Overview: Set in ancient Greece, Troy is a historical epic based on The Iliad, the Greek poet Homer's account of the Trojan War. Paris (Orlando Bloom), the prince of Troy, begins an affair with Helen (Diane Kruger), the queen of Sparta. King Menalaus (Brendan Gleeson) takes this as a terrible insult, both to him and his brother, Agamemnon (Brian Cox), king of the Myceneans. Agamemnon unites the populations of Greece to bring Helen back from Troy. He also wants to expand his empire forms an alliance with Achilles (Brad Pitt), a warrior who hungers for glory and power, to bring down the walled city, which is defended by Prince Hector (Eric Bana).

Verdict: Handsome yet long-winded (are we talking about Pitt or the movie?!), the new epic 'Troy' is a vigorous spin on the glorious excesses of classic sword-and-sandal epics for sure, and yet is tremendously entertaining and is definitely in a league with Hollywood's top historical epics, ancient or otherwise. Sure it turns its heroes into action movie cliches and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies, and sure it veritably lurches ahead in fits and starts for much of its hefty running time, but 'Troy' is entertaining epic eye candy for one and all, any day of the week. (FYI - Keep an eye out for Pitt's near slo-mo 'Matrix'-style killing leaps to his right!! You just know that the director was itching to throw some black sunglasses on him and have him say "Dude" after such a theatrical kill!)