Troy: The movie

[BouncyCaitian]

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/troy/large.html

Ooooh...The Illiad done in cinema

[whiteknight]

That trailer was attached to the Matrix Revolutions where I saw it. Last I had heard, they were stalled because of money problems. This certainly brightened my day. Sean Bean as Odysseus = .

[Sho-sa Kurita]

Yeah, the trailer kicked butt in the theatre.

Here's the IMDB entry so you can see who all's in it. There are many big name, and even talented people in this. Among others, let's see:

Brat Pitt as Achilles
Sean Bean as Odysseus
oh, and Sabertooth as Ajax

And directed by Mr. "Das Boot" Petersen.

[Phantom]

A little disappointed at some of the missing Heros, guess you can't have all of them. At least we have a movie that we know Sean Bean will survive.

I hope they get Paris and Hector right.

[Scottomir]

Very interesting to read the cast list. This definitely is not "The Iliad" on film because...there are no gods! You certainly can't have an adaptation of Homer's poem sans the scheming divine factions. So hopefully this movie will consciously distinguish itself from "The Iliad" and give us an imagined history rather than an empty literary adaptation. Even without Homer's gods, Troy still could be an interesting depiction of what it could have been like if these events and people were real. We know Troy existed around 1200 BC, and we know it was destroyed by fire sometime around then, but that's about it...everything else is open as fair game for historical imagination. I hope that is what they give us, not a watered down version of Homer that has a few myths but none of the gods.

Killer cast, though. Julie Christie as Thetis...hmm, do you think she'll be depicted as a divine figure or simply as Achilles' Myrmadon mama?

[SIR SIG]

Now thats an Armada of Ships

Although I didn't think the Spartan's were really big on sea power as compared to say ther Athenians.

[Sea Tyger]

Ture, but they still needed them to get across the Med. Not necessarily sea "power," per se, but an impressive troop transport fleet.

[REG]

Brad Pitt?

Oh, joy.

[SIR SIG]

Originally posted by Sea Tyger
Ture, but they still needed them to get across the Med. Not necessarily sea "power," per se, but an impressive troop transport fleet.

A very good point Sea Tyger!

It is after all in the 1100's BC, Trireme's were pretty much the boats for any job

[Scottomir]

Originally posted by SIR SIG
Although I didn't think the Spartan's were really big on sea power as compared to say ther Athenians.

Oooh, I miss teaching world history so I just have to jump in here...

Your observation about Spartans and Athenians and naval power is definitely appropriate in the 5th century BCE, in the late Hellenic period of Greece. However, the movie TROY is presumably set when its historical namesake appears to have been destroyed by fire, at the end of the Bronze Age sometime around 1150 BCE. This is the 'late Helladic' period of Greek history, when the Greek peninsula was dominated by what modern historians have called the Mycenaean culture (named after Mycenae, the chief citadel). Homer reflects this in his epic--High King Agamemnon is ruler of Mycenae. Homer identifies the Greek peoples of this time as the Danaans or Achaians. Both "Athens" and "Sparta" are names of citadels in this era, and both are at the locations of their later namesakes. The ancient Mycenaeans appear to have been mariners of some renown, possibly linked to the Minoan (Crete) martime trade network.

Around the time that Troy was sacked, though, Mycenaean civilization also collapsed (as did Minoan civilization). The late Bronze Age was a cataclysmic moment that we today only vaguely understand. What we do know is that a few decades later, probably around 11oo BCE, waves of northern Greek-speakers called the Dorians migrated into the Greek peninsula; they were once identified as the invaders who overthrew Mycenaean civilization, but most archaeologists doubt it today. Rather, they probably were migrating opportunists who picked up the pieces after the Mycenaean collapse. Most of the old citadels were destroyed, and over their ruins the Doric settlers build city-states (poleis) during the subsequent centuries. Sparta was an especially unique Doric city, because there the Dorians set themselves up as a racial elite ruling over the enslaved indigenous population of the surrounding region (likely the descendents of the older Achaian culture). Athens, on the other hand, claimed a very different historical tradition: although this has not been verified archaeologically, the Hellenic-period Athenians themselves insisted that they were never overrun by the Dorians and that they were true-blood descendents of the ancient Achaians.

The Doric Spartans eschewed naval power--indeed, they engaged in precious little merchantile shipping, too. They were entirely a land power based on their army of full-time warriors drawn from their racial elite. The Athenians, too, initially viewed themselves as a land power (it was the Athenians who won the battle of Marathon). It was not until around the year 480 BCE that the Athenians, after discovering a new silver mine, began building up a huge war fleet and training their citizens as rowers and sea-fighters. It was around this time that the "trireme" appeared as the dominant naval vessel of war, a Greek version of the swift, light vessels used by the Phoenicians (the naval force of the Persian empire).

Triremes definitely did not exist in the late Helladic period. I don't think archaeologists have ever found the wreckage of any ship that old, but even two-decked "biremes" probably do not date back to 1150 BC. The oldest warships depicted in Greek artwork are single-decked "pentekontoros", which are presumably the fifty-oared vessels mentioned by Homer. Since there does not seem to be any distinction between "rower" and "soldier", it is safe to assume that each vessel transported fifty men. If Helen truly launched a thousand ships, then the Danaan army besieging Troy numbered 50,000 men. Most unlikely.

Okay, I guess I definitely have to see this movie... It will hold me over until Hollywood screws up Alexander.

[Phantom]

Finally saw the trailer for Troy tonight. I LIKE IT! Yes, they had the wrong design for the Greek ships, but since no one really knows what a period ship looks like for 1150 BCE I can live with it...Seeing all those war ships was very stirring.

The armour and arms were a little off from what I could see, again I can live with it. Hard to show the stars face while he is wearing a Hoplite Helmet.

I have to admit that the I was disappointed when I heard it would be a "historical," rather then, a Mythological movie. I was looking forward to seeing some of the scenes with the gods fighting as well. Oh well, as a member of my old gaming group says..."It has swords, it has slayage. How can you go wrong."

[Ramage]

Personally I just like that fact that Brad Pitt was seen hobbling about on crutches near the end of shooting.

Reason?

He pulled is...

(WAIT FOR IT!)

... Achilles Tendon!

Someone alert Alanis Morrisette