Watched it today. The acting and storyline was quite poor but some scenes were grand and quite a spectacle. Just the latter is worth watching the movie for. Peter O'Toole is unrecognizable since his Lawrence of Arabia days but those blue eyes were as distinct as ever.
Anyway, was with this friend of mine who has a bad habit of drawing analogies of movies to football. Some of our warped imagination here,
1. King Agamemnon - Franco Sensi (some facial/physical resemblence and definitely demented)
2. Achilles (Brad Pitt) - Totti (the arrogance and all)
3. Patroclus - Cassano (really looks like him as does his role to 'Totti' in the movie)
As for content, a few circumstancial similarities as well, such as ...
1. Achilles has a strained relationship with the King, whom he views as a snivelling politician riding on the real substance of his men - football on the field vs boardroom politics.
2. The scene and dialogue between Achilles and his mum before undertaking the decision to join the Trojan war. His mum prophesized that he'll lead a happy family life and leave a legacy only to close ones if he didn't go but will attain everlasting glory and meet his doom at the same time if he does. How does that dilemma compare to staying in Roma and transferring to Real Madrid?