Just got home a couple of hours back and watched both. Here's what Ive seen so far.
King Priam Welcomes HelenIn the Director’s cut, after welcoming her, Helen responds “Thank you my good king.” No such response in the theatrical version.
During the family reunion inside the palace, the theatrical version has a louder musical background. The director’s cut is almost mute with just a faint orchestra in the background. This scene ends with Paris’ cousin Brisei being kissed on the forehead by King Priam, segueing to an aerial shot of the palace into the next scene with a blare of trumpets and horns concluding the return with a triumphant air. None of that in the director’s cut. The music is muted and almost sad and funebral. And the palace reunion ended with the added scene of King Priam, Paris and Hector toasting to their gods.
Hector tries to convince Priam to send Helen backBoth cuts have the same scenes where Hector tried to reason with Priam to return Helen. The director’s cut has an extended scene where King Priam discourses on how his faith on the Gods healed Hector’s fever when he was still a child in response to Hector’s absence of faith.
Dilemna of Helen and ParisThe director’s cut has Paris pacing back and forth in their chamber before Helen expresses her anxieties and he comforts her with his plans to flee the palace. The theatrical cut goes direct to show Helen’s fears. One thing that really struck me with the director’s cut is the intense warm colors amidst the darkened chamber where it looked pale in the theatrical version.
Segueing to show the Trojan walls and watchtower to Priam kneeling before Apollo has the Gladiator-like oriental chanting in the background giving the scenes an exotic touch of melancholy and of impending doom in the theatrical version. The director’s cut had Horner totally replace the background music with a more conventional orchestral horns and strings that is scored Vangelis-like with overly sustained monotonic chordal arrangements.
Talk about Troy’s music borrowing from Gladiator’s music, now that the Director’s Cut expunged all resemblance, I am of the opinion the DC made the film much poorer for its loss. The revised musical score only succeeds to banish critic’s complaint that it sounded so much like Gladiator’s. That’s all. At worst, the new score diminished the exotic ambiance and foreboding tragedy that were musically abundant with the theatrical version.Troy prepares for battleNow here is where I find the director’s cut starting to make better cinematic expository sense which started with Priam’s discourse on his faith. There are new scenes showing the frenzy of making battle armaments and fortifying the city’s defenses on the beach with more detail and this time with more intense colors that I welcome as an improvement over the theatrical version. Except for the music. I miss the oriental chanting and the drumbeats that are so much more appropriate like the pounding heart of a people about to meet their doom which was quite effective to convey the urgency of the situation in the theatrical version.
The director’s cut certainly improved on the image colors. The sands and human bodies have more color intensity and the sea and sky have more intense blues. I have to admit the new version can form part of any visual demo material for DVD. More tomorrow.
