Troy ***

"Troy," directed by Wolfgang Peterson is packaged to be NOT my kind of movie. I hated "Braveheart," turned off "Gladiator" after thirty minutes, and tend to shy away from war movies. And indeed the battle sequences in "Troy" are the weakest aspect of the film, with lead actor Brad Pitt a close second.

Pitt, as the arrogant Achilles, shows the same facial expression when he's disdainful as he does when he's infuriated. It's best described as sullen. "Troy" appears to be uncertain whether Achilles is a hero or a monster. Peterson provides him with Julie Christie in a cameo as his mother, and with Rose Byrne as Briesis, cousin to Troy's Hector (Eric Bana), who provides Pitt with his primary romantic interest.

When Achilles takes it in the heel, so to speak, he stays alive long enough to paraphrase the last scene in "Casablanca" as he coaxes Briesis into accompanying Paris (Orlando Bloom), Hector's brother into departing as Troy burns.

The rest of the script, however relegates him to ranting about how famous he wants to be, and how little he wants to fight behind his king, despite the pleading of his more honorable brother, Odysseus (Sean Bean).

The trouble begins early in the film when Paris, smitten with Greek king Menalaeus' (Brendan Gleeson) wife Helen (Diane Kruger, whose face CAN launch a thousand ships), smuggles her onto his Trojan vessel under the cloak of peace talks. Menalaeus turns to his ambitious brother Agamemmnon (Brian Cox) for assistance in defending his honor. His brother consents, but not because of his concern for the honor of his sibling. He knows that ruling Troy would give him control of the entire Aegean Sea.

Then we get an education as to why the war has lasted so long. No less than three times, thousands of troops mass to the center of the screen. A character comes out from each side, they fight to the death. One guy dies. Then everybody goes home. Three times. Thousands of troops, one dies each day. You do the math.

All this is quibbling, because for me, the movie slows down to a near standstill with the action sequences. They are skillfully choreographed and well photographed, but after three consecutive years of watching similar combat in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, there's little spectacle left.

Plus these sequences take away from the richness of these characters speaking to each other. The dialogue spouted by the characters in "Troy" is magnificent. The words and phrases are like Shakespeare, only much more accessible.

Since this film is not in a genre with which my wife is taken, I took a friend to the preview, and we agreed that it's Bana's Hector who truly runs away with the film. The galvanizing moment in the movie is the fight scene between this honorable man and the vengeance-seeking Achilles.

Peter O'Toole, as Trojan king Priam, is magnificent as well. While watching him perform alongside Brad Pitt, I remembered that this man is quietly one of the finest actors I've ever seen. If any of you doubt it, I suggest renting "My Favorite Year" and watching that after finishing "Troy." By the way, "Troy" is also educational. I had no idea that the ancient Greeks spoke with such decidedly British accents.

"Troy" will speak to the bloodthirsty masses that have made a classic out of Mel Gibson's "Braveheart," but it also provides lovers of good, solid writing with a lot of enjoyment as well. Add to that a stirring score and a cool giant horse, and you've got a winner. But the three plus hour running time is going to hurt the ultimate box office. Particularly when the hobbit fanciers realize that they've seen this kind of pandemonium before.