The Odyssey: Where a director's brilliance meets bad interpretation.

Riot’s Reviews: The Odyssey

Arguably the most famous and retold epic of all time, placed in the hands of one of Hollywood’s most prolific filmmakers. What could go wrong? Welp, if you take the internet’s opinion