Troy (film)

In Ancient Greece, King Agamemnon of Mycenae finally unites the Greek kingdoms after decades of warfare, forming a loose alliance under his rule. Achilles, a heroic Greek warrior who has given Agamemnon many victories, deeply despises him. Meanwhile, Prince Hector of Troy and his younger brother Paris negotiate a peace treaty with Menelaus, King of Sparta. However, Paris is having an affair with Menelaus' wife, Queen Helen, and smuggles her aboard their home-bound vessel. Upon learning of this, Menelaus meets with Agamemnon, his elder brother, and asks him to help take Troy to avenge his honor by killing Paris and Helen. Agamemnon agrees, as conquering Troy will give him control of the Aegean Sea. Agamemnon has Odysseus, King of Ithaca, persuade Achilles to join them. Achilles eventually decides to go after his mother Thetis tells him that, though he will die, he will be forever glorified.

In Troy, King Priam welcomes Helen when Hector and Paris return home, and decides to prepare for war. The Greeks eventually invade and take the Trojan beach, thanks largely to Achilles and his Myrmidons. Achilles has the temple of Apollo sacked, and claims Briseis — a priestess and the cousin of Paris and Hector — as a prisoner. He is angered when Agamemnon spitefully takes her from him, and decides that he will not aid Agamemnon in the siege.

The Trojan and Greek armies meet outside the walls of Troy. During a parley, Paris offers to duel Menelaus for Helen's hand in exchange for the city being spared. Agamemnon, intending to take the city regardless of the outcome, accepts. Menelaus wounds Paris and almost kills him, but is himself killed by Hector who breaks the rules of mortal combat to save his brother. An enraged Agamemnon orders the Greeks to crush the Trojan army. The battle however is a disaster for the Greeks; the highly trained and disciplined Trojan army, supported by their archers from the city walls, easily withstands the assault and the Greek forces are hurled back with heavy losses. During the melee, Hector spots and engages the Greek king Ajax, who is killed by Hector after a fierce duel. With Greek casualties rapidly mounting and the Trojans mounting a ferocious counter-attack, Agamemnon furiously opts to retreat at Odysseus' urging. He gives Briseis to the Greek soldiers for their amusement, but Achilles saves her. Later that night, Briseis sneaks into Achilles' quarters to kill him; instead, she falls for him and they become lovers. Achilles then resolves to leave Troy, much to the dismay of Patroclus, his cousin and protégé.

Despite Hector's objections, Priam orders him to retake the Trojan beach and force the Greeks home, but the attack unifies the Greeks, the armies charge at one another and clash violently . Hector slashes through the Greek lines and duels a man he believes to be Achilles and kills him, only to discover it was actually Patroclus clad in Achilles' armor and weaponry. Distraught, both armies agree to stop fighting for the day. Achilles is informed of his cousin's death and vows revenge, much to Agamemnon's delight. Wary of Achilles, Hector shows his wife Andromache a secret tunnel beneath Troy. Should he die and the city fall, he instructs her to take their child and any survivors out of the city to Mount Ida.

The next day, Achilles arrives outside Troy and challenges Hector; the two duel until Hector is killed, and Achilles drags his corpse back to the Trojan beach. Later that night, Priam sneaks into the camp and implores Achilles to return Hector's body for a proper funeral. Ashamed of his actions and moved by Priam's noble humility (in stark contrast to Agamemnon's despotic arrogance) and love for his dead son, Achilles agrees and allows Briseis to return to Troy with Priam, promising a twelve-day truce so that Hector's funeral rites may be held in peace. He also orders his faithful lieutenant, Eudorus, to take his men and return home without him.

Agamemnon declares that he will take Troy regardless of the cost. Concerned, Odysseus concocts a plan to infiltrate the city: he has the Greeks build a gigantic wooden horse as a peace offering and abandon the Trojan beach, hiding their ships in a nearby cove in order to fool the Trojans into thinking they had abandoned the war. Priam orders the horse be brought into the city, despite Paris imploring his father to burn the effigy instead. That night, Greeks hiding inside the horse emerge and open the city gates for the Greek army, commencing the Sack of Troy. The men of the city fight bravely to defend their homes while the women and children are massacred and enslaved . As the Greeks slaughter the people of the lower city Andromache and Helen guide the Trojans to safety through the tunnel, Paris gives the Sword of Troy to Aeneas, instructing him to protect the Trojans and find them a new home. As the Greek army penetrates the upper city Glaucas leads the Trojan warriors in a valiant last stand. The soldiers outside the palace bravely fight the Greeks but are ultimately overwhelmed and slain. When the Greeks break down the palace gate Glaucas and his men choose to die fighting with Glaucas himself killed by Odysseus who stabs him in the back. Agamemnon kills Priam and captures Briseis, who kills Agamemnon by stabbing him in the neck with a hidden knife. Achilles fights his way through the city and reunites with Briseis. Paris, seeking to avenge his brother, shoots an arrow through Achilles' heel and then several into his body. Achilles bids farewell to Briseis, and watches her flee with Paris before dying. He is discovered shortly after by the Greek forces, stunned that their greatest warrior now lies dead.

