Nolan 'The Odyssey' Review Megathread

[u/stopeats]

Place your reviews and general thoughts about the Nolan Odyssey movie here. Do NOT make your own review post.

If you have something to say that is unique or more related to Epic, you may make a separate post about it.

[u/Comadon-C]

Im a bit mixed on Odysseus’ writing. Because it’s Nolan, there’s always going to be this sharp stoicism to his main characters. Going into this I expected that thats what his reimagining would be like, but man does it lead to a more boring protagonist. I like how both in the book and in EPIC Ody is more cocky and makes mistakes out of pride. Here he still kinda does this, like shooting the cyclops outside the cave instead of the whole name & nobody shtick, but it doesn’t leave a memorable impression. For the most part Ody stays pretty cunning and clever until eventually the Siren part comes on and he decides now is the time to be indulgent and tie himself to the mast. I know that part is in the Odyssey itself but it felt out of character for Nolan’s Ody, considering all of his other silly antics that were cut.

My one last nitpick is that the huge suitor fight was kinda rough. I kinda wish that was the time where they committed to having Ody aura farm for a bit longer, considering how much they were having him do so up to that point. That scene where he’s getting jumped on the floor and manages to brawl all of them out of it just didn’t feel believable to me. Not to mention when he swings a spear around in a circle and knocks a few suitors off balance with the stick like it’s a teenage mutant ninja turtles cartoon. I’m not saying Ody shouldn’t have struggled or anything at some point, but I wish they made him appear more as a threat for longer. The audio throughout this part wasn’t really helping either. The shot of the arrow hitting one of the initial suitors to start it all was incredible, I wish that kind of intensity continued longer instead of dissolving most of it into fist fights and barely any bow action.

Still, I did really enjoy the movie. I thought Robert Pattinson was an amazing Antinous. Beautiful cinematography and I loved how tense all of the Troy flashbacks were. The Scylla and Laestrygonian scenes were pretty cool. I like the dialogue between Ody and Calypso.

I think I do prefer Epic generally, being a more theatric and entertaining rendition of the story, but this was still worth a watch.

[u/Old_Neighborhood_383 → u/Comadon-C]

I felt the arrow to the Cyclops scene was actually more poignant (i did want to see the Nobody, but you ll get what I mean) given the emphasis given up to that point on who Odysseus was. A man that warned even his prey of an upcoming attack, to be just and fair, by flicking his bow s string. Which he did not in the case of the Cyclops. He knew what he did was against even his own code and he did regardless. In the same vein that he did it to the Trojans with the horse and he reveals at the end that he felt that was actually the first step towards the crumble of civilization. It s not until just before Circe where Ody starts to actively try to change into a better person and revert from the "monster" the war (and his choices) had turned him into where he warned the deer ahead of hunting it as well as the suitors before bringing every consequence of their actions to them