Film

Troy

Name: Troy
Genre: Action, Adventure
Released: 2004
Cast: Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Brian Cox, Sean Bean

This is Hollywood's Bronze Age blockbuster: the Iliad's gods stripped out, its ten-year siege compressed into weeks, and Brad Pitt's Achilles turned into pure, sulking star power. It's less myth than spectacle — oiled bodies, mass battles on a beach, Peter O'Toole's grief as Priam the one note of real feeling. Watch it for scale and swagger, not for Homer.

TMDb rating

7.2

If you liked this

Gladiator2000

Same swagger, same sand, but Ridley Scott gives the vengeance plot an emotional spine Troy never bothers with — Russell Crowe's Maximus carries grief and rage in equal measure.

But It's just as long and just as fond of slow-motion sword-swings; if you wanted less brooding, this won't give it to you.

Kingdom of Heaven2005

Scott again, this time crusading Jerusalem, with the same widescreen battles and moral seriousness about men fighting for causes bigger than themselves.

But The theatrical cut is famously gutted; you'll want the director's cut, and even that runs past three hours.

3002007

Strip away the history entirely and you get pure, stylised bloodlust — Spartans as sculpted gods, slow-mo spears, a soundtrack that never lets up.

But It's comic-book macho to the point of self-parody; anyone hoping for nuance should look elsewhere.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Trojan Women1971no page yet

It's the same siege of Troy, told by the people the film never gives a voice to — the wives and mothers left in the wreckage of Achilles' glory.

Michael Cacoyannis adapts Euripides straight: Hecuba, Andromache and Cassandra sit in the ashes of Troy and grieve, negotiate, rage — the war Troy glorifies seen entirely from the losing side's women.

But There's no battle, no romance, just devastating monologues; if you wanted spectacle this offers none.

Alexander2004no page yet

Same year, same ancient-world ambition, Colin Farrell's conqueror wrestling with empire and ego across Persia and India in a much messier, stranger film.

But It's a genuine mess — tonally uneven, oddly wigged, and was recut multiple times trying to fix it.

Braveheart1995

Swap Troy's beach for Scottish highlands and you get the same formula — doomed love, tribal war, a leading man martyring himself for freedom.

But Mel Gibson's history is fast and loose, and the film's earnestness can tip into melodrama.

Spartacus2010

If Troy's oiled bodies and gladiatorial violence were the appeal, this leans all the way in — bloodier, campier, unapologetically pulpy across four seasons.

But The style is deliberately trashy — stylised gore, blunt dialogue — nothing like Troy's straight-faced seriousness.

The Last Samurai2003

Another star import into a foreign war, another code of honour under pressure — Tom Cruise's American mercenary finds meaning fighting samurai in 1870s Japan.

But It's a white-saviour story that hasn't aged well, and the pacing sags in its middle third.

King Arthur2004no page yet

Same year, same studio playbook — myth demythologised, muddy battles, a cast of future stars playing legendary names stripped of magic.

But It's the lesser cousin of Troy in almost every way — flatter characters, cheaper-looking spectacle.

Rome2005

For the same ancient-world density but sharper writing, this gives you politics, sex and violence across Republic-era Rome with performances that actually earn the toga drama.

But Two seasons and it's cancelled mid-story — the ending leaves real history unfinished on screen.

In Search of the Trojan War1985no page yet

Troy the film treats the war as plain fact; this asks the more interesting question the film skips entirely — did any of it actually happen?

Historian Michael Wood spends six episodes chasing the real archaeology behind Homer — Hittite tablets, Bronze Age ruins, the actual Troy beneath the myth — with infectious, old-school curiosity.

But It's 1980s BBC documentary pacing: talking heads, dusty sites, no dramatization whatsoever.

Helen of Troy1956no page yet

Same myth, same story beats, made half a century earlier with none of Troy's cynicism — a chance to see what Hollywood thought this legend meant before gods were optional and abs were mandatory.

The 1950s Hollywood version of the same story — Rossana Podestà's Helen is a genuine romantic heroine, not a pretext for war, and the Cinemascope spectacle has its own creaky, sincere charm.

But The effects and acting are of their era — stiff, stagey, occasionally unintentionally funny by modern standards.