Troy

Troy is a 2004 epic historical action adventure movie, made by German director Wolfgang Petersen. It was one of a handful of movies - alongside, most notably, Oliver Stone's box office flop Alexander - which briefly saw the sweeping historical epic revived in the wake of the massive success of Gladiator in 2000. It features an all-star cast, and at the time of release was the 13th most expensive film of all time.

Loosely-based on Homer's Iliad, it depicts the Trojan War - an epic battle over Helen (Diane Kruger), the queen of Sparta, who is kidnapped by her lover Paris (Orlando Bloom), the prince of Troy. This prompts a massive scrap that pits such historical heavyweights as Achilles (Brad Pitt) against the likes of Paris's brother Hector (Eric Bana).

Favouring elements of gritty realism over some of the fantastical flourishes of Greek mythology, it's a relatively credible picture, historically-speaking, and the cinematography is at times stunning. The film performed fairly well at the box-office, taking a $497,500,000 return on an $175,000,000 budget. Reviews were mixed however, and in terms of awards, it dissapointingly scooped just one Oscar - for best costumes.