The funeral games thing was kind of weird and a bit of a pace killer. I ended up skipping most of it. It’s wild that they had to wrestle cause it’s what Patroclus would have wanted. But other than that I liked the ending. I was a little surprised by where it started and ended. Like I kept waiting for them to roll out a horse lol. It was also focused much more on the gifs than I expected.
The thing I remembered most from reading the Odyssey was how repetitive it was, but I actually kind of liked it. It got to the point where they would say Apollo and I’d be like “he who strikes from afar” like some kind of catechism. But it varied up enough that it didn’t get boring.
Ok now for the movie rant (this is the 2004 movie) Like omg this movie had such promise. Wolfgang Peterson, who yeah, he’s had a few flops, but he’s a good director. Then acting: Brad Pitt in 2004, at the height of his acting career. Then the number of classic actors: Peter O’freaking Toole eating up the screen as Priam, Julie Christie who looked like a freaking goddess, and Nigel Terry who will always be once and future king to me. Then we had some British/Irish powerhouses: Brian Cox, Brendan Gleason, and Sean Bean himself, ironically playing the one character in this movie who doesn’t die?!? Hilarious!
Then you have the up-and-comers: Orlando Bloom, off of the success of Lord of the Rings and the first Pirates of the Caribbean, weirdly playing a hybrid between the two characters. Eric Bana, who wasn’t big yet, but Munich came out the next year. Then Diane Kruger, Saffron Burrows, and Rose Byrne, all terribly underrated actresses. Also I just realized Garrett Hedlund played Patroclus, who I loved in On the Road and that Tron sequel they did.
Anyway, funny story, I was watching it a few years ago and then the end credits came up, and it was like, based on the Iliad by Homer, adapted by David Benioff. Yes, that David Benioff that ruined Game of Thrones.
I was also surprised by how violent and yet not over the top gory the battle scenes were. I mean, they def got a little explicit, and I was kind of impressed by how creative some of the deaths were. It also felt like you never lost sight of their humanity, he was always reminding you of where they grew up, or their wives and mothers who would miss them. It was def not pro-war, which kind of surprised me
Overall I gave it 4 stars. I was really impressed by the writing and how compelling and interesting 2500 year old writing could be!