odyssey. Not nearly as good a film, very much of its time and style, but still holds up well. Arrow finally gives those of us who like features a reason not to have several copies by collecting them. And the heroes’ treatment is given to the print, making a striking visual treat.