The Trojan Bore?

I’m going to see “Troy” tonight. The buzz from one critic so far isn’t all that great; supposedly it’s a dumbed-down action epic. If I recall, it was labeled “the Cliffnotes version of Homer’s works”. I don’t think that’s a total surprise, less people are probably into classical Greek epic poetry than are into something a little more “Braveheart”.

Well, fine. I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t like a good battle scene. In fact, I like them very much. Maybe too much. So, I’m all for a good war movie. There are any number of stories of war from antiquity that could have been told, but “Troy” was made, and I think the tragedy will be that it ain’t the mythology you remember from 6th grade.

The gods are left out, and at least some people I know are sad about it. Both the producers and I agree that showing a guy in a toga up there hurling down lighting bolts would be a little corny, but the movie may leave too much missing. Isn’t the ‘judgment of Paris’ myth one of the great stories of that myth cycle? That story was totally dropped. It could have at least been alluded to.

When I studied classics in college, I would often daydream of how this would look as a movie. My vision was to not show the gods but indicate their presence. For instance, as a priest prays to a god, lighting in the distance could begin striking. Maybe that’s corny too, but it’s something. I should have sold my script.

OK, maybe I’m judging before I’ve seen the film. Maybe it will be great. There are certainly possibilities for a sequel, from obviously the Odyssey to the Aeneid to even Electra. The Odyssey will be impossible to be done without the monsters, so maybe I should get working on that script.

I think the movie will have some redeeming qualities. They got the right person to play Helen if nothing else. I’ll have a more defined opinion by the end of the evening. I’ll only hope Homer isn’t rolling over in his grave.