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Troy is a 2004 epic/action film concerning the Trojan War. It is loosely based on Homer's Iliad, besides material from Virgil's Aeneid and other sources of the Epic Cycle, but it frequently diverges from myth, which the primary distinction that most, if not all, supernatural elements are removed in favor of a more realistic story. The film has the following cast of actors prominent at the time of its release: Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Rose Byrne as Briseis, Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus, Peter O'Toole as Priam, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, and Tyler Mane as Ajax. Troy was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff. It received an Oscar nomination for its costume design.

King Agamemnon (Brian Cox) of Mycenae is in Thessaly, Greece, with his mighty army looking long and hard to expand territory and influence. On the battlefield, Agamemnon's soldiers prepare to engage in combat against the army under the Thessalonian king, Triopas (Julian Glover). Rather than suffer great losses, Triopas agrees to Agamemnon's proposal to settle the matter in the traditional way - through a decisive match between the best warriors of the opposing armies. Achilles (Brad Pitt) is summoned by Agamemnon, and after arriving, easily kills the Thessalonian champion Boagrius (Nathan Jones). Accepting defeat, Triopas presents Achilles with a scepter as a token for his king. But Achilles refuses, saying Agamemnon is not his king.

In Sparta, Prince Hector (Eric Bana) and his young brother Paris (Orlando Bloom) negotiate an end to the war between the outlying kingdom of Troy and Sparta. On the last day of a week-long peace festival, Paris manages to smuggle Helen (Diane Kruger), Menelaus' (Brendan Gleeson) wife, back to Troy with him. Infuriated by Helen's disappearance, Menelaus vows revenge. Meanwhile, Agamemnon (Menelaus' brother), who had for years harbored plans for conquering Troy (an achievement which would give him complete control of the Aegean Sea), decides to use his brother's situation as a justification to invade Troy. He is advised by his general, Nestor (John Shrapnel), to call upon Achilles to fight for the Greeks, ensuring they can rally enough troops to the cause.



Odysseus (Sean Bean) is then sent to Phtia to persuade Achilles and his Myrmidons to fight, and finds him training with Patroclus (Garrett Hedlund), his cousin and student. Odysseus says the fleet will be sailing to Troy in three days, and that this war will never be forgotten. Achilles consults his mother, Thetis (Julie Christie), and she tells him that should he stay, he will find peace, love, and a long life, but his name will be forgotten. Should he go, he will find everlasting glory, but will die in combat. Achilles decides to go to war.

The Greeks land at Troy and take control of the beach on the first day of the war. Achilles and the Myrmidons kill many Trojans and also desecrate the seaside temple of Apollo, slaying the unarmed priests that reside there. Within the temple, Achilles and Hector meet but do not fight, with Hector outnumbered but allowed to leave. Briseis (Rose Byrne), a member of the Trojan royal family who has chosen to dedicate her life to service to the gods, is captured and taken as a prize to Achilles. However, he treats her with kindness, which makes her initially cautious.

Achilles and his Myrmidons do not take part in the next day's fighting because of Agamemnon's unfair claim to Briseis, but they watch the events from a distance. With the Trojan army beneath the walls of Troy and the Greek army surrounding it, Paris challenges Menelaus to a duel to settle things. Menelaus agrees, knowing he is the better warrior. Agamemnon then decides he will attack afterward anyway, regardless of the outcome. Paris, severely outmatched, is easily defeated. Wounded and terrified of dying, he crawls back to his brother's feet. Menelaus approaches and moves to finish Paris, but Hector intervenes and kills Menelaus. A shocked and enraged Agamemnon orders his army to charge the Trojans. The Greeks are easily repelled, mainly because their attack had brought them within range of the Trojan archers. Hector also killed Ajax (Tyler Mane). At the pleas of Odysseus, who realizes that the Greeks will be annihilated should they continue the fight, Agamemnon withdraws the troops.

To offer his men entertainment to assuage their bruised morale, he gives Briseis over to the encampment, where she is abused and on the verge of being raped and branded with an iron before Achilles cuts through and rescues her. He carries her back to his tent and attempts to help her with her wounds, but she still does not trust him and refuses his help. They then engage in conversation, during which Achilles reveals that he is not quite the "dumb brute" Briseis had initially assumed him to be and advises that she should enjoy the mortality of her own life, which gives her something to think on. Nonetheless, later that night, Briseis is seen pressing a knife to Achilles' throat as if to kill him in his sleep, but he quickly awakens and instead of being afraid, tells her to go ahead and "do it". She is slightly surprised at this and questions why he isn't afraid, to which he replies that since everyone dies, the timing doesn't matter much. Though he challenges her to kill him once again, Briseis seems unable to and hesitates. As she does so, Achilles slides her skirt up and kisses her passionately, she drops the knife and succumbs to his sexual advances. Early that morning, Achilles is seen watching her from a seat as she sleeps.

