If Hollywood’s increasing obsession with really bad direct-to-DVD sequels wasn’t bad enough, we may be witnessing the start of yet another disturbing home video trend. Last week we brought you word that Oliver Stone’s failed epic Alexander would be recut for the third time and released on DVD. Now it looks like Troy is getting the redo treatment. Variety says Warner Home Video has shelled out a cool million for a new cut of Wolfgang Peterson’s critically crapped on Trojan epic. If at first you don’t succeed, try, and try, and try, and try again.
Peterson has reportedly spent three months slaving away on a new version of the film. What’s he been doing? Apparently adding more sex and violence. I guess that also means more of Brad Pitt’s naked man-ass. The ladies should love that. In total he’s inserting nearly 30 minutes of new footage into Troy, a movie which was already bashed for being much too long when clocking in at only 162 minutes. Now it’s a bladder busting 200 minutes, and somehow that’s supposed to make the thing better. I don’t get it.
Peterson insists, “This is more the film I wanted it to be. It's very violent, but that's Homer and The Iliad.” The original film was already pretty gritty. I’m all for taking it further, but I’m not sure if the amount of violence in Troy ever figured in as one of the main problems people had with it. But Wolfgang says time constraints and ratings pressures were to blame for the failure of the original movie. It wouldn’t be the first time that a filmmaker’s vision has been twisted by the difficulty of navigating the Hollywood system. Now Peterson says he has the time to do what he wants. “The sword is not hanging over your head," he tells Daily Variety. "You can give it more time to breathe.”
I will say this for Troy. Unlike Alexander it’s not unredeemable. Troy is not the epically bad, unforgivably failed disaster that Oliver Stone’s boy conqueror movie was. Troy works in spots, and sports some pretty great performances from actors like Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Peter O’Toole, and Brad Pitt’s muscles.
There is some small hope for Troy. It really might be possible to make it better. I’m willing to give Peterson one more shot. But only one more. Let’s stay away from make Oliver Stone’s idiotic cutting, re-releasing, re-cutting, and re-releasing of Alexander the norm.
Troy Recut is getting a limited theatrical release in Germany this March, but here in the United States expect it to go straight to DVD.
