Troy 2004

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: The real strength of Troy rests in how everything on screen appears within the realm of possibility. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Despite all its oversized spectacle, the movie feels small and unimportant, just the latest in a growing trend of large-scale, ancient-war epics. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: As summer-movie entertainment, Troy delivers the Trojan horse, and then some. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: In a league with Hollywood's top historical epics, ancient or otherwise. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... several of the scenes are just some of the best battle scenes I've seen in a long time. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: While the movie may not be deeply moving, it never lacks for speed or clarity. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: This hulking, flawed epic stomps about with furious thunder, managing to entertain even as director Wolfgang Petersen turns parts of Homer's epic poem into an afternoon soap opera. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: What's missing from the experience is the poetry only a director can bring to an enterprise this sprawling. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Although screenwriter Benioff's attempt to make the dialogue contemporary is sincere enough, the final product is flat and soap opera-like more often than not. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Achilles is cute and all, and he knows how to fight -- he apparently learned his stuff from Hong Kong action movies -- but there's nothing dramatically compelling about the way he's presented here. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: There is a lot of guts and glory here, but not a lot of heart. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Thanks to Bana and O'Toole, Troy partakes in the power and pleasure of a story with such classic pedigree. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A pageant long but not deep, noisy but not stirring, expensive but not sumptuous. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Such a tame and timid epic -- it's all meek to me. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Mr. Petersen achieves a noble mood of dignity. Dignity is a forgotten virtue with many contemporary filmmakers, but he manages a majestic overview of both the glory and the folly of combat. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Turgid Homeric hodgepodge. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: It does possess the aura of the ancient -- at least within the parameters of the Hollywood epic. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: A fairly routine action picture with an advanced case of grandeuritis. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Surrender to the testosterone-fueled story ... and Troy delivers some grand epic treats. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: There are breathtaking vistas, taut political intrigues, dangerous romantic liaisons and one of the greatest wardrobes ever assembled for a costume drama. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: It's massive, opulent, passionate and -- unlike most summer time-wasters -- surprisingly intelligent. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: This big, expensive, intermittently campy example of Hollywood Homerism is desperate to be regarded as a classic. It isn't, but it's not so bad either. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Epic in the best, old-fashioned sense. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: All of the visual majesty that hundreds of millions of dollars can buy cannot obscure the perfunctory and unsatisfying development of the major characters. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie sidesteps the existence of the Greek gods, turns its heroes into action movie cliches and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Troy isn't so much a simplified retelling of The Iliad as a re-imagined version of it, told wholly without imagination. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: All Hollywood and no Homer, but within its limits, it's a vigorous, entertaining movie. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: Often plays like what it is: a clunky toga-and-sandals picture, with Hollywood compromises abounding. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The opening scene involves two thousand-man armies marching determinedly toward each other across a field the size of Rhode Island. And that's one of the more modest battles. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Solid entertainment, true to the '50s formalism that so inspires its grand production design, ornate costumes, proverbial cast of thousands and sometimes painfully earnest dialogue. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: This is The Iliad as a WWE SmackDown: violent fights, snappy insults and a connoisseur's idolatry of beautiful brawn. Read more

Jessica Winter, Time Out: A numbingly reliable tick-tock of expository set pieces alternating with vast CGI-aided battle scenes. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A gripping, well-told adaptation of one of the oldest human dramas. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Despite a sensationally attractive cast and an array of well-staged combat scenes presented on a vast scale, Petersen's highly telescoped rendition of the Trojan War lurches ahead in fits and starts for much of its hefty running time, to OK effect. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: As a war movie, Troy is strangely noncommittal -- the slaughter has a numb, ineffective, over-processed tone to it. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: In a role that requires larger-than-life dimensions, [Pitt's] pretty terrific. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Offers several popcorn buckets' worth of good old-fashioned time at the movies. Read more