Petersen, as it happens, only came to Troy after a pretty mid-sounding Batman vs. Superman project he was attached to got canned; when he became available for Troy, Warner Bros. reportedly booted that film’s original director—one Christopher Nolan—off the project. It’s understandable, but it’s also too bad, because in my opinion, Troy is and always has been a flawed but pretty fun time at the movies. In the ensuing years, I’ve developed a frontal lobe (and the elite, discerning taste that powers this column) but I’ve never switched up on Troy. The main criticism of Troy is that it’s melodramatic-blockbuster-mid; I’d argue the melodrama is what makes it sing. Pitt, reflecting on the experience years later, said “Somewhere in it, Troy became a commercial kind of thing.