{"id":34063,"date":"2026-08-17T20:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=34063"},"modified":"2026-08-17T20:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:22:07","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-troy-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=34063","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4K Ultra HD Review: TROY (2004)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This title is available from Arrow Video as a \u201cLimited\nEdition\u201d 4K Ultra HD, as well as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey<\/em> currently\nsetting the box office on fire, there has been a renewed interest in Homer\u2019s\nclassic Greek poems and older adaptations of the work. The all-star epic Troy\n<\/em>is loosely based on The Iliad<\/em> from Homer, primarily dealing with the\nTrojan War.  Believe it or not, at one point Nolan himself was attached to\ndirect this<\/em> film, but fate had other things in store for the filmmaker.\nInstead, Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, The Neverending Story, In the Line of\nFire, Air Force One<\/em>) ended up helming this $160 million dollar production\nfrom Warner Bros., which was a major hit at the box office, earning roughly\n$500 million worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Arrow Video is delivering a lavish 4K Ultra HD that\ncontains two different versions of the movie. The 162-minute theatrical version\nhas been given a 4K restoration with Dolby Vision, while the 196-minute\ndirector\u2019s cut (which was reassembled by the director a few years after the\nmovie\u2019s release) features footage from a 2K digital intermediate that has been\nadded to the 4K material. I can state assuredly here that it all looks\nphenomenal, and that you can\u2019t see any difference between the source materials.\nIn this edition, the movie looks sharper and cleaner here than it ever has\nbefore, and the transfer will impress anyone who enjoys the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tale begins with a tentative peace between various\nGreek kingdoms and Troy\u2019s fortified empire across the Mediterranean Sea (in\nwhat today would be part of Turkey). Unfortunately, while visiting Sparta,\nGreece for peace talks, Troy\u2019s prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) wins the heart of\nHelen (Diane Kruger), wife of Spartan King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) and\nsister-in-law of power-mad Greek ruler Agamemnon (Brian Cox). She secretly\nleaves for Troy with Paris, infuriating Menelaus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Agamemnon sees this as a political opportunity to invade and\ntake control of the entire region. He enlists Odysseus (Sean Bean) to take\npart, and the leader convinces the greatest warrior, Achilles (Brad Pitt), to\nfight with him. Achilles and Agamemnon hate each other, but Achilles sees this\nepic battle as a chance to make himself into a legend, and agrees to take part\nin the raid. Upon their arrival, they find Troy\u2019s Crown Prince Hector (Eric\nBana) not only a protective brother, but a formidable opponent. Of course, the\nmight of the Greek army poses worry among Troy leaders, including King Priam\n(Peter O\u2019Toole), as well as Paris\u2019s and Hector\u2019s cousin Briseis (Rose Byrne)\nwho becomes a prisoner of the invaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The scope of the production is huge and it does an excellent\njob of delivering epic battles and confrontations against dusty, sandy\nbackdrops. After watching both versions of the movie, I do think that the\ndirector\u2019s cut is a little stronger. The pacing is slower, but the characters\nand relationships are more defined here. Additionally, the battles themselves\nare noticeably brutal and graphic. You do get more of a sense of the horrors of\nwar and loss of life, with most of the characters ultimately meeting an ugly\nend (which could have been avoided). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a bit of a soap opera and one can understand some of the criticisms levied at the movie during its original release. Pitt does look like his hair, make-up and appearance was a priority of those departments, and for a warrior, he is perhaps too pouty and photogenic given all the slaying and bloodshed that he has to take part in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Otherwise, it\u2019s still a compelling and impressive take on the legend with good performances all around. In particular, Bana makes for an empathetic figure, who must ultimately fall in order to protect a brother who has endangered his entire kingdom with an impulsive act. Bean also does a commendable job as Odysseus, a decent man who is doing his best to serve the alliance, but who feels stuck between various angry factions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the director\u2019s cut, all the characters are better drawn\nand all their motivations are clear. There are some obvious digital effects\n(with the Greek ship armada sailing to Troy), but the battle scenes are epic\nand exciting to watch. Overall, this is a fine adaptation and one that will\nimpress most who want to know the background behind the story of The Odyssey<\/em>.\nThe film isn\u2019t perfect and its boldness and big scope does feel a little more\nold-fashioned when compared with Nolan\u2019s recent take on the subject, but this\nis a solid adaptation that generally impresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted, the transfer is really strong. There are also some\narchival extras and a new feature that is illuminating about the production.