A FILM REVIEW :TROY

Prince Hector and his young brother Paris negotiate peace between Troy and Sparta. Paris has fallen in love with Helen , the wife of king Menelaus , and smuggles her back to Troy with him. Infuriated, Menelaus vows revenge. Menelaus approaches his brother Agamemnon , a king who has conquered every army of Greece, and now commands them. Agamemnon, who has wanted to conquer Troy for years (which would give him control of the Aegean Sea, uses this as a justification to invade Troy. General Nestor asks him to take the legendary warrior Achilles , to rally the troops to the cause.

Odysseus a king commanded by Agamemnon, visits Phtia to persuade Achilles to fight, and finds him training with Patroclus , his cousin. Achilles, pondering his decision, visits his mother Thetis for advice. She tells him that, before he was even born, she knew this day would come. She also tells him that if he does not go to Troy, he will live a long, happy life and have children, but after he dies, his name will be forgotten and nobody will remember him. If he does go to Troy, he will find great glory in battle, his name will be written into history forever, but he will die there. Achilles, wanting his name to be remembered, chooses to go.

The Greeks sail for Troy. Achilles and the Myrmidons are the fastest rowers and land before anyone else. They kill many Trojans and desecrate the temple of Apollo. Briseis , a member of the Trojan royal family, is captured and taken as a prize to the Greeks, despite Achilles claiming her as a war prize himself.

Achilles and his Myrmidons do not fight the next day because of Agamemnon's unfair claim to Briseis. With Greeks surrounding Troy, Paris challenges Menelaus to a duel to settle things. Menelaus agrees; however, Agamemnon plans on attacking the city regardless of the outcome. Paris is easily defeated, and wounded. Hector intervenes and kills Menelaus. The Greeks charge the Trojan lines but are forced to fall back when they are nearly wiped out by archers on Troy's walls. Ajax is slain in the battle as well at the hands of Hector.

Agamemnon gives Briseis to his men, but Achilles rescues her. He carries her back to his tent and tends to her wounds. Briseis then tries to kill Achilles but realizes that she has feelings for him and the two make love. The next day Achilles is readying his men to leave, much to Patroclus' indignation.

The Trojans launch a surprise attack. As the Greeks seem to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles appears with the Myrmidons and joins the battle, eventually fighting against Hector. All are shocked when Hector cuts Achilles' throat. However, Hector kneels and pulls Achilles' helmet off revealing it was really Patroclus whom he has mortally wounded. Both armies agree to end fighting for the day, and Odysseus informs Hector it was Patroclus whom he had killed. Achilles, who had slept through the battle, is told by Eudorus of his cousin's death. The Greeks had also mistaken Patroclus for Achilles, since he had put on Achilles' armour and moved like Achilles. Furious, Achilles attacks Eudorus and when Briseis tries to stop him, he throws her to the ground. Later that night, Achilles lights Patroclus's funeral pyre.

The next day Achilles approaches the gates of Troy alone and shouts for Hector to come out and face him. Hector knows he must face him alone so he says his goodbyes to his family and friends and then confronts Achilles. The two fight an evenly matched duel at the start, but Hector begins to tire as Achilles is too quick and strong and eventually incapacitates him and stabs him in the chest. He then ties Hector's body to the back of his chariot, dragging it around the city, leaving all the Trojans shocked. That night, King Priam visits the Greek army's camp to convince Achilles to let him retrieve Hector's body. After the King makes his plea Achilles acquiesces to his request and allows him to take his son to be buried, promising him the 12 days for funerary rites. He tells Priam that Hector was the best he had ever fought. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well. He later apologises to Eudorus for harming him and gives him one last order: to take the Myrmidons home.

While Troy is burned, Paris sees Aeneas together with Andromache and Helen and many others escaping Troy through a secret passage and hands him the sword of Troy. (In the Roman writer Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas and other Trojan survivors are eventually founders of Rome.)

Achilles searches for Briseis, who is being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife and is saved from his guards by Achilles. While Achilles is helping Briseis to her feet, Paris, seeing them together and misintepreting Achilles' actions, shoots Achilles several times before Briseis manages to stay his hand. Achilles urges Briseis to join Paris and escape the city, then dies of the wound to the one spot on his body that was vulnerable, his heel. The soldiers arrive to see the fallen Achilles with only the single arrow through his heel, as he had removed all the others, in keeping with the myth that Achilles was killed by a single arrow to the heel. Funeral rituals are performed for him in the ruins of Troy the next day. The film ends with a speech from Odysseus "If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles."