in thoughts...

yes. finally went to watch. with abated breath. high expectations. most fulfilled, but left feeling like, well, something's lacking.

Hector's my favourite character of all. Got guts, got brain, logical (not superstitious like his dad), cares for his wife and son, can fight, is fair and respects his enemies. And he's not totally detached - he was upset when he saw that he killed Achilles' cousin, who was only just a boy. KUDOS to him.

Din like Achilles that much, on the other hand. Rash, wild, couldn't control his anger, probably acted before he thought, and i got real pissed when he rushed off to kill Hector just because Hector killed his cousin. No one life can be said to be more precious than another, you idiot. and when he din agree with Hector's pact to allow the defeated a proper burial, eee... don't like him at all at that point.. though you could argue that Hector was just trying to assure himself of a proper burial (cos high likelihood he was gonna lose), but still, hey, what good is venting your anger on a dead guy by cutting his ears and gouging his eyes and what not? and the scene when he was giving a few out-of-character sobs while wrapping up Hector's body to return to Hector's dad, "I'll see you soon, brother." HUH?? BROTHER? you din seem so friendly when you killed him huh. kill already then come and cry. what? suddenly realize your own mortality while you were pursuing immortality? pahf.

Paris Paris Paris. Mr Loverboy. Idealistic boy, or should i say fool? for one woman. ONE BLOODY WOMAN. at this point the image of Paris pops up and says, "It's for LOVE!"

yeah well. like, whatever. was totally amazed when his dad actually said, some wars are fought for honor, some fought for glory and all that, and maybe this one fought for love is not so meaningless. HUH? for love? are you sure? more like lust maybe.

right. on to the actors and directing. Brad Pitt has a good bod. I din need to say that, cos like every one knows. HAH. but i think it's great professionalism on his part to GIVE UP SMOKING and train up for the movie. good for you. smoking's bad anyway. :) really liked the way he fought, very smooth and controlled, no messy lashing out. and wah, the way he leaps up to stick the sword into his opponent's neck/shoulder, WAH. and did you get the first scene when he just LEAPS-FLIES unto his horse?? *blink blink*

i know how everyone loves Orlando Bloom in his blonde Legolas look. but i still think he looks fine the way he is naturally. and it's especially great that he can look good with blonde hair. versatility will get you far. and my goodness, he looks fabulous shooting arrows. leave the sword-fighting and shields to Pitt and Bana. The arrows are for Bloom.

Actually Bana's quite good looking also. and of cos he looked much better than he did in The Hulk. haha. but i loved the BABY that played his son!! SO PRETTY! BLUE EYES AND NICE SOFT HAIR! my goodness. sooooo lovely. wonderful acting too, if in fact the little baby realized what expression he was having - the scene just before Hector goes out to meet Achilles to fight, when his mum was carrying him to face Hector, the baby actually had this "huh, where are you going?" look... looking up to his father's face.. then crying when Hector goes off to fight. WAH. Brilliant baby. dunno how many takes that took though. haha.

the fighting scenes. yes the fighting moves were good. but wah piang, when they film the fighting scene, the camera will do terribly terribly close ups that actually MOVE while they're fighting. gives me a bloody headache. and during these moments, i'd have absolutely no idea what my bloody eyeballs are focusing on, and by the time my bloody eyeballs adjust to it, the scene's shifted again. i think it would have been better to shoot close, but still with some distance, then do IMMEDIATE closeups, you know, like one scene you see full-bodied shots, the next scene is like a face shot kinda thing. okie never mind. I still love the way Peter Jackson does his fighting scenes for LOTR - a lot of people, but doesn't give me headache or doesn't give my eyeballs a bloody workout while i'm trying to follow who's striking who.

but yeah, it's been worth my $$. :)