Troy, and the better half...

A

alveraz

Veteran
So, a few of you may know I've spent the last 3 weeks in production hell. Quite a few of us trudged through the elements in the desert to finish a feature film, which we are all proud of, but all have scars to prove what we've accomplished.

I finally had a chance this evening to crack open a beer or two ( now a twelve pack, and of course she's asleep, and I'm here) and watch a film with my ol' lady. Netflix delivered TROY.

Now, my mind is still in production mode, and of course, her being the intuitive one prefaced the film by saying, 'keep your mouth shut and let me watch the film'...which of course, I could not do...

So, I rambled on...and on about various issues and concerns through the entire film... I figured this was the forum to find validity to my concerns, as she simply yelled at me for ruining the experience and summarilly kicked me out of bed.

I now turn to you fine DVX citizens to solidify my utter dissdain for lack of direction in this film.

What is so wrong with enjoying a 2-shot MCU, or FS???? Does every Director bow down to Prodco oppression by insuring dirty OS shots every second in order to see the actor speak, react, speak, react, speak, react, speak, react? Why can't we just enjoy a simple 2-shot the way it was designed, and let us as an audience enjoy the scene, and let our eyes do the moving, rather than being forced to see what the Editor/Director/Producer wants us to see?

I say that loosley only because, who knows if it was Wolfgang, the editor, or the powers that be that decided the ultimate contrived edit this disasterous film ended with.

Now, don't confuse my banter with technicalities, I swear it's from an audience perspective...but for Santa Dominguez sake, are you kiddin' me? It was the worst example of shoveling crap down your throat I've seen in some time. Which was a shame, because it had nice moments, if only someone recognized the packaged direction, lack of flow and passive directing!

Needless to say, being thrown out of my own bed was coming, there was no way around it. I think it was immenent when I called the Bloom guy a 'pussy and needs to stick to being an Elf', or maybe it was when I yelpped, 'Kick Pitt's ass, Hulk!!!...

Anyway, we need to enjoy characters in wider shots, I hate forced close-ups, it's self serving and gives no credit to the audience, which is insulting. Not that the CU is unecessary, it absolutely is, but use with care, and only when you find it serves the character and story, unlike this beating over the head.

I'll jump off my soapbox now...and finish drinking.

(I'll regret this rant in the morning, surely)
 
Re: Troy, and the better half...

I didn't have any problems with the cinematography :-/

Overall, I thought Troy was good, though I agree with you in saying the Direction was weak. It seemed as though the film could have been tighter; certain performances were inconsistent, some awkward moments in editing (the slow fade from Brad Pitt's face with the mediocre score kicking in) and of course there's the obligatory mentioning of the oddly selected zoom shot into Sean Bean.

Don't get me wrong though, I still enjoyed the hell out of this movie...I thought it was fun, obviously it had a good story, and I really liked Pitt, Bana, Bloom, and O'Toole. And while Kruger was inconsistent, she definitely wasn't hard on the eyes...
 
Re: Troy, and the better half...

Ha! I forgot about that zoom. Man, that was terrible, and very strange. I thought maybe it was some form of tribute, which would make sense considering his direction.
 
Re: Troy, and the better half...

I saw Troy in theatres, and remember looking to my friend when that zoom happened, and we both burst into laughter. Nobody in the audience knew what we were finding so funny, but boy was that awkward.

I do think, however, that you were right in saying it was a tribute to something. Though if it wasn't, then just....wow... :-/
 
Re: Troy, and the better half...

I agree with you about the forced CU thing. Watch Raiders of the Lost Ark; very few closeups, lots of nicely composed 2-shots. Incidentally, Temple of Doom had lots more CU's, but still far less than some stuff.
 
Re: Troy, and the better half...

I enjoyed this movie alot more than I thought I was going to. For some reason I think brad pitt is a bit overrated. In any one of his movies there will be at least two or three times when he'll take me out of the story because I simply don't buy what he's saying/doing. Anyone else get that?
 
Re: Troy, and the better half...

I totally want to have sex with brad, and I'm not even gay!

Kidding! Kidding!

I think Brad has acting chops, when he is allowed to run with them.

I'm sorry, i thought the cinematography on this movie, which i just got to see, was excellent. I did notice the lack of variety in CUs during the extended dialogue scenes, but, whatever, I felt is was a stylistic choice.

I was focusing more on how realistically the fighters actually fought, how good the costumes were, how appropriate the actor's choices of their character's attitudes, considering the time period, etc. I thought it was very well done, certainly better than Kind Arthur. And I 'got' everyone's motivations here, although Brad's was a bit 'surfer dude.'

I thought the initial fight scene with Brad and the Hulk was well done. I don't know if you've ever witnessed a fight like this, but I can tell you that size doesn't matter a lot when the skill levels differ as much as they were trying to portray here. So I had no problem with it.

Overall, I thought the cinematography is something I'd want to emulate, especially the outdoor scenes in the harsh sunlight. I thought they did a good job achieving a balance between harsh light, and softened light for movie purposes.
 
Re: Troy, and the better half...

I agree that they could have lightened up on the close ups.

Troy seems like a difficult story to put onto the screen, because you end up having main, well developed characters on both sides. I don't know about you guys, but i found myself not quite knowing who to root for.

But overall, i thought it was a pretty good movie. Despite orlando bloom's character being a complete puss.
 
Re: Troy, and the better half...

i too hated orlando bloom's character but after leaving the theater it occurred to me that he might be doing the best acting job out of everybody in the film since we're supposed to think his character is a pain in the ass. loved the fight choreography and most of the cinematography but much of the film fell flat for me. i remember thinking, "hmm, this is kind of bland". i'll probably catch it again on DVD though and give it a second chance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top