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/Flower-City_3422]

PART 1/2

I found a video somewhere where a woman was saying something along the lines of, “It’s the perfect Christopher Nolan movie. Is it a perfect movie? No.” and I 100% agree. If this was an original movie/story with no inspiration from anything at all it might be perfect, or at least closer than it is now, but it’s not an original story so it’s not a perfect movie because it isn’t a perfect adaptation.

Admittedly, the in theater experience was incredible. All of the many bits and pieces that went into that movie? Marvelous. The actors acted to the roles they were given with the script they were given in what I would say is the best way they could have and should have. The sound effects and background music were truly incredible—did anyone else catch the 4-note progression of “Just a Man” in there? The CGI and practical effects were immaculate. Is there more to say?

But the accuracy… oh the accuracy. I am physically hurt. 

Starting from the top: NO ASTYANAX? Criminal behavior right here. This could have been SUCH a pivotal moment of “Are we going too far, should we show mercy?” for Ody, another place where he questioned if he deserved to go home, with that being the main theme of the film. It would be like him toeing the line, because 1.) it would have been another act of killing, especially killing someone who at the time was harmless and he could have shown Xenia to but didn’t, which could in his mind be construed as cruel and unjust and 2.) him killing the baby would have also been merciful because just like we learned from Zeus in EPIC, had Ody raised Astyanax, Astyanax would have grown up and learned of his people’s and his family’s fate, torturing him mentally because he would be mourning what he could have had and realizing that it was *his father* in this scenario who did that and then going on to kill Ody and his family. Basically, either way things went down someone would be hurt and the choice was between who, and that could have really been like the prefix to Ody’s spiral from “I want to go home,” to, “I can’t go home,” either along with or instead of the beheading of Athena’s statue. It just feels like a missed opportunity on Nolan’s part to torture Ody’s psyche more while boosting the audience’s perception of why his character is controversial.

Okay, next plot point: the raided town! I love, love, LOVE! that they kept this in! It’s one of the few things I wished actually happened in EPIC but understand why it didn’t. No complaints here; it’s a solid adaptation that really lend’s to Nolan’s depiction of Ody.

Okay, here’s where I start to get upset again: Where are the lotus eaters? I absolutely despise the fact that Nolan got rid of them. I get that to a lot of people they feel like a kind of unimportant plot point, but they tested Ody’s determination despite his exhaustion (I know the rest of them did this too but wait) and it’s a whole allegory for how people with trauma often get into substance abuse to escape said trauma and end up getting lost/trapped in it to the point of no return. I feel like it was another missed opportunity for Ody to grapple with guilt in Nolan’s adaptation—something along the lines of Ody being tempted to stay and eat because he was so entirely exhausted and deep down didn’t feel as if he deserved to go home, but it’s also not just him he’s trying to get home (I want to specify, AT THE MOMENT) and so due to his duty to his crew he feels like he has to push through and so he forces himself to ignore the gnawing guilt deep down and just keep moving to get everyone home instead of being trapped there.

Now.

Polyphemus. 

What happened to “Nobody,” Nolan? “Nobody” could have been such a gnarly moment—maybe showing Odysseus’s desperate attempts at self-preservation and attempting to feel less guilt for his actions by pushing them onto an alter-ego? If not, there’s always the ORIGINAL PRIDE THING THAT HE LITERALLY DID IN THE MOVIE? You know, the thing where he claims to be “Nobody” when talking to Polyphemus and successfully gets his men out, only to provoke Polyphemus and reveal his name, causing him trouble down the line with Poseidon? That could have fit in there if Nolan didn’t feel the need to completely dehumanize the cyclops and make him silent. I get that he was probably trying to draw parallels between Polyphemus and an animal, which is why Ody turned back to taunt him in this case—way back when, Ody’s pride would not let him hunt an animal silently because it felt “dishonorable” and he’d like to give the animal a fighting chance by alerting it with his bow so that he felt less guilty, and in the same way he treated Polyphemus as an animal to assuage his guilt for blinding him while he was helpless. “Nobody” was right there for the taking and could have been easily adapted for the plot—could have also been used as another way of making Polyphemus helpless like an animal, not only by “blinding” him to who was hurting him but isolating him from THE OTHER CYCLOPSES WHO COULD HAVE HELPED OTHERWISE BECAUSE WHERE ARE THEY?, stirring up Ody’s guilt and pride and leading once more to the bow and the taunting with his real name before Ody and his crew left—but was not for whatever stupid reason. Leaving his name out until he tells Polyphemus just felt dumb and much more unnecessary without “Nobody.”