\nPetersen appears before the beginning of the director\u2019s cut, showing some of\nthe scenes that he specifically added. He notes that the studio was very happy\nwith the film and its box office grosses, so it was relatively easy for him to\nask for a bit of extra funding to reassemble and complete his version of the\nstory. Petersen mentions how happy he was with the original opening shot,\nfeaturing a dog searching for its master through a body-strewn battlefield, and\nmentions the extra character bits and more brutal conflicts in this version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are a ton of archival featurettes dealing with the\nproduction. This includes another interview with Petersen, behind-the-scenes\nfootage, a discussion with the production designer, a look at the visual\neffects, a discussion with the screenwriter on adapting the story and the\nchanges made to the source material. All of these bits are put together for a\npicture-in-picture commentary on the theatrical edition, which is a great way\nto incorporate all the information together and get it across in a quicker way.\nIndeed, you can really understand the creative decisions that were made and why\nthey occurred. This includes the death of Agamemnon (which does not occur in The\nIliad<\/em>), who was so villainous that they felt it necessary to give him a\nmemorable death during the climax (which is much earlier than in the original\nstory).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The costume department and production design team address\nthe challenges in creating two distinctive looks for the warring groups. It was\nessential that the Greeks and the army of Troy would never be confused by\naudience members, and you\u2019ll see how they accomplished this feat. They also\nnote the famous \u201cTrojan Horse\u201d and how difficult it was to build on a\nlarge-scale. Everyone notes how ridiculous and impossible this aspect of the\noriginal story is, and explain their attempts to try and sell it as a\nbelievable plot development to viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You\u2019ll also learn that Petersen was extremely familiar with\nthe source material and hugely excited to adapt it to the big screen. At the\ntime, he was attached to shoot Batman vs. Superman<\/em> for Warner Bros., but\nwhen that picture went into turnaround at the studio (superhero movies were\ngoing through something of a box office slump), they suggested he take over Troy<\/em>\ninstead. A relatively young Christopher Nolan had just been hired to work on\nit, and as a concession, Warner Bros. offered Nolan the opportunity to reboot\nand take over the Batman<\/em> franchise. It must have been difficult at the\ntime for all involved, but it appears that everything for both directors\nultimately worked out for the best. Truth be told, this writer actually thinks The\nOdyssey<\/em> is the more interesting story and prefers its themes, so Nolan\nended up better off waiting for another opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disc also contains an archival multi-part piece on Greek\ngods, who are mentioned in the story but never seen. One imagines that Petersen\nfound the story big enough without adding bickering gods watching everything\noccur from above, and excised that part of the story. But for those interested,\nthe featurette gives a lesson on the various Greek gods and their relationships\nwith the humans in this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A theatrical trailer is also included, along with stills,\nbehind-the-scenes photos and other promo materials. There is also a booklet in\nthe packaging with writing on the movie, and the case packaging features a nice\nreversible slipcover with original and newly commissioned art for the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrow Video\u2019s new \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD release of Troy<\/em>\nis a definite improvement over older versions with great picture quality that\nshowcases the epic scale, along with the preferred longer cut of the movie. If\nyou appreciate Homer\u2019s work, this set will impress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This title is available from Arrow Video as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD, as well as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray. With Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey currently setting the box office on fire, there has been a renewed interest in Homer\u2019s classic Greek poems and older adaptations of the work. The all-star epic Troy is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":34073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[153,302,697,1836,2933,3391,3469,3495,5843,7010,7022,7314,9279,15487,19463,21083,23307,23308,23309,23311,23989,24409],"class_list":["post-34063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-153","tag-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-action","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-brad-pitt","tag-brendan-gleeson","tag-brian-cox","tag-diane-kruger","tag-epic","tag-eric-bana","tag-fantasy","tag-homer","tag-orlando-bloom","tag-sword-and-sandal","tag-the-iliad","tag-troy","tag-troy-4k-ultra-hd","tag-troy-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-troy-film-review","tag-warner-bros","tag-wolfgang-petersen"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}