10 Director's Cuts That Seriously Improve Movies

What happened to this movie? The costumes and set designs were great, the cast was filled with big hitters - all of whom gave fairly decent performances - and the fight sequences were brilliantly choreographed. Add to that the incredibly rich source material, Homer's Iliad, and this should have been of the great swords-and-sandals flicks of the 21st century.

But the film didn't really know what it was - a grounded interpretation of mythological epic? or an exciting action-packed bro movie?

The real issue was Wolfgang Petersen was hamstrung by the studio execs. They wanted a summer release, and a focus on pulling in the younger audience. That meant exciting fight sequences and a plethora of shots featuring Brad Pitt's brooding intensity and glistening abs.

Characters like Hector (Eric Bana) Odysseus (Sean Bean) and Agamemnon (Brian Cox) were given just enough screen time to let you know how the fit into the story, but not enough to develop any attachment to them.

Although the Director's Cut doesn't fix all the problem, it certainly addresses many of them. Even though the extended run time comes in at well over 3-hours, it doesn't drag like the theatrical release. The extra time allows the supporting characters to come alive, rather than just serving as something for Pitt to bounce off.