Cinepals - TROY Movie Reaction & Review!

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

Achara and Steph watch Wolfgang Petersen's epic Troy, an adaptation of Homer's Illiad for the very first time. Troy stars Brad Pitt (Bullet Train, Mr & Mrs Smith, Fight Club) as Achilles, Eric Bana (Hulk, Munich) as Hector, Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Pirates of the Caribbean) as Paris, Brian Cox (Succession) as Agamemnon and Diane Kruger (Inglorious Basterds, National Treasure) as Helen. Join our Patreon https://www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay or become a YouTube member for access to full length watchalong reactions! SOCIAL MEDIA ~STEPH SABRAW~ Instagram:  @StephSabraw  YouTube:  @TheWhirlGirls  ~ACHARA KIRK~ Twitter & Instagram:  @Acharakirk  YouTube:  @Achara  ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals

Do you know anything about Troy? Yes, in terms of Greek mythology, a little bit. All I know is Helen of Troy caused a war because she had a face. Something about a face with a thousand ships. She was so hot that two guys were like, I will die and let other people die for her. Yeah. I can relate. Let them say

I lived in the time of Achilles Mm-hmm Wow Dang David Benny off All right That makes sense Oh yeah

The I'lliad which I have not read Iliad or the Odyssey Yeah well that is the Odyssey isn't it The Iliad is the Odyssey Part of it Yeah Damn

Wow I'm so pleased That I finally watch this movie Because I'm like Why didn't I watch it before I don't know For whatever reason I didn't watch this sooner But now I'm like

Oh my God What a movie It's incredible I think I was like Slightly concerned Just about Brad Pitt Taking on this role But I really, really liked him in this movie.

I thought that he, I mean, at first, his accent, I was a little bit like, oh, it's slightly iffy. But then, you know, after a while, it's like, it is what it is. It's fine. But his just what he brought to the character was so great because he had that kind of arrogance that made you go, oh, you're such a dick. Also, that sweetness as well and balanced out, you're just like. Like, Achilles, you're the man. Right. And you're amazing.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Totally. Yeah, he had a really grounded performance for how dramatic of a character. Yeah. He was. I really, yeah, it was well done. And I can't believe how well the fight scenes were with him.

I mean, he really is an action star. It's crazy. And Banna, Eric Banner. Yeah. Banner, it was so good, too. The whole cast was incredible. Amazing. I mean, really. And it just dealt with so many of our human errors in such a dramatic and horrible and sad way. I mean, the source material, right? It's so good. It's so rich. Anytime you're pulling from, you know, ancient Greece, there's going to be so much drama to pull from. There's so many interesting characters and storylines. And it is usually pretty.

sad. Yeah. Like, you know, but yeah, it is interesting, like this idea of immortality, like, how do we live on after all of, you know, after our natural life is over and how do we become legend? That was an interesting theme. And also there's an excellent use of dramatic irony in the movie. And I think this happens a lot in, you know, classical literature is.

we can see the mistakes that the characters are making. And we know what the F is going on. And it's like, oh my God, please, please don't do this. And yet they do it anyway, which as far as I'm aware is like the classic use of dramatic irony, at least from what I learned in literature class. And so there was so many moments in this movie where we were just like, no, that is the wrong. choice do not go down this path this is the wrong one and yet again and again it's like you just

see them do it and it's just frustrating it's so because from the beginning you know this is going to be a frustrating tale of human error yeah and where we go wrong specifically with pride i think that is the human condition that we all must face i mean hubris is is a massive thing in in a lot of like you know ancient greek and shakespearean stories it's like usually that is the downfall and you see this here with paris with achilles with priam it's like oh guys stop you all are getting too proud right if you just called it every guy basically yeah if you just called it if you just stopped this stupid war if you just went home when you lost the first time then maybe no this would have happened and said everybody died for more land yeah which is still happening yeah

crazy we never learn we never learn and we watch in movies and we know like you were saying we know exactly where they're going wrong we were like I wish I was there to say stop yet all of our leaders are the same yeah and it's it's like frustrating as well being able to kind of see it all play out like even Achilles dying in the end it's like like no you don't understand but like everything that's happening you know from the very beginning and it's just all snowballing up until the end and like we can see you know like for instance when Achilles cousin wears the armor and commands his army and then ends up getting killed like we already know hector already knows yeah everyone's just like oh shit this is the

Everyone lost. The course of events. Right. This is the direction we're going in. And it, like, there is a sense of perhaps destiny of, but it really, it's just like, people made choices and then consequences. And then consequences have, totally. Yeah.

And then on the other end of things, the scale of this film was just so spectacular. Phenomenal. It just is one of the best looking films, really. I don't think they could have, I know they wouldn't have made it better today because I know they would have made it way more FX driven. Yeah, I mean, this was 20 years ago when it came out. So I would imagine that most of that was just like real people and you do get the sense of just, yeah, like you said, the scale. And then also you extrapolate that and you go, oh, what would it have been like to have been in a real war during those times? and you just see just like the mess, the skirmish of people, just bodies against bodies against bodies.

Like, it's so intense. And the fight scenes that they had, like, I think my favorite fight scene was the one that you said with Hector and Achilles. Achilles felt like a superhero. Yeah. The way he was moving and everything. Like, I really liked the fight language that they were using for him because he had, like, a very specific way that he moved. It's like a dance. Yeah.