In the aftermath, Troy is finally taken by the Greeks and a funeral is held for Achilles, during which Odysseus personally cremates his body and celebrates the great warriors whose names will forever go down in history for fighting in the war.

The city of Troy was built in the Mediterranean island of Malta at Fort Ricasoli from April to June 2003.[8] Other important scenes were shot in Mellieħa, a small town in the north of Malta, and on the small island of Comino. The outer walls of Troy were built and filmed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.[9] Film production was disrupted for a period after Hurricane Marty affected filming areas.[10] The role of Briseis was initially offered to Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, but she turned it down because she was not comfortable doing the lovemaking scenes that were included. The role eventually went to Rose Byrne.

Composer Gabriel Yared originally worked on the score for Troy for over a year, having been hired by the director, Wolfgang Petersen. Tanja Carovska provided vocals on various portions of the music, as she later would on composer James Horner's version of the soundtrack. However, the reactions at test screenings which used an incomplete version of the score were negative, and in less than a day Yared was off the project without a chance to fix or change his music.[11] James Horner composed a replacement score in about four weeks. He used Carovska's vocals again and also included traditional Eastern Mediterranean music and brass instruments. Horner also collaborated with American singer-songwriter Josh Groban and lyricist Cynthia Weil to write an original song for the film's end credits. The product of this collaboration, "Remember Me", was performed by Groban with additional vocals by Carovska.

The soundtrack for the film was released on May 11, 2004, through Reprise Records.

Troy: Director's Cut was screened at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival on February 17, 2007, and received a limited release in Germany in April 2007. Warner Home Video reportedly spent more than $1 million for the director's cut, which includes "at least 1,000 new cuts" or almost 30 minutes extra footage (with a new running time of 196 minutes). The DVD was released on September 18, 2007, in the US. The score of the film was changed dramatically, with many of the female vocals being cut. An addition to the music is the use of Danny Elfman's theme for Planet of the Apes during the pivotal fight between Hector and Achilles in front of the Gates of Troy. Josh Groban's song was removed from the end credits as well.

Various shots were recut and extended. For instance, the love scene between Helen and Paris was reframed to include more nudity of Diane Kruger. The love scene between Achilles and Briseis is also extended. Only one scene was removed: the scene where Helen tends to the wound of Paris is taken out. The battle scenes were also extended, depicting more violence and gore, including much more of Ajax's bloody rampage on the Trojans during the initial attack by the Greek Army. Perhaps most significant was the sacking of Troy, barely present in the theatrical cut, but shown fully here, depicting the soldiers raping women and murdering babies. Characters were provided more time to develop, specifically Priam and Odysseus, the latter being given a humorous introduction scene. More emphasis is given to the internal conflict in Troy between the priests, who believe in omens and signs from the gods to determine the outcome of the war, and military commanders, who believe in practical battle strategies to achieve victory. Lastly, bookend scenes were added: the beginning being a soldier's dog finding its dead master and the end including a sequence where the few surviving Trojans escape to Mount Ida.

There are frequent differences between the Iliad and Troy, most notably relating to the final fates of Paris, Helen, Agamemnon, Achilles, and Menelaus. In one of the commentary sequences, the film's writer, David Benioff, said that when it came to deciding whether to follow the Iliad or to do what was best for the film, they always decided what was best for the film.

Troy was released on DVD and VHS on January 4, 2005.[12] The director's cut was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 18, 2007.[13][14] The directors cut is the only edition of the film available on Blu-ray, however the theatrical cut was released on HD-DVD.

• Sword-and-sandal
• Epic film
• Greek mythology in popular culture
• List of films based on poems
• List of historical period drama films

• Petersen, Daniel (2006). Troja: Embedded im Troianischen Krieg (Troy: Embedded in the Trojan War). HörGut! Verlag. ISBN 3-938230-99-1.
• Winkler, Martin M. (2006). Troy: From Homer's Iliad to Hollywood Epic. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-3183-7.
• Proch, Celina/Kleu, Michael (2013). Models of Maculinities in Troy: Achilles, Hector and Their Female Partners, in: A.-B. Renger/J. Solomon (ed.): Ancient Worlds in Film and Television. Gender and Politics, Brill, pp. 175–193, ISBN 9789004183209.

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Troy (film).

• Official website
• Troy at IMDb 
• Troy at the TCM Movie Database
• Troy at AllMovie
• Troy at Rotten Tomatoes
• Troy at Metacritic
• Troy at Box Office Mojo