Luke Consani

It seemed to start out pretty strongly with its over-the-top noirness and its smokey, grimey atmosphere. But by the half-way point, it lost any intrigue it had and gave way to something rather messy, non-sensical and bland.

(Director's Cut) I was inspired to rewatch this after seeing Nolan's Odyssey, which I wasn't a massive fan of. Something that this movie get's right that The Odyssey doesn't is that it feels like a proper epic. It just feels more lively, massive and human. It harkens to the old historical and biblical epics of the mid 20th century with its elaborate, grand and colourful production and perhaps it's the last great film of this genre. It really feels like an ancient and alive world, and while not totally historically accurate, I like the direction of the costumes and armour, with the exception of Achilles' and some oddly fitting helmets. The action scenes are also pretty decent for a Hollywood film. It earns its over 3 hour runtime and has great pacing - it gives its moments room to breath, again unlike The Odyssey. Obviously this is very different to The Iliad; there are no gods and many things are Hollywoodised. The changes to Briseis and Patroclus seem kind of weird and pointless and I would've liked to have seen the more mythological elements but I recognise that they set out not to adapt a myth but present what the Trojan War might've been like if it was a real event. All the changes are absolutely worse than the original text and keeping it more faithful would've made more sense for the events in the movie, but in a vacuum I suppose it's fine.

Very mysterious and evocative. I suppose it's not exactly entertaining as such, but it really has more in common with paintings and poetry than it does a typical movie. Certainly not for everyone, but it's worth seeing for it's strange beauty and unique vision.

A real good ol' time! I forgot how enjoyable the classic Coen brothers dialogue can be.