The next day, the Trojan council is arguing amongst themselves whether or not to directly attack the Greeks again, to conquer them once and for all. Hector, realizing that such an attack would be futile, strongly advises against it, but Priam, foolishly swayed by his priest's "bird signs" and Glaucus' convictions, gives the order. Meanwhile, Briseis and Achilles are lying in bed together, and it is inferred that Achilles is planning to leave the next day, as he had ordered Eudorus to load the ships, much to Patroclus' indignation. Briseis seems skeptical of his decision and asks him if he could really "leave this all behind", to which he asks if she could "leave Troy".

The Trojans launch a surprise attack on the Greek camp just before dawn. As the Greeks seem to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles appears with the Myrmidons, and joins the battle. He brings courage to the Greeks, and eventually fights man-to-man against Hector. The Myrmidons are shocked by Achilles apparently being outmatched by Hector, and having his throat cut. This energizes the Trojans and dismays the Greeks. Hector kneels and pulls Achilles' helmet off, and finds it is actually Patroclus (Garrett Hedlund) who he has killed, not Achilles. Grieved at having slain someone so young, Hector gives him a killing blow out of mercy. Both armies agree to end fighting for the day, and Odysseus informs Hector of the boy's identity. Achilles, who had slept through the battle, is told by Eudorus of his cousin's death. The Myrmidons had also mistaken Patroclus for Achilles, since he had put on the same armour, and moved with a near identical fighting style: Achilles furiously vows revenge. Later that night, Achilles leads the funeral ceremony, complete with a funeral pyre. In Troy, Hector, fearful of a Greek attack taking the city, shows his wife Andromache (Saffron Burrows) a secret tunnel out of the city, telling her to use it if Troy falls, since he doesn't want to see his young son murdered and his wife taken as a Greek slave. He also tells her to try and get as many to safety as she can.

The next day, an enraged Achilles approaches the gates of Troy alone and demands Hector to come out and face him. Hector requests a pact that the loser be given proper funeral rites by the winner, which is angrily refused by Achilles, with him saying " There are no pacts between lions and men." The pair fight a fierce duel but in the end Achilles kills Hector, and then ties the body to the back of his chariot, callously dragging it back to the Greek camp. That night, King Priam visits the Greek army's camp to retrieve Hector's body. After an emotional talk given to him by Priam (Peter O'Toole), Achilles breaks down into tears near Hector's body. He lets Priam take Hector's body back, promising him that no Greek will attack Troy for twelve days in order to give time for the proper funeral rites to be performed on the prince, also saying that Hector was the best he'd fought. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well, and gives her the shell necklace Thetis had made for him. He later makes amends with Eudorus (whom he had beaten and almost killed over the death of Patroclus), and gives him one last order: to take the Myrmidons home.

During the 12 days that Troy mourns Hector's death, the Greeks plan to enter the city using a hollowed-out wooden horse, devised by Epieus (according to the historian and author Robert Graves in the Myths of Ancient Greece.). The Greeks leave the horse at the location of their camp, then withdraw to the beach hiding in their ships behind a nearby island. Paris warns Priam about the dangers of the horse, and says they should burn it. However, Priam neglects his warning and is blinded by the priests' talk of the horse being a "peace offering from the Greeks", in order to appease the god Poseidon for a safe passage home during their retreat. Assuming victory, the Trojans take the horse into the city and celebrate. A band of Greeks come out of the horse at night, killing the guards and opening the gates to the city, allowing the main army outside the city to enter. Without the defenses provided by its walls, the outnumbered and unprepared Trojan resistance is overwhelmed. Troy is sacked, and King Priam is killed by Agamemnon.

Achilles frantically searches for Briseis, who is at the shrine of Apollo being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife, and is saved from Agamemnon's guards by Achilles. Achilles kneels down to help her up. Paris, who is looking for Briseis, sees Achilles and Briseis and shoots an arrow that strikes Achilles in his legendary heel. Crippled, he turns to face him but is hit in the chest by several more arrows, despite fervent pleas from Briseis. Achilles manages to remove all but one of the arrows, the one in his heel. The wounds are fatal, and after a final passionate kiss and teary farewell, Achilles urges Briseis to join Paris as they escape the city through a secret passage. Achilles watches them go and finally falls over in death with his heel still pierced by the arrow.

After a disorganized and futile attempt by surviving Trojan soldiers to repel the invaders, the battle ends and the Greeks storm the inner palace only to find that Achilles has died just a few moments earlier (but only after he had removed all the arrows from his chest). Funeral rituals are performed for him the next morning in the ruins of Troy. The film ends with Odysseus delivering the final words: "If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles."