My spoiler-free review of The Odyssey conveys the gist of my thoughts on the film, but I had a lot of stray branches I wanted to touch on that warranted its own post. So this will be much more disjointed and filled with SPOILERS.
IMAX 70MM
As a Nolan fan, I go into his films wanting to like them. Actually, I want to like everything I see, but with Nolan I’m willing to rewatch a film a few times if it isn’t clicking with me the way it is with others. This is what happened with Oppenheimer, which took me multiple viewings to fully enjoy. (I plan on revisiting Dunkirk again in the future, because I was very underwhelmed with that one while others consider it his best work.) Anyway, it’s something I’m aware of, and it’s why I usually like to put some time between watching his films and reviewing them. I take the format I watched them in into the equation, as well. In this case, it was 70MM IMAX.
The Odyssey is the first film I’ve seen in 70MM. The closest IMAX to me (in Evansville, IN) is standard. I was able to make the trip to Indianapolis for this film, however, finally seeing a film in 70MM. I was taken aback at first with the height of the screen, but I ended up loving the format.
The point of all this is that there were factors at play that amplified my enjoyment of this film, and only time, and smaller formats, will tell if this one will keep its place among my favorites of Nolan’s filmography. But right now, I really fucking liked it.
The Logical Follow-up to Oppenheimer
For most of the film, the only issue that was forming was Odysseus’s guilt and reluctance to go home. It didn't click with me what the problem was. He won the war, so what was the problem? The deception of the Trojan horse and the sack of Troy are so embedded in culture that I never even thought of the emotional impact of such betrayal and misery. So when he revealed all of this to Penelope and Athena (who is in the form of a priestess executed in front of him), it hit me hard. This is a man reckoning with the death and carnage brought on because of his plan, which he sees reaching beyond just Troy as he set the example that the rules of hospitality no longer need to be honored. This is just like the back half of Oppenheimer in which he takes indignity and indignity because he feels like he deserved it.
Oppenheimer was criticized (most notably by well-known subtle person James Cameron) by some for not showing the effects of the bomb and instead focusing on Oppenheimer’s personal experiences. Since he was not there when the bombs dropped, the film would not show them. The focus is instead on his feeling of guilt which is manifested quite effectively in his victory speech (that isolated scream gives me chills no matter how many times I hear it) and his imagination of stepping through charred bodies.
With The Odyssey, Nolan gives you the bomb and the guilt. We witness the sacking of Troy as Odysseus watches on in horror. I don’t think this is Nolan responding to Oppenheimer criticism. It’s just that this time he chose a story in which the creator of destruction personally witnessed it, as well. Anyway, there should be no bullshit complaints this time about literally showing what the main character feels guilty about.
On a side note, I thought the casting of Benny Safdie as Agamemnon was interesting since he played Teller in Oppenheimer, who focused on surpassing the atomic bomb by developing hydrogen weapons. He’s the arbiter of destruction here, as well, wanting war with Troy no matter the reason. His characters also end their screen time in both films with a woman looking at them quite angrily, in both cases deservedly so.
Costumes and Casting “Controversy”
First off, I think the vast majority of people being bitches online about the casting and the costumes of this film are either bots, people who never planned on watching the movie ever anyway, and/or racists/transphobes. This is why I didn’t want to even acknowledge it in my actual review because it’s so fucking stupid. But I’m a creature of the internet, so I’ll get into it a little bit.
The Lupita Nyong’o shit is just racist, plain and simple. This is a modern film about a fictional epic, the cast is who it is. Beauty is famously in the eye of the beholder, so if she’s not beautiful enough for you, then fine, but don’t be a bitch about it. She’s great in the small amount of screen time she has, by the way. Nolan needed an actress in a dual role that could convey supreme sadness in one scene and righteous fury in another, and he chose well.
Also, if you’re pissed off about Nyong’o, but you’re okay with Matt Damon or any of the other non-Greeks playing Greeks, then that says it all. It’s a fucking movie about a mythological story, so it’s not going to be “historically accurate,” whatever the fuck that means anyway. I fucking hate the internet sometimes.
The other target of online bullshit is the casting of Elliot Page. At first, people thought he was cast as Achilles, but it turns out to be Sinon, the soldier left behind to convince the Trojans the horse was a gift. I’ve seen some people post things in defense of the casting along the lines of “Calm down, he’s not playing Achilles.” I get that since Achilles was supposed to be a huge warrior (my Humanities professor complained about Brad Pitt being too small for the role back when Troy was coming out). But even if he was Achilles, who gives a fuck? It’s not like Achilles would have a big role in this film if he was featured in it, so I don’t get the outrage. It’s all just transphobic bullshit, and it’s exhausting. For the record, I thought Page was great in the role, especially in the speaking dead sequence.