And it made sense for his character. Like, because there was stuff that he was doing with his leg where, you know, Hector would come at him with the sword and then he'd like move his leg and it was like a dance, but that was something that he did specifically. And so it was cool because it was believable for that character because he was that guy. And they set it up in the training with his cousin where he's like, I told you that you shouldn't swap the grip on the sword. But once you know all the rules, then you can break them. And he's out there just doing his own things. thing. And you can see the difference between his style of fighting and Hector's style of fighting, which is a lot more straightforward and like, no, this is how we're trained to fight. Yeah. I like the differences in the characters, though. One is a combat head-to-head fighter better than anyone in the world. And one was maybe perhaps the greatest commander of the time. And that's like when you read the art of war, there's so many different aspects of war. And so I, that's why I was shocked about Achilles' choice

in not respecting him in that moment. Yeah. Because there was such a deep respect for one another and he was so blinded by rage that he had shortly but importantly and unforgettably turned into a monster. Yeah.

And that had consequences as well. But I mean I think Brad Pitt handled it so well because when he was in that moment of just pure rage and he's like, you know, Lions don't deal with people. You know, you saw him as this just awful, violent human.

And then later on, after the king comes to him and pleads for his son, it's like, you see how that affects him. Like, I love the subtlety in Brad Pitt's acting where I saw him, like, nearly cry. And, like, Peter O'Toole was incredible in that moment as well. I was just like, oh, my God. what an incredible actor yeah the despair and the grief it was so hurtful yeah and and and for him to come to the man who killed his son and he's like I'm kissing the hands of the man who killed my son like please just let me bring him back I was like oh my god I'm so incredibly moved by this and like of course

I'm not surprised that Brad Pitt also couldn't help but be moved by that as well right right You know? Yeah, his humanity was brought back at that moment. And then I also love the use of music. It's so crazy because when you're watching something where the music is bad, it ruins it for you. Yeah. But when you're watching something that's so good and the music is great, you like barely notice it. And this one had like very huge operatic music that was much like gladiator style, you know.

But then it had these moments of silence that really took you out, like into the battle. Yeah, and I thought as well, like the choice to use that same kind of music that they had at the beginning of the movie in the scenes where Troy is sacked, I thought that was actually really good because like we don't need to hear everyone screaming or whatever. It's it's like more dramatic to have that like those voices singing and then like everybody just dying as they're going through and just burning the city to the ground. Wow. So good. This movie was incredible, truly. And, like, such great characters as well. I thought Hector was just the epitome of what a good man.

Just a king. Yeah. Like, a good leader is supposed to be, you know. He had his principles. He stuck by them. He was intelligent and he saw the way things were going to go. And that's why it was so frustrating to watch him not be listened to. I know.

I know. I'm like, could this man earn any more respect quite possibly? And for you not to listen to him, it just again demonstrated how humans can just act in such error at times, even when everything is set before them to show them otherwise. Yeah. So, yeah, it was just really frustrating to watch him go. I feel kind of bad sometimes, like, the way I feel towards Helen. And I wonder, I'm like, is this some sort of female thing where I'm just like, oh. I don't like you because I think you're a bitch but also like you know I tried to be like okay okay it's maybe it's not completely her fault but then when I think about it

I'm like no but you knew Paris is this young guy who's obsessed with you and you went with him knowing full well that your husband would scour the ends of the earth for you and they both knew that

but I don't think they fully understood just how epic the battle was about to get because it quickly became not about them and became about Troy and they were just an excuse for Agamemnon to finally be able to like, you know. Right, he's the real villain in all of this. But it's true.

It was frustrating to be like, you know, and not only that, because of that line Achilles had made about, I wish kings would fight their own war, I had underestimated her husband. husband right and I was like oh maybe he's a bad fighter but then she was like oh yeah he was built for war this is all he lives for yeah like so you sat like through him I know well because from what we know about the Spartans at least it's like I mean I I don't know because they said that Agamemnon and Menelaus were brothers right but that Menelaus ruled Sparta so I'm like

are they Spartans or are they not I guess it's not important either way we know that the Spartans are known for being hardcore warriors. Yeah. And so you're messing with a Spartan's wife out of all. Couldn't you have like messed with someone from Athens? Anyone. Like any other place in Greece, you had to mess with the Spartan king's wife. So I mean.

But he stood. I will give them respect in the sense that it does seem like they truly did love each other. They did. And they stood by each other until the end. end so at least that made it worth it yeah ish they lost everything so i don't know yeah but sometimes you know i love a happy ending and i almost live for it and don't like many movies that don't give me one but then there's one that's really great like this where i'm like i knew it wasn't going to be a happy ending and it's still a great great story yeah i think it is just because of you know the human drama

I mean, it truly says something when a story that is as old as this is still as gripping and relevant and interesting today. Because it is, it's just talking about things that we understand. War has not ended. Like, we're still in conflict all the time. And love is still a thing. You know, like, we write poems, we make movies, we make shows. we write songs about love. Like none of that is going to change.

And so a story like this is truly legendary and immortal. And, you know, much like what they were saying in the beginning, like all of these characters are now cemented in history, presumably for the end of time, so long as we keep saying these stories and keep sharing them. Getting it assigned in seventh grade English. I can't believe you had the Iliad in seventh grade English. It might have been, I don't know.

I just know from like 7th to 10th grade. We read a lot of Greek mythology and Greek books and philosophy. See, for me, it was just personal interest. And I used to love going to the library and just reading all the books. Also, my dad studied classics at university. So this is the shit that he lives for. And then Percy Jackson. Oh, funny.

Funny. So that's where I like remember. most of the mythology is just like that was in Percy Jackson I remember those characters I did watch the show so oh you did a little bit yeah oh I haven't seen it yet oh but yeah this was this was great you guys I hope that you enjoyed watching along with us and like if you have any insight on you know the the story the mythology all of that I'd love to read those comments so please do share them yeah recommend anything else maybe in this vein that's also really good we'd love to see it I'm a Chara Cook. This is Debsar Bra.

Ciao.