There are some movies you see and even as you leave the theater you want to see them again. The Star Wars movies are a good example. They're light pop-corn flicks. Other movies are powerful films that are well crafted, sometimes considered master pieces. But once you see them, you don't want to see them again.
Troy is closer to the latter. I don't know if I'd call it a masterpiece but I would definitely call it a really impressive film work. It holds up pretty well to some of the classics of all time such as Sparticus or Bridge over the River Kwai. It has that majestic feel to it.
On the other hand, the bar has been raised quite a bit. As much as I like Sparticus, the movie could not compete today because it just doesn't have enough..punch to it in my opinion. It's still one of my favorites but that's partly because sub-consciously I'm cutting it slack because of when it was made. I think a lot of people who like classic movies do that as well.
Troy, as it is, would be one of those great classic movies if it had come out in 1965. As it stands, however, it is 2004 and as well crafted as the film is, it just feels like it is missing a certain something.
The movie is the adaption of Homer's famous tale of the Trojan Wars. A beautiful Greek queen has run off with the Prince of Troy. In retaliation, the Greeks mount a 1000-ship fleet. Amongst this fleet is Achiles, the greatest warrior of all time. Imagine a world where there's ONE Jedi Knight. He's him. One problem though, Achilles loathes the king of the Greek forces which creates some intereting dynamics.
The most compelling thing about the movie was the character development. Ironically though, the least compelling thing for me was the battles -- the movie's supposed strong point. They feel sterile and distant. They feel and look like battle sequences from those classic 1965 movies but with computer generated extras instead. That was fine then but we expect more today. Specifically, we expect to see the actual people battling, not super-close ups so that we just see swinging and flailing.
There just wasn't that sense of feeling like you're there. It was, again, like watching a classic movie from long ago but with special effects employed for better backgrounds. After The Lord of the Rings, I guess we are a little spoiled.
That isn't to say I didn't like the movie. I did. I just liked it for different reasons than I had anticipated. So I would recommend going to see this movie, especially if you do like classics like Sparticus. But don't go expecting to see brilliant battles.