How is Achilles the greatest warrior presented in both the film Troy and the Illiad?

Well in the film he is portrayed as experiencing extreme anger and wrath, emotional, handsome, having great strength, remorseful, a good leader and regularly sleeping around with women from the places he fights against. Is this similar to the Illiad? Was he also promiscuous?|||Believe it or not, the film "waters down" Achilles' anger. Both me and my wife are fans of the Iliad and after seeing the film we immediately had a conversation about why they softened up Achilles so much. 2 theories came to mind. One was that Brad Pitt wouldn't play such a character. The second is that modern sensibilities wouldn't let someone as mean as Achilles be anything of a hero.





My copy of the Iliad starts out (from memory) "The wrath of Achilles is my theme. That fatal wrath which in the fulfillment of the will of Zeus sent so many noblemen to the Hall of Hades leaving their bodies for carrion for the dogs and passing birds..."





Achilles is one mean SOB. He is the "best" fighter the Greeks have. In time, because the war hasn't gone well, Achilles (the best of the best fighters) blames the commander in chief of the Greek forces (Agamemnon). They have a great big argument, a p*ssing contest, and Achilles withdraws his warrior services to sit on his ship and delight in watching as the Greeks are slaughtered by the Trojans.





When Achilles finally fights for the Greeks again, he slaughters hundreds, if not thousands, of Trojans with a speed and efficiency that is mind boggling.





His promiscuous-ness, or lack of it, is not addressed in the Iliad. But, later when Achilles is shot in the heel by Paris, he is not trying to save Breisis, as in the movie, instead he is actively raping a priestess of Athena and it is an offended Athena who directs Paris to kill him. This part of the story is not actually in the Iliad.





Undoubtedly he was handsome. Thugs of this kind often are. But if you thought the Achilles of the movie is tough, read the book. He makes the movie Achilles look like a philosopher. In fact, that was my first comment to my wife, "It's unbelievable, they turned Achilles into a philosopher..."