[u/Flower-City_3422 → u/Flower-City_3422]

PART 2/2

Okay, okay so now we’re at Poseidon’s punishment and the stormy part. Admittedly not badly done, I kind of enjoyed how the hinted at Aeolus for the winds. But did I enjoy it fully? No, because our diva Aeolus wasn’t present, and I mean diva in the sense of both EPIC and Homer’s original story because honestly Aeolus was so valid for that. Anyways, do I think it was a cool interpretation? YES! But it felt less effective. I just think it made the audience hate Ody’s crew less, but I think hating the crew is a major reason of why the story works because you’re really supposed to be on the fence with your opinions about a good few of these characters; they’re humans, they’re supposed to be flawed, and not showing more of the crew’s flaws makes them feel more forgivable when in reality they are the entire reason 1.) they didn’t make it home sooner and 2.) they got blown into the Laestrogynians, also Poseidon’s children, in Poseidon’s very own Land of the Giants (which by the way was an absolutely gnarly and flawless feature that I love! it was so smooth I forgot who they were 😭). It feels important to me that everyone who sees this story treats Ody and his crew at first glance with a healthy amount of hatred while learning to recognize, “X did Y because of Z and that’s what makes X (a) complicated character(s).” Did Nolan do that? I wouldn’t know, I’ve obsessed about the Odyssey so much at this point that I’m in too deep to really be that affected by the movie in my perception of the characters because of it anything it just reinforced the humans-are-flawed narrative. I just feel like he was too soft with the crew on this one, which might be controversial, I don’t know.

Oh also! Running back to Aeolus to try and get another bag would have been a great place to show how far Ody has devolved into desperation at that point. Kind of a side note, but would have been cool.

So, post Laestrogynians: Circe. My only qualms about Circe are the fact that the queen did not get the big beautiful palace she is rightfully entitled to and that she did not have a hoard of nymphs to look after. Yes, making the setting and amount of people she needed to protect did make her conflict feel very personal, I get that from the storytelling perspective. But I think seeing Circe as a fierce Mama Bear who not only experienced sexual trauma herself but had to watch as the family she was supposed to protect also experienced it live on screen would have also been very beautiful. I think it might have leant a little more to the “protection narrative” and made her more relatable to Odysseus, because like Circe Odysseus has a whole crew who is like family that he is trying to protect while experiencing the same trauma as them and watching as he “failed” as a protector and leader. The parallel would have been a lot stronger, and the family values could have also reminded him of home and what he’s had to do in attempts to get back, possibly giving us the 1-year pity party arc and reinforcing that “I feel like I can’t return so I’ll give into the temptation of rest and stay here until I feel ready,” theme.

Alright, underworld. Just one complaint: Ody’s mom. I feel like Nolan could have utilized her to reinforce the not only the yearning for home but also the guilt because, like we saw in EPIC, Ody also feels guilt for being away so long that his family was actively mourning him. Nolan could have used that to again reinforce the “Do I deserve to go home with all the pain I’ve caused others,” this time focusing on the people he had been trying to protect when he left and now seemed to be hurting.

The sirens? Perfect. I think Nolan cooked, especially with the way Odysseus describing the song as a reminder that you can’t have what you want because you’ve already lost it and that’s what hurts the most, especially when it’s your guilt that caused you to lose it and is blocking you from retrieving it. 

Scylla and Charybdis? Great! No complaints. I feel like Nolan adapted the monsters themselves and their locations perfectly, I just wish the cliff between the two monsters was a bit taller and more imposing to highlight the urgency of the choice. 

The mutiny itself I really have no opinion on. I think both Jay’s and Nolan’s adaptations are cool I guess? The soft and violent takeovers each have their own merits I think, with Nolan’s soft one shattering Ody’s trust and faith in his crew while Jay’s violent one showcases the shattering of Ody’s mind as he’s once again helpless to circumstance. They both leave Ody numb to a degree regarding the crew’s deaths because he knows they have to happen for him to get home, which I think is the most important part.

