Helen of Troy (2003)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Greek warriors attack and besiege Troy when Paris takes Helen and both of them escape. This mythological fantasy finds Helen , the beautiful wife falling in love with prince Paris , an event that leads to the siege of Troy .Director John kent Harrison picked two bright young stars Matthew Mardsen and Sienna Guilery to play the lovers in this breathtaking Tv story in 2 episodes of the Trjan War and the motives led up to it. As Greek warriors under command of Agamenon, Ulysses , Achilles and Menelao get to hide out in the Trojan Horse with fellow fighters and then get those Trojanswhen they take the wooden beast into the city and they are successful.After a hardworking shooting and budget enough the results were only fair and passable.the picture ignores script for lavish effects , most of them made by means of computer generator.In the picture appears several historical and mythological characters played by notorious actors as Priamo:john Rhy Davies ,Agammenon : Rufus Sewell, Achilles: Joe Montana,Hector:Daniel Lapine,Theseus: Stellan Skarsgard, Clymnestra: Katie Blake , Menelao : James Callis Hecuba: Marian Dabo, and the Medium Cassandra performed by Emily Fox.These events about Troy war has been adapted several times such as :Italian version titled Trojan Horse 1962 by Giorgio Ferroni with Steve Reeves Juliette Mayniel Lidia Alfonsi Mimmo Palmara. Rendition by Robert Wise with Rossana Podesta Jacques Sernas Brigitte Bardor Stanley Baker Cedric Hardwicke . TROY by wolfgang Petersen with Brad Pitt Diane Kruger Rose Byrne Orlando Bloom

I liked the movie. It gives a good review of the events that led to the Trojan war. Questions regarding the exact nature of Helen are still debated in scholarly circles. Was she manipulator of people and events, or a victim of events? Did she run off willingly with Paris/Alexander or was she abducted? Was she a flake or was she some sort of über-woman? Sienna Guilory plays to all of these questions. At one moment a waif and when needed--über-woman; at one moment a victim, at another a perpetrator. The role is not as easy to play as one might think.But what if someone like Elizabeth Hurley was cast as Helen? Someone with body size to go with the indomitable and chameleon spirit of Helen? Would there be a different sense to the movie and to Helen as a theatrical role? Complaints about fidelity to the ancient text are duly noted; like reading the Cliff notes, a movie ain't the best way to crib for tomorrow's exam on the Iliad. Helen of Troy. Her story is one that grew over the years and with every accretion changed. In 'Agamemnon', Aeschylus doesn't even want to mention her name, she is a betrayer of Greece. Euripides' "Helen" might be regarded as the first bastardized story-line of the original from the Iliad. The Trojan Horse is an incident from the Odyssey and takes very few lines; Vergil's Aeneid discusses the Trojan Horse in any detail. So to think the viewer is watching an interpretation of Homer's Iliad, better re-read the original.The Greek story can be complicated to follow, especially for the modern viewer. I thought they did an admirable job of getting the general idea--even if some of the details were lost in translation.

A very ambitious project for a made-for-TV-movie, also rather well crafted I might add.It's a pity it takes so many liberties with the 'official' storyline, the one told by Homer and recanted for generations thereafter, it would have been a much better movie if it was 'historically' (or better said, mythologically) accurate. The Greeks will definitely not be pleased...Unfortunately, the film also has far too many flaws, and among others I believe it is an understatement to say that Achilles is ridiculous... With some small adjustments in the script and casting, this could have been a much better film. In this way, it is just below average.

John Kent Harrison's Helen of Troy, a 3hour Action/Drama movie was released in 2003. It is based on the famous poem of Homer, The Iliad. It portrays the mysteries behind the Fall of Troy, told upon the point of view of Menelaus, King of Sparta. The story started when Helen, Menelaus' wife runs away with Paris, the Trojan Prince and because of this Sparta starts war between the Trojans. Women before are treated like "prizes of honor". They are not allowed to do what men do because women are not equal with men. They are treated like a thing that they can borrow and return or throw away after they got bored with it. Women before just follow what men ask them to do. Just like what happened to Helen when she walks naked in a room full of Kings to prove her love for Menelaus. Now women are respected. They are equal with men. They can do men's work too, and sometimes they are achieving more than men do.For me the movie in general is a 5. The actors did well on their parts. The viewers can easily relate with the actors' feelings and actions. They portrayed their roles perfectly. The well-crafted flow of scenes lets the viewers wanting for more of the action packed film. The cinematography, the lighting and special effects captured the essence of the Iliad making the story line be more like the text itself. Viewers who love drama, romance and action movies will surely want to watch it over and over again.