Wolfgang Petersen's take on the original epic owes far more to Peter Jackson than to Homer. Unfortunately, the juxtaposition of intimate, character driven scenes with sweeping, effects-laden battles that worked so well for The Lord of the Rings fails miserably in Troy. The film is wisely not labeled an adaptation of The Illiad, but rather as "inspired by" the epic poem. For the viewer, there's very little to be inspired by on the screen.

The look and feel of the film hearken back to studio pictures of the 1950s like Ben-Hur and Cleopatra. Whether intentional or not, the picture has a grainy, worn look that stands in sharp contrast to the more polished feel of other recent epics like the Rings films and Gladiator. From beginning to end, the visual style is almost painfully consistent, though into the second hour one begins to wish for a change of scenery.

The well-read viewer has to wonder exactly what screenwriter David Benioff thought he was doing when taking such vast liberties with Homer's original tale. Key scenes are excised, others are added. The order of certain events is transposed, and characters' motivations are changed for no apparent reason. While it would have been impossible to film the story of The Illiad as written, the script for Troy does not even attempt to stay true to the original story or its themes. Benioff can get away with this, apparently, if only because Classics scholars are the only ones who will know.

The ensemble cast is a mixed bag. Eric Bana as Hector, Prince of Troy, is the real standout, mostly because he seems to be the sole character who knows exactly where he is, what he's doing, and why. Of all the speechifying that goes on in this movie, only Bana's is believable. Brad Pitt, as the semi-immortal Achilles, makes a more convincing lover than fighter. His frequent hesitation and hand-wringing makes one wonder why any solider would follow him into battle at all. As the love struck Paris, Orlando Bloom looks like he wishes he were back in Middle Earth. Sean Bean as Odysseus and Tyler Mane as Ajax the Greater do a decent job, though neither has much screen time.

The battle sequences, while impressive, don't hold a candle to those in The Two Towers and Return of the King, both of which set a new standard for exactly how large battles should be filmed. While the digital effects and CGI in the wide shoots blend nicely in with the live actors, it's nearly impossible to tell what is going on in the close-ups.

Troy wants very badly to join the ranks of the great epic films, but this is one film that just doesn't feel like an epic. What's worse, there are certain moments when we get at least a sense of how great this movie could have been, as when the thousand Greek ships arrive at the beach of Troy or when the Trojan horse is wheeled inside the city gates. For the most part, the film feels smaller than it should. The great heroes do not seem larger than life, and no one watching this film will really get a sense of what it was to be a Greek or a Trojan.