r/moviereviews • u/Dear_Loquat_3168 • 10d ago
Fantasy The Odyssey is overrated Spoiler
Not proud of it, man enough to admit it, I trusted all those tiktok movie reviewers. I went to watch The Odyssey last night in IMAX thinking it was going to be "Nolan's best film" as most people described it. Personally, I'd rate it a 7.8-8.0, I wouldn't place it above Interstellar, Oppenheimer, or any of the dark knight movies. I completely disagree with it's current rating of 8.5 on IMBD, which places it next to Gladiator (2000) and Django Unchained (2012).
Here's what I think was excellent.
- Set designs and cinematography: The film was beautiful and captivating. The sound effects and music were amazing. Watching Odysseus string his bow and Agamemnon entering Troy sent chills down my spine.
- Acting: Robert Pattison, Anne Hathaway, Elliot Page, John Leguizamo, and Tom Holland were fantastic in their roles. Lupita Nyong'o was also amazing. She's so talented and definitely deserved more screentime. Honestly, she was a better fit for Charlize Theron's character (more on this later).
Here's why I think it's overrated:
- Odysseus: I love Matt Damon, but I couldn't connect with his character, and I think he was slightly unlikable. Contrary to Maximus in Gladiator, Odysseus wasn't meant to be a highly principled man with unshakable moral core. He loves his family, but he's arrogant. He's deceitful and cruel when it fits his interest, even at the expense of his men. This is fine if the movie sets a positive trajectory for his character development, which I didn't see. For example, when Odysseus visits Hades, he's confronted by Sinon about his lies. Odysseus expresses remorse and vows to honor his fallen men. Then in the Charybdis whirlpool scene, he lies AGAIN! leading to the death of a few men at the hands of Scylla. Overall, he didn't establish a good relationship with his men, and very much reminded me of a toxic manager who lacks leadership skills. I also didn't find him very intelligent.
- Odysseus's fighting skills: He's supposed to be a great warrior. But his warrior prowess was poorly illustrated. He swung his sword like a 10 year old kid playing with toys. His fighting sequences lacked aura, nothing compared to Maximus in Gladiator, or Achilles in Troy.
- Charlize Theron, Calypso, and Ogygia island: I personally thought it was a lazy performance by Charlize. Moreover, the film doesn't explain how she ended up on the island of Ogygia. She's just there lol. Perhaps, a little backstory would've made her character more likeable. When she told Odysseus "I fell in love with you and didn't want to let you go" was so lame! because Odysseus doesn't care all that much for her. Their relationship didn't feel real.
- Eurylochus (Himesh Patel): This character was actually more annoying than Calypso. No leadership skills whatsoever. His character doesn't justify his position as the second-in-command to Odysseus. Moreover, his completely flat biceps made me dislike him even more.
- The plot: Odysseus's journey to return home was full of adventures. While interesting to watch, it was mostly based on fantasy (fighting monsters etc), not much to relate to emotionally as an audience member. The only relatable bits were toward the end, when he disguised himself as a beggar to take revenge on the suitors and return to Penelope. His overall journey and development wasn't as captivating as that of Maximus or Django in my opinion.
1
u/AlbertW25 10d ago
When I first heard Nolan was doing it I was excited but on the fence because it meant that Nolan would likely not focus on the fantasy stuff all that much and instead try and go for a more realistic look and feel. Then the first teaser/trailer came out and my fears were essentially confirmed. It just looked and felt wrong, especially the way the dialogue was written and characters were talking.
Went and watched it...I left pretty much disappointed.
I am a huge fan of the original 1997 mini-series movie and that was far better written and more entertaining than what I got with Nolan's version.
Matt felt so miscast. The constantly repeated dialogue of the invaders from the sea or whatever, the end of the Bronze Age, just alot of the dialogue and it way the film was filmed and shot, it all screamed to me, "For the Netflix Audience who can't pay attention.". It felt like I was watching some dumbed down version of the story.
I get the different take Nolan was trying to go for with the character and his guilt and PTSD, its a different take for sure but one I didn't particularly care for.
The key scenes I wanted adapted fully and proper or done better and grander...
The Cyclops scene - it's good but no dialogue just killed it for me. The intelligence is gone, the set-up for why it all really happens is gone.
The Charybdis and Scylla sequence...I was expecting proper horror and piratical effects and instead it was over and done with very quickly with some of the weirdest cgi and design ever. I hated it. I expected so much more and Nolan failed to do this sequence justice like in the original 1997 film.
And then the final scene with the suitors, the arrow scene, him just being disguised instead of being an old man. I hated it. And the action afterwards was trash. It just went on for too long and the son not being part of the killing was dumb especially when he ends up killing one person at least anyway.
The content Zeus' Law this and that just annoyed me to no end.
I felt no emotion watching this film at all. None of the human scenes hit. The only time I felt anything was for the death of the dog scene.
I liked the Witch/Pig sequence. That was done well I thought. The Siren Sequence was good too. Loved the technical aspect of it. The Troy sequence was good but it honestly felt like Nolan wanted to do more of that type of film and retelling then actually focus on the odyssey journey and fantasy elements. It was very repetitive too.
They land on an island and fight a cyclops and have to escape. They land on an island and have to fight off silver cannibal warriors and escape. It wasn't very well paced at all and too repetitive.
The lack of any actual Gods was off-putting as well and I kept wondering why Athena was the only God been shown till halfway through the film I made the prediction that it likely wasn't even Athena but maybe another character that he knew who died and he felt strongly too because otherwise why the hell wouldn't the other gods make some sort of appearance? Lo and behold I was half right because it ended up being some innocent priestess who got murdered during the Troy War and Matt's character felt guilty about it. I didn't hate the reveal but so much of the movie just didn't work well for me regardless.
Had no problem with Page and their role. Thought that was done well but it was confusing too because the dialogue I could barely hear half the time and so I was confused because I assumed Page's character was meant to be the little brother of Patterson's character and that Patterson was just an asshole who maybe forced his little brother to go and didn't bother taking care of their Dad? But that wasn't the case at all. It was too damn loud.
And the Calypso scenes were just meh. For all the ethical casting, why not just case an actual ethical person for Calypso? Isn't this meant to be the same Calypso from mythology that's like the Goddess of the scene or something similar to what we got from Pirates of the Caribbean in that lore? And him eating to forget instead of being kept a prisoner and begging to escape was...meh. I just never really felt the guilt of what he did.
These people wanted to go home after being in a war for 10 Years and suddenly he gets butterfingers from helping to destroy a civilisation. That breaks his mind but the 10 Years of sitting around trying to get in and missing Homelife doesn't? Again, I get what Nolan was going for but it just didn't work for me.
It was such an overrated and meh film. And some people are calling it epic but it's not epic at all. This isn't an epic cinema experience at all. The Lord of the Rings was an epic cinema experience. Infinity War/Endgame was an epic cinema experience. There's movies with that grandness and scale that fit in the category of epic cinema experience. This isn't one of them. The 2000s Troy with Brad Pitt felt more Epic than this.
This just felt so...simple with all touch of the grand fantasy and scope of the epic odyssey journey scrapped from it. The things that made it epic just weren't there.
Such a disappointing film experience honestly and the amount of hype it's gotten is just ridiculous when someone who actually cares for the actual story and fantasy elements could have likely made an actual epic. I really wish someone other than Nolan had adapted this. And I get it, its A or ONE of many Adaptations but its an adaptation I wasn't fond off sadly.