Travis Scott is another inclusion that has bothered some, but not so much for his role. The end credits feature a Scott song. Once again, so what? I saw one clickbait post saying it would be like “if Schindler’s List ended with an Imagine Dragons song.” First off, the comparison makes no fucking sense; at least pick an artist from that time period if you’re going to make that joke. Second, the film doesn’t “end” with the song; it plays over the credits. You know, the same way Tenet had a Travis Scott song play over the credits? I’m not even a fan of Travis Scott’s music, but I don’t care if his music plays over the credits.
There were also plenty of complaints about the costumes. Most recently a picture of Jon Bernthal was released in which he was wearing a simple leather doublet. Dipshits online were complaining that this would be more suited for hunting than for war. Well, he wears it while hunting pheasants (or some other such bird). It’s just a perfect example of “Wait until you see the movie before you criticize it.”
The other costume that caught shit was Agamemnon’s exaggerated armor. I thought it looked odd myself in the first trailer, but in the film it’s used to great effect. Agamemnon is the real reason behind the war, so the armor works as this imposing dark image a few times in the film, and it’s a powerful visual each time. It’s my favorite costume choice in the film.
“Who is your daddy, and what does he do?”
Some of the dialogue from the trailers has been scrutinized, most notably the use of “dad” and “daddy” and Matt Damon yelling “Let’s go!” as the soldiers run seemingly into battle. This is the only pre-release stuff that did give me pause. It didn’t take me out of the movie or anything, but yeah, couldn’t we just go with “father”? Although Pattinson uses “daddy” to mock Holland, so I guess that works. But if there was one thing I’d change, it would be that. But, again, it did not bother me at all during my viewing.
The “let’s go” moment is another example of not knowing the context. The scene is not a battle charge; it’s Odysseus and his men fleeing the dead. I think it’s okay to yell “Let’s go!” in that scenario. I think people were assuming it was more like a Deadpool and Wolverine “Let’s fucking go” kind of moment, but that’s not the case. For me, I didn’t even know people had an issue with it until after I saw the movie, and it certainly didn’t stick out to me while watching it.
More importantly, the daddy issue in this film is interesting to look at in regard to Nolan’s filmography. Cobb in Inception is trying to get back to his kids. Cooper leaves his children for (nearly) their entire lives, and seems especially indifferent to his son who he just thinks will be fine without him. Oppenheimer has to have someone else keep his child, and his children don’t factor into his life seemingly at all in the film. And Batman…well, we all know about his father since we’ve seen his death committed to film a half a dozen times at this point.
And now we have The Odyssey, the ultimate coming home story. Telemachus barely remembers his father yet his life is dominated by his absence. And when Odysseus finally makes it home, they get one bonding slaughter and it’s, “See you later, son, I’m sure you’ll be a great king.” Some have theorized that this is Nolan’s way of conveying his own guilt for being away from his own children while making films. I don’t know about that, but one thing is for sure: he’s making it loud and clear that he doesn’t think fathers are all that necessary in the raising of children. Something tells me he has a real “hand’s off” approach to parenting.
We Live in Annoying Times
As I stated above, I go into all movies wanting to like them, so it annoys the fuck out of me when people seem to want to hate something, especially out of racism or transphobia or any other misguided hatred. I didn’t comment on any of that crap in my review because I want this film to be judged by watching it.
And all this isn’t to say if you dislike The Odyssey then that means you’re racist or whatever. It’s perfectly fine to dislike it for legitimate cinematic reasons. But if you hate it before you even watch it, you’re just wrong.
For me, even the thought of these "issues" left my mind as I watched the movie because I found the whole experience so immersive. And hopefully, that's the case with anyone else distracted by this nonsense.
Final Randomness
I’ve rambled enough, but I did want to mention a couple other things briefly.
This isn’t exactly a comedy. In fact, I was kind of surprised by how dark the story was in content and tone. But there are a couple very funny moments. First, Corey Hawkins taking an arrow right to throat as he tries to say “Odysseus” really got me. And John Leguizamo (who was the surprise of the movie for me) has the funniest line when he asks, “Did we win?” (or something like that; I’m awful at remembering exact lines) after the battle with the suitors. It was just the perfect moment of levity after such a prolonged sequence of righteous violence.
Speaking of violence, I didn’t know this was R-rated until I heard the third “fuck.” There was certainly more blood than other Nolan films, but it wasn’t gratuitous or graphic enough to assume an R-rating. I suppose that pig sequence played a factor because those transformations were fucking gnarly.
That’s it for now. I hope to watch this film again soon, probably in standard IMAX. And who knows, once I’ve had a chance to watch it three or four more times, maybe I’ll write some more nonsense about it.