"Troy" may not be the stuff of legends, but on the whole it's still a very good action-adventure movie.

In fact, given this summer's already lowered expectations (thanks to the flat movie-season opener, "Van Helsing"), this is a step in the right direction. At least here's a movie that puts as much emphasis on story and characterization as it does on action.

As you might expect, there has been a lot of tinkering with the source material, Homer's epic poem "The Iliad." But the changes made here actually make some sense, and even when the film temporarily grinds to a halt (more than once), it's able to recover before too long.

Brad Pitt stars as fabled warrior Achilles, a veteran of many Greek wars. He's become a little numb to it all and is less than thrilled with the actions of his king, the blood-thirsty Agamemnon (Brian Cox).

Yet, Achilles is still the one leading the charge on the kingdom of Troy. Agamemnon has sent his forces there on the pretext of recovering his sister-in-law, Helen (Diane Kruger), who was spirited away by the Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom).

Agamemnon has secretly been looking for an excuse to invade the supposedly impenetrable kingdom. However, Troy's forces, led by Hector (Eric Bana), turn out to be more than a match for the Greek invaders. And the increasingly disenchanted Achilles may be the only one who can change the tide of battle.

Screenwriter David Benioff's script is somewhat revisionist, no doubt to make this version more palatable for and understandable to today's movie audiences. He also favors somewhat contemporary dialogue and downplays the tale's more fantastic elements.

Veteran director Wolfgang Petersen makes good use of that, though, and plays up the grittiness of the action and bloodshed. This is fairly graphic stuff — though it's not outrageously so. And if nothing else, here's a director who will allow the camera to stay in place during the action scenes, and there a quite a few doozies (the Achilles-Hector fight is possibly the best).

The film's biggest drawback may be Pitt. While he does have onscreen magnetism and is believable enough in the action scenes, his performance doesn't carry the necessary weight; he's not entirely convincing as a world-weary, battle-scarred warrior.

Fortunately, the rest of the cast is able to make up for that. Bana is particularly good as Hector, and his intensity is needed here. (His performance contains several crucial elements that Pitt's lacks.) As expected, big-screen veterans Cox and Peter O'Toole (who is interviewed on Page W7) are terrific. Cox wisely stops short of going over the top as the boastful Agamemnon, while O'Toole brings dignity and real presence to the role of King Priam, Troy's ruler.

"Troy" is rated R for graphic scenes of action violence (swordplay, combat, arrow fire and some brawling), gore, simulated sex, and brief female and partial male nudity. Running time: 163 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com