As for the film Troy, I thought Brad Pitt had terrible material to work with. The part as written was a whiny, petulant hero, a real a@@hole, refusing to support his commander in battle and sleeping late in his tent when the other soldiers were on the field - made no sense to me. Maybe Hollywood was making an antiwar statement, but that did not work for me. Lots of other great performances in that film however.
The writers actually read the Iliad. Achilles was whiny, petulant, a a$$#0le who refused to support his commander in battle and spent a lot of time in his tent when the other soldiers were on the field.