Woke Nonsense: None other than minor/unimportant casting

Pretty Good Flick, Great Action

Matt Damon Plays The Greek Hero.

Sometime in the distant past, possibly around 1,000 BC, a coalition of Greek city states attacked a bitter military and trade rival at the city of Troy, which was on the coast of modern day Turkey. The stated reason was to retrieve a beautiful woman, Helen, wife of the King Sparta. The Prince of Troy, Paris, grabbed her from Sparta and took her back to Troy. Thousands of people die as a direct result of this kidnapping (or was it a voluntary escape?) escapade.

So for reasons unclear, many kings and princes and soldiers from all over Greece decided to go to war with Troy to get back the flighty (fled?) queen. After 10 years of failure after failure, (legendarily) the Greeks finally succeeded and sacked the city. The end of Troy, although a city and college in Ohio still bear the name, along with a famous retired quarterback.

One of the Greek kings that led the victory is named Odysseus, from Ithaca; (another namesake for a US college). He then took a short cut to cross the Mediterranean Ocean, and instead of a couple of weeks it took him 10 YEARS to get home to his beloved wife Penelepe,(Ann Hathaway) . He had many adventures and trials which held him up, but most of this time involved getting drugged on an opioid plant and so he could dally with a goddess named Calypso, (Charlize Theron) who held him captive for 7 years but had lots of sex with him apparently.

This entire story is one of most famous in world history. Brought to us in poem form by an author named Homer (not Simpson), it may or not be based on a real story nor are many of the details true. There are Gods and Goddesses involved, a Giant Cyclops, a witch that can turn people into pigs, etc. And Homer likely just finally wrote down an oral history, possibly 500 years after the maybe facts.. So, highly fictionalized, but a great story. It would take you only 6 months to read it!

The movie is based on this story. Please, spare anyone your thoughts as to the liberties taken with the poem in the movie. Its a fictional movie based on oral history which had a ton of fiction in it. NO ONE should care about adherence to the source material. Such people should be rudely ignored when pontificating.

Matt Damon is the namesake star. The movie has a bevy of stars, including Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron. I thought Damon was great if occasionaly wooden in the role, Holland not very believable, Zendaya forgettable, and Theron had too small a part to matter. Anne Hathaway’s performance is uneven. Pattinson did a respectable job as the chief villain. There are tons of other guys I never heard of running around in body armor with a funny helmet on. Nothing to comment on there.

I strongly urge people to read a quick summary of the plot lines and story arc, otherwise you will get confused. This is why I did not rate the movie higher

The movie is action packed, and you will not get bored despite the 3 hour run time. The visual spectacle is fantastic. Poor Odysseus is hounded by Poseidon, God of the Seas and his ship(s) are tossed by violent seas often. Realistic scenes. People keep trying to kill all the Greek soldiers returning with Odyseus, and great action scenes result. It truly is a compelling story, well told here.

My critiques are that the story transitions can leave you confused. As is often true with stories based on ancient history or Greek/Roman Gods, or the bible, there is no humor. I can’t recall any time Damon ever broke a smile. No little jokes or jests. Lots of scowling and tantrums. As a result, the actors often seem stiff and wooden. History does not have to be ponderous and dark. Think Johnny Depp in Treasure Island.

No one stopped to explain who Athena is (Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare, and Crafts) or why she keeps showing up to help Odysseus. Zendaya plays the Goddess, and makes no impact.

On top of this, the woman cast as the face that launched a thousand ships (Helen of Troy) was a poor choice. Lupita Nyong’o, is (my humble opinion) not all that pretty. Although it appears Nolan did not choose to cast even one token actor of Greek origin in his cast of hundreds, wouldn’t it have been nice to make the person who caused all the trouble look Greek? Or at least, beautiful?

Lupita Nyong’o

Its just my opinion, But I don’t think shes all that pretty much less beautiful

Diane Kruger

Most People Agree that Diane Kruger is gorgeous. Starred as Helen in the Movie Troy, the first half of the most famous story ever told. About the war with Troy. You know, with the big horse with Greek soldiers hiding in it.

Greek Actress Maria Menounos

Maybe Christopher Nolan could have cast an actual beauty with Greek heritage as the most famous babe in Greek history? I know, why do something so radical?

Anyways, the action IS great. Its a visual feast. See it, but read a synopsis first.