WE ARE BACK! Not regularly by any means, but after a few months of juggling baby, job, and personal time, I have finally found a little sliver of time to re dedicate towards writing. I will not be regularly posting, BUT when I have something written worth your time to read, I will post it. So that being said, there is something I need to say before I get into this piece.
The Iliad is a story that is VERY precious to me. A special illustrated (very abridged) version of the book served as my favorite bed time story growing up, and if there is one thing I am as passionate about as much as I am for comics, it's my love of Greek myth/ history, in particular when it comes to this tale. So, whenever Hollywood decides to reopen the door to the iconic war poem, my ears perk up and I begin to listen. From the several lackluster Helen of Troy films and awful miniseries (shuddering at the thought of hearing Joe Montana scream "Kneel before Achilles"), to the most recent Troy (4 really great Achilles fights surrounded by 2 hours of utter garbage and destruction of source material), I have paid attention and sadly been disappointed whenever the Hollywood adaptation monster rears its ugly head. However, for the first time I am pleased to say that we finally have a very decently accurate representation of the myth of the Trojan war. Netflix released the BBC produced Troy: Fall of a City here the other day and after binge-watching through it something fierce while taking care of my son. I had some thoughts I wanted to relay to my community what I thought.
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| This is the Achilles from the book my dad read to me, He is how I always see the character internally |
I first heard about this production a few months back when they announced the casting for Achilles. This was a subject of some great controversy that had initially turned me off to the show so hard that I completely forgot about its existence and only realized what I was watching when Achilles was officially revealed to be played by a black actor. Why is this a problem? Because Achilles' defining traits physically are pale skin and fiery hair, some interpret this as blonde, others as red. So, a bald and black Achilles is a bit off putting as someone who is as dedicated to the myth such as I am. However, I was forced to re confront this while watching the show, and it honestly didn't matter in the slightest, and I will get back to that later. For now let's talk about the show and what I thought of it.
The Victories
This show is quite easily the truest interpretation of the myth of Troy that we have had thus far in any Hollywood adaptation. The first two episodes alone show the story's beginnings better than anyone ever has. Then as the show goes on, it takes certain creative liberties that only hone the myth. They even managed to make this conflict feel like it took place over a very long period of time, maybe not a decade, but certainly five years at least which already puts it ahead of the last time we visited this time in history on film. However, if I were to rate this show a number from 1 to 10, I would go with a 7.9. There are two or three massive problems with the show. I do want to talk about these flaws, but I want to dedicate the time and reasons as to why they are a problem in it's own section. For now, let's talked about what I liked.
First of all design. Holy shit was the design of pretty much everyone and everything perfect. The armor looks period accurate, we don't see Corinthian style helmets running around good centuries before they were even invented, however you can see certain styles of helmets that tease the eventual evolution of this iconic helm. The set pieces are equally beautiful, and Troy looks like they took what has been portrayed in most films scaled down to a more realistic scale based off of the archaeological evidence left at the dig site for Troy. Along with design, we are gonna throw in cast. With exception to two characters that appear for all of 2 seconds, the cast of this film was tremendous (special shout outs to the actors who portray Priam, Agamemnon, Hecuba, Andromache, and Odysseus), and there is one cast decision I want to talk about: Achillles.
Troy made big waves by giving us some of the best Achilles focused fight scenes of all time, and for many people Brad Pitt's take on the character is the quintessential version. However, as great as those action sequences were, nothing about Brad Pitt's portrayal outside of them particularly stands out, and this is where these two portrayals differ. While we may not get something nearly as epic as the beach scene in Troy, we do get plenty of display of Achilles being a bad ass, but more importantly we get a guy who plays this character better than ANYONE before him. It became very clear to me that this man was chosen not to "blackwash" (a term I have seen on many internet forums of late in reference to this decision), but because this man plays the shit out of this part and truly gets the character. Honestly you get that off of the first time you really get to spend any time with him. They are at a negotiation with Priam about the return of Helen, and Achilles is silent the whole time. When negotiations begin to crumble and Paris bursts in to try and keep Priam from sending Helen away, Achilles stands up and puts his hand on his sword and everyone shuts up. He proceeds to bow to Priam, and then he looks at Helen, smiles and promises that they will be back soon enough (a jab that this war will be over all to briefly). He is menacing in his armor, he has a warriors pride and stands by his honor, this Achilles is everything he is in myth and it's honestly he steals the show in most of the scenes he is in.
When one talks about Achilles, the question of how's the combat is one that goes hand in hand. This is the story of the Trojan War after all. When we get to see fights they are incredible. The first battle they show is amazing and feels like one of the passages of the Iliad as the three goddesses who drove this conflict to begin with cast their respective blessings to the heroes of both sides and they clash. Fight choreography for single duels is very well done as well, and they are really enjoyable to watch. However, I do feel that right here is the perfect place to transition to talking about the flaws this series had.
The Blows Taken
This series did a lot of things very well, however there are 3 major problems. Perhaps the biggest of these is that it doesn't fully commit to the "myth" aspect, it plays around in it and honestly it is a massive hurt for the show. We get this amazing first battle that's a slow mo clash of the two armies while these goddesses bestow their blessings, however this is the first and last time a battle is done this way. Don't get me wrong first impressions are everything, but one would hope you'd maintain the impression initially made. By not committing to the mythical aspect of the show it also really hurts the time we get to spend with the heroes of these books. Diomedes is probably my close second favorite character of the Iliad, he gets an entire chapter where Athena grants him the ability to see interfering deities so that he can drive them from the battlefield. While Achilles is on the sideline, Diomedes carries the action of the book. However, by not fully committing to the myth, we lose out on so many great scenes with these great heroes, which leads me to the second problem which is almost as massive. There is a immense lack of warfare for the first half of the show.
This is a show about the Trojan War, and while it is a 10 year siege, and generally sieges are long stretches of nothing followed by sporadic bursts of conflict, the Iliad is the book it is because of it's graphic displays of war. While I understand the route they take (they focus far more on the statecraft and intrigue going on behind the walls pseudo Game of Thrones style), it's NOT what people have come for. Why aren't we seeing more Armies bloody each other to the point where two champions are decided to win the day? Why don't we get to see the viciousness of men who, in the loss of their weapons, picked up boulders to bludgeon their enemies to death in hopes to survive. These are things that made the Iliad what it was. It's what etched this story into eternity. We wanted to see war, and while they give us a lot to compensate in the last 3 episodes, it would have been better to have some immediate pay off in the first half of the series.
While this last complaint is a more minor one, it's one that I have to make. This show tries really hard to make Paris the hero of this story. However, it struggles in doing so (at least for the first half of the series) because when you portray the situation as close to the myth as this show does, it's very hard to route for Paris and Helen when they betray a good man's hospitality, endanger their home city, without any care or regard for the consequences. I understand eventually making Helen sympathetic as a woman who regrets her every decision after 9 years of conflict like she is in the Iliad, however, Paris should be portrayed as one thing: a piece of shit. One of the things that is unique about the Iliad is that between the Greek and Trojan heroes, there were no real bad guys. All of these characters were paragons of their time, embodying the traits of the most honorable and noble of men. However, there was one character that earned the ire of the reader/audience (this was a poem first passed down via oral tradition), Paris. Paris is just as adept a fighter as the rest of the Trojan heroes, and even better than a lot of the Greeks. However, he refuses to fight. He is too busy doting on Helen and hiding behind the walls. He is even where the negative stigma against the bow comes from. While it has been misconstrued because Archery is a lauded craft in the myths even in the Iliad, the problem is that Paris would rather shoot people behind his wall where he cant really be touched than be out in the fray. This man is your villain! Even from birth he is prophesied as being the destruction of this great city, so stop trying to make him your Romeo protagonist! He is a piece of shit and deserves to be treated as such. The first part of the series he doesn't fight because "the other princes don't let him," but it would have been much better if Paris refused to fight because "you tried to send Helen away, I hate all of you I am gonna go hang out with her instead." It's far more organic to the narrative!
No property is without it's issues, while these issues detract from the show for me, greatly, it doesn't hurt it near enough for it to not be enjoyable to watch or from still being the most accurate depiction of the myth to date. I hope that everyone gives this series a shot as it is so close to the myth, or better yet, that this series inspires its audience to read the epics it's based off of!
This has been another edition of Comic Relief! We will be back when we can.
