Troy

I really enjoy the Iliad. It's a great story, and great poetry (in the translations I read, anyway) crafted by an obvious genius.

Because of this I really wanted to go to the movie, and I was curious not only to see if it was entertaining, but to see their interpretation of the book. It was entertaining. It's almost 3 hours long, so buckle your seat belts. Some kids in my theater thought it was boring. Brad Pitt was pretty good as Achilles, most everyone I talked to before the movie thought he was perfect for the role (including myself), but I was a little irritated by his flatness in this movie. His voice just doesn't go up and down the way voices ought. Eric Bana suffered from a similar problem. O'Toole, of course, did excellently, as did Sean Bean in his limited role as Odysseus.

The tricky thing with the Iliad is making it enjoyable for an American audience used to redemptive stories. It's just not hopeful. The end of the book comes before Achille's death, but after Hectors: there's really no hope in it at all. The war has been going on for 10 years, and the end is not in sight.

In the movie, so far as the director was able, there was loads of hope and a somewhat happy ending. Homer moans from beyond Styx at that.

Silly quibbles that I have with the movie:
What was up with all that iron in a bronze age society?
What was up with all those people riding horses to battle?
No Diomedes? Bummer.
Aeneas' role is too small, and he won't be king anyway.

So.. I guess I'd recommend it if you like the Iliad or war movies. It's worth the student price.