In my opinion, The Odyssey was the most anticipated movie of the year. I know Marvel fans will argue with me on that about Doomsday but the Odyssey stretches across all adult generations. Also, it had the biggest chess piece in all of cinema, Christopher Nolan. No director is doing it like him in this era. He is just levels above the next best, and it’s nice to have someone like that we can call to in our generation and call the potential GOAT. Where The Odyssey really impressed was Nolan weaving the massive scale of the films locations and practical effects with a unique family drama. Only Nolan could intertwine those two so well, and also allow for the massive cast of stars to get their moments since they dream of working on a film like this.
This movie is carried on the shoulders of Matt Damon. Finally getting his stamp of “Leading Man in a Nolan Film” in this one, and he embodied Odysseus better than anyone I think could have in this film. He shows so much raw emotion, is a true leader of men but understands the rules of the journey and the Gods (even if they do break several), and feels like such a force upon his return. When he is tied up and hearing the Sirens’ song, that display of emotion and commitment to the role to show true pain and regret in that moment, it was truly stunning. You have only tales to go off of and other depictions of people reacting to their song, but to make it such a moment and event within the film like he did facing it while tied to the boat (which is grueling enough from a filming perspective at sea) was an embodiment of why he was the right choice to play Odysseus. Don’t let the other performances get lost in limited screen-time though. This is an absolute star studded cast and only Nolan can pull together something like this.
This is an all star team of a Christopher Nolan ensemble cast. Even with many of them having limited screen-time, they made huge impacts. Like Ethan Page, Zendaya, and especially Samantha Morton. That Circe animal scene is one of the most twisted scenes I’ve seen in a long time and really felt like Nolan spreading his wings some in that, but it wouldn’t be half as good without Morton buying into a top tier performance and sequence. Even Tom Holland doesn’t get a ton of time as part of the plot but he is obviously persistent throughout and does a really good job of playing Telemachus. He feels like an immature man that you can tell isn’t ready for the throne and the only saving grace is when and if Odysseus is to return for him and his mother.
Speaking of his mother, Anne Hathaway stole the show in my opinion as Queen Penelope. She set the tone at the palace anytime the story shifted back to an Odysseus-less (fun to say) kingdom. She showed raw emotion in so many moments and she connected everything at the end to make his return even more impactful. The cast was the high point of the film for me along with the scale, and no one felt wasted. They all pulled their weight to make this film what it has become in the eye of general audiences. I’d also be remiss if I did not mention Himesh Patel and how great he did as basically Odysseus right hand man in his crew for the whole film. He feels like a gut check for Odysseus along the journey, but at the end of the day he shows to be another one of the men that falls victim to their consequences of breaking Zeus’ law.
Now to my favorite part, the visual shots and scale of the film. Nolan filming on location in places like Greece, Morocco, and Iceland really paid off because when you saw shots at sea, you felt like you were at sea with them, and you could tell how far out they were and how vast and desolate the ocean was for Odysseus and his men. The big things looked big and the details within the big shots mattered, which is Nolan being a master at his craft. The shots of the location with Hades looked like it spanned forever with hordes of lost souls throughout. The islands all felt like we only got to see a glimpse of them but could tell there was so much to it based on shots from the boats and while on land. Even Troy felt like it was a living breathing city when watching with so many buildings, alleys, and space for battle to ensue there. The visual scale really is the high point of the film along with Damon’s pure performance as Odysseus and it makes the epic feel that much bigger.
The fact this is a real shot with the Trojan horse and hundred men pulling it out of the ocean sand is what makes all of this so special. We are blessed that this isn’t green screen slop and that there is so much depth and texture to this shot. The filming conditions of the men being in the horse as well sounded brutal, and I applaud them so much for all buying in and putting forth so a Herculean effort to make this movie the best it can be. While everyone poured their heart out into their roles, I do think this is a hard adaptation to film for a few reasons. Nolan is the only one that can make it this impressive, with the acting being top notch, but I still have my quirks with it. Maybe it is just having extremely high expectations after how much I loved Oppenheimer, but some stuff I get the point of, just didn’t really love it from a story perspective.
The biggest example of this would be the fact they just run onto an island, find trouble, and lose men hen get chased off it. I know that’s the story and those are part of his adventures, but it got really repetitive. While not feeling like a long movie, I was really waiting for just more intensity, like what we got in the third act of the film. Again, I get it’s to show they are the “People of the Sea” and breaking Zeus’ law throughout their adventures, but the third act of the film is what really saved the whole experience for me. Not that I didn’t like it, but it kept me from just thinking it was fine with a big scale and A+ casting and leads. It brought it to a status of “very good” for me. That’s how I land on the 7/10 for this film, but it doesn’t land in Nolan’s top 5 films for me. I am more of a fan of his original works I think than the adaptations he does.
To end with some more positive notes on this, the sequence of Odysseus returning home, and revealing himself through the stringing of the bow was magical. From the score, to the sound design, to the lighting, and all the supporting performances as well, this felt like a sporting event moment in theaters. Odysseus was exactly the force we expected him to be when fighting off the suitors, although it was a little unrealistic that he was just mowing through dozens of them with just a bow, and somehow infinite bows it felt like. I also don’t get why he didn’t let Telemachus help him in battle fending them off, even though he helped in other ways. It made him feel like a God, which worked in that sense, but the super close up combat shots of just tearing everyone in the room up was a little much I think for what I was expecting from his return. I know many liked it, I just wish I didn’t have to suspend disbelief so much that Odysseus could take out 30 men (who ultimately did get weapons) in a small room. Being nit-picky but some of this stuff is what kept it from being excellent in my eyes. With all that said, I cannot wait to see what Nolan does in 3 years as his next project as I will always be seated for his films. Someone said our biggest movie star of this generation is a director, and they may be right.
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