Now, with a reported $200 million at his disposal, “Das Boot” director Wolfgang Petersen brings the Trojan War to life in the burly and aggressive “Troy.” It is a large-scale film unlike anything produced by a Hollywood studio since the golden age featuring a cast of thousands. This is an exciting, pulse-pounding adventure filled with images and vistas to make David Lean stand up and cheer, replete with moments of sheer cinematic bravado that still the breath. It is also, unfortunately, a mysteriously cold production filled with stagy, melodramatic characterizations doing little to bring these classic and timeless characters to life.

I say unfortunately, for although “Troy” is one of the most impressive visual spectacles of our time – and yes, I include “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy in that assessment – none of that technical wizardry means a darn thing if the characters inhabiting it all fail to connect.  In fact, the central love story between Paris (Orlando Bloom, “Pirates of the Caribbean”) and Helen (a beautiful but lifeless Diane Kruger, “Michel Vaillant”) is surprisingly devoid of all spark, love’s fiery embers dwindling to smoke long before the Greek armada comes ashore. But it is this love story, this passion, that sparks one the greatest war stories ever told, so for it to fall flat and maudlin puts the picture into a hole long before the first seaside battle is even fought.

Luckily, Petersen and writer David Benioff (“The 25^th Hour”) show little interest in this central love story, instead choosing to focus on the political machinations of Grecian King Agamemnon (a smarmy and magnetic Brian Cox, “The Bourne Identity”) and his thirst for supremacy. In actuality, he cares little that his brother King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson, “The General”) has been made a cuckold by a Prince of Troy, instead seeing this love affair as his ticket to finally gaining complete control of an entire region.

But the city of Troy has never been taken by an invading army, King Priam (Peter O’Toole, “Lawrence of Arabia”) secure in his knowledge his people are safe behind the giant walls of his city. His eldest son Hector (Eric Bana, “The Hulk”) is not so sure. The Trojan army, as skilled – especially the archers – as they are, have never faced an army the size of the Greek’s. A man of honor, he knows it is only a matter of time before he must face their best warrior and inspirational leader, the unstoppable killing machine Achilles (Brad Pitt, “Ocean’s 11”), their showdown very likely deciding which army is going to win the war.

What Hector does not know is how little Achilles care for Agamemnon or his war and of the disdain he feels for the potentate’s rule. It is only his thirst for immortality and his friendship with Odysseus (Sean Bean, “LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring”) that has brought the fabled warrior to the shores of Troy, and that alone may not be enough to keep him on the field of battle. Right away both he and Agamemnon are at each other’s throats, both just thirsting for a reason to put the other under the tip of their sword. This acrimony leads to Achilles putting himself and his men on the battle’s sidelines, and it isn’t until a disastrous impersonation by his cousin Patroclus (newcomer Garrett Hedlund) he returns to combat with all the ferocious intensity of wounded Bengal Tiger.

Obviously, there is a lot going on here and any synopsis con only scratch the surface. Needless to say, battles are fought, heroes fall, lovers are separated and a mysteriously hollow horse plays a significant part in the proceedings. It is beyond impressive to look at. The CGI effects, for the most part, blend seamlessly with actual physical surroundings. Nigel Phelps (“Pearl Harbor”) production design borders on the astounding, his recreation of ancient Greece and Troy truly remarkable. Not since Joseph L. Mankiewicz recreated Egypt in the otherwise dreadful “Cleopatra” has a film looked so authentically remarkable, Phelps and his team deserving a litany of kudos for their work.

Like even the dullest of his pictures, Petersen can make action sequences sing with a tenor uniquely their own. Whether working in a stripped-down fashion in pictures like “In the Line of Fire” or “Air Force One,” or on vast canvasses of large-scale action in epics like “Das Boot” or “The Perfect Storm,” the director has shown a propensity for being able to handle it all. Here, both facets of Petersen’s skill are required. Not only does “Troy” feature battles of thousands squaring off, it routinely slows down for pitched face-offs between evenly matched warriors honorably meeting with one another mano-a-mano.

It is these one-on-one moments that really work the best. Quite frequently and according to lore, these medieval gladiators would decide the fates of an entire war, ending conflicts before they even had a chance to begin. It is just this sort of fighting Achilles was made for, his sword and spear saving countless more men from dying in relation to those they’ve sent down to the River Styx. Part boxer, part showman, and all lion, Achilles goes into each fight with the steely-eyed knowledge he is the best to have ever lived, no man facing him – no matter his skill or ability – going to leave their ring of conflict alive.

On a physical level, Pitt is flawless. His beautiful (and very naked), lithe body was just made for features like this. Rarely has a specimen this physically poetic filled the screen, the actor holding the camera’s glare like only a true movie star can. Not since Cary Grant romanced Grace Kelly on the Riviera or Charlton Heston bared all for a chariot race has an actor sparkled, and I cannot imagine another physically filling out this part so nicely. If only the performance matched the physical, however. Pitt, for one reason or another, never finds Achilles’ center, wrestling unsuccessfully with both his diction and expressions to the point I was almost hoping “Troy” would turn into a silent movie.

Only twice does Pitt the actor come to life. The first is a significantly moving moment between himself and captured Trojan Princess Briseis (Rose Byrne, “I Captured the Castle”); the second a surprising and secret encounter with the grieving King Priam. Both stand out for a multitude of reasons. Not only do the other actors in each scene sparkle – none more so than O’Toole, the gifted icon granting the audience with a performance for the ages – but Pitt, too, finally connects to his character and reveals hidden depths heretofore unnoticed. They are quiet, passionate scenes filled with all the pathos, love and tragedy an old-school epic such as this needs.

Yet more moments like these are few and far between. None of the actors really go beyond being anything more than two-dimensional, Bloom and Kruger particularly having a hard time connecting to their star-crossed lovers. Other characters, such as Odysseus and Menelaus, appear so fleetingly and are written as such abstract saints (the former) or sinners (the latter) that relating to them as anything more than symbols is virtually impossible. Even the great Julie Christie, no stranger to epics with films like “Doctor Zhivago” under her belt, is given nothing more than a brief moment. Playing Achilles’ mother, Thetis, what is supposed to be a tenderhearted moment between mother and son instead plays like maudlin pandering. Christie deserves better, and so does the audience, but the film just can’t seem to give it to either of them.

Petersen and Benioff do redeem themselves and their characters in one particular instance, and that is with the presence of Bana and the trio’s crafting of Hector. He is the heart and soul of the picture, cutting a tragic swath through all of the film’s opulence. It is a passionate, soulful performance, Bana taping into a deep well of familial responsibility and love of country that’s beyond moving. It is the type of performance I’ve been waiting for the actor to deliver since his tour de force in “Chopper” just a few years a go, Bana finally getting the opportunity to shine in a role expertly written and directed to sublime perfection. Along with O’Toole’s, it is an award-worthy performance, and in a picture filled with far too many thinly constructed caricatures his an achievement to cherish.

Technically, “Troy” is near-perfection incarnate. Cinematographer Roger Pratt (“Chocolat”) has never done a better job, while Bob Ringwood (“Alien: Resurrection”) hasn’t had the opportunity to make costumes this spectacular since John Boorman’s robust “Excalibur.” Of special note is the editing by Peter Honess (“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secretes”). Nothing here seems out of place, each scene moving to the next with a sure-handed grace most films would kill for. Only James Horner’s (“Titanic”) score seems out of place, his obnoxious themes and overtures telegraphing moments with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the head.