The Greek Mythology Movie Everyone Wrote Off That Became A Classic

Christopher Nolan's masterpiece "The Odyssey" has reminded audiences just how well the ancient Greek legends can work in blockbuster movies. One 2004 picture, in particular, is a natural point of comparison to Nolan's film, since it also adapts one of Homer's epics: "The Iliad." We're talking, of course, about Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy," which stars Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Trojan prince-commander Hector, Sean Bean as Odysseus, and many other famous faces in various major and supporting roles. Notably, the movie was written by future "Game of Thrones" co-showrunner David Benioff.

"Troy" was far from the kind of critical darling that Nolan's "The Odyssey" turned out to be. In fact, the Petersen film has a fairly middling 53% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, despite the lukewarm critical reaction, it's always proven to be popular with audiences — the film's Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes is a far more favorable 74%. General viewers find "Troy" to be a very entertaining film, with online chatter about the movie tending to lean toward positive. In the two decades and change since its release, "Troy" has slowly found an audience among lovers of big popcorn movies, becoming a slow-burn classic.

As people who are familiar with Homer's epics know, "The Odyssey" is effectively an Odysseus-themed sequel to "The Iliad." Some of the same characters feature, and that's also the case with "Troy" and Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey." Wolfgang Petersen's film tells the story of the war between the Greek forces and the city state of Troy, which kicks off when Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) abducts Queen Helen (Diane Kruger) from Sparta's King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), prompting an armed response. While the movie isn't what you would call accurate to the source material (one look at an extremely blonde Brad Pitt as Greek hero Achilles and you'll know you're in Hollywood blockbuster territory), "The Odyssey" also got some things from the source material wrong.

Given the buzz around "The Odyssey," it's a great time to revisit "Troy," which more or less functions as a prequel to Nolan's box office smash. Granted, by the ending of "Troy," you'll have seen some of the same scenes that also feature in "The Odyssey," but if you don't mind the overlap and the fact that Odysseus' actor changes from Sean Bean to Matt Damon, it's entirely possible to watch "Troy" and "The Odyssey" as a fun double feature. You'll have to contend with a bit of tonal whiplash as the two movies have very different styles, but that actually suits the story — "Troy" is a bright movie featuring Odysseus in his prime, while the darker hues of "The Odyssey" fit better with the protagonist's mental state at that part of his long journey home.