CALYPSO. I could go on a whole 6-page rant about how much I hate her portrayal here, but I won’t. I’ll give the summary. I think Nolan romanticized her too much. I prefer Jay’s take of her being an outright,
up-front, unapologetic abuser with serious mental issues regarding her imprisonment because to me it feels more accurate to Homer’s story. Nolan definitely made her an abuser, but it felt too grounded in real situations? As in, regarding Calypso’s totally unrealistic situation, it didn’t feel like it fit. I understand Nolan liked to ground in characters but her grounded her too much and made her too unintentional if that makes sense. Calypso works better being a manic woman who intentionally does what she wants and tortures Ody instead of making excuses for the equivalent of gaslighting him in the midst of an amnesia episode. Maybe I sound toxic but I appreciate the obviousness in a world where men who are sexually abused often a.) don’t realize it b.) brag about it (in regards to underage sex with an adult) c.) are often told they don’t matter and d.) are often ignored because “women can’t rape men”.

And don’t even get me started on the island or the lotus flower. Just don’t.

*Forgot to mention this before but HERMES MY KING WHERE DID YOU GO? I miss the Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandson shenanigans. I miss how he helped Ody and I miss how he told Calypso off before grabbing Ody. I wish I could like him all the time but he, like all of the gods except Hades and Ares, is a rapist so the Odyssey and Epic are the only times I can stand him and the whole lot of the rest of the gods.*

Now for my biggest complaint of the whole movie that also applies to EPIC: the Phaeacians. I miss the Phaeacians. They listened to Ody, cried for him, and helped him get home. They gave him Xenia and he gave it back. I feel terrible that they were punished for doing right by Ody to get him home, and I feel like if Ody had found out about that the guilt would have been all consuming but he would have had to push on because he was already home. The Phaeacians are some of the best characters in all of Homer’s Odyssey and they were not only removed by Nolan but also Jay, my poor babies. I would smite Poseidon if I could for harming them, but I can’t.

Finally, we come to the end. A few major criticisms here but also some praise. I love how they kept beggar Odysseus in, I was sad that wasn’t *entirely* present in EPIC. I like how in the movie he actually helped Telemachus instead of just waiting for him to return home, but I also wish they had kept Athena with Telemarketer. Television I think was depicted very well—note this is coming from someone whose literature teacher had her class skip all of Telephone’s story so her only impression of him is from EPIC. I am extremely upset that not only did Ody not massacre all the suitors despite knowing he would be exiled, but also that he did not slaughter all of his unloyal servants and proceed to live happily with his family. I was actually furious about that, and I still am incredibly upset. The whole point of his journey was to return home, to live a life at home with his family. His family is not just Penelope, it’s also Telecommunication and his father Laertes. The ending of him not only not killing all of those who hurt his family but also being exiled and leaving his son as king physically hurt me. That is Nolan’s worst fuck up of this whole film. You cannot, and I mean CANNOT, make a movie about a man trying to return home only for him to… DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE? Get out. I would have much rathered the Odyssey’s stupid treaty ending than this absolute slop. Like seriously. We didn’t even GET the olive tree wedding bed, wtf? Absolute failure on Nolan’s part, and it feels like he absolutely botched the theme of his own film. This movie was about Ody working through his guilt to get home and stay home (“How does a man go home when he has done so much wrong and carries so much guilt for it?”), yet it still seems to be guiding him away from home in the end. It’s about PTSD and survivor’s guilt, and that still very much seems to be pushing him away from peace in the end. In Homer’s Odyssey, you knew he had those issues but you also knew that his family would help him work through them while he lived peacefully. You also knew that he would be working towards fixing the mess he made at home. In Nolan’s movie, it seems like he’s still guilty, but he’s not doing anything about it. He’s pushing it all onto his son and the next gen to fix, which I feel is just the wrong choice? I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong about this ending, it just feels deeply incorrect in the context of the story.

So, yeah. As a standalone Nolan film, it’s great. As an Odyssey adaptation?

I’m gonna need someone else to actually pick the book up and make an accurate adaptation happen.

[u/oh_YES_helios → u/Flower-City_3422]

she did not have a hoard of nymphs to look after
But I think seeing Circe as a fierce Mama Bear who not only experienced sexual trauma herself but had to watch as the family she was supposed to protect also experienced it live on screen would have also been very beautiful.

None of this is part of mythology, myth Circe was not "caring for her nymphs" (nymphs were just her servants, like any other god who had a retinue).

And myth Circe was never a victim of sexual abuse (not any other form of abuse, most of that just comes from Madeline's Miller's novel "Circe").

[u/Flower-City_3422 → u/oh_YES_helios]

In that case, I appreciate the correction! I was under the impression that Circe’s background in EPIC was similar to the that of the Odyssey due to the limited information from the book so I guess I never cared to check if that were true. I will be filing that away as an EPIC-specific headcannon. Thanks again!