- They say you can't be killed.
- Well, I wouldn't be bothering with the shield then, would I?

After a very long rafting day I got home last night and watched Troy. I wasn't expecting much, and I initially figured I'd need to go to bed long before it ended. But sure enough, the movie kept me up late. That's not really an endorsement of it's quality, but it is a positive note.

This movie started out great. It had good pacing and there was good stuff going on. But then it kind of lost it's way. It just felt clunky, like the timing was off. There would be too long a pause between lines of dialog, no cut scene when one was needed, too long a cutscene in another place. I actually almost gave up on it for the night at this point, but the quality from the start had me hooked (plus I couldn't remember my Greek mythology and was desperately trying to remember what was going to happen.)

The movie picked back up once the actual fighting and such started. From there on out it was pretty much on cruise control, with some well executed fight scenes and tragic developments.

Oddly enough, I think one of the biggest problems this movie had was Brad Pitt. The guy is a fine actor, but there are some things he just can't do, and really through no fault of his own. There were many moments in Troy when he's called upon to have a quiet furtive look, like he's pondering and angry all at the same time. But Brad's just too damn charming and good looking. It's what makes him a movie star, but limits him here.

Overall it wasn't all that bad, but certainly not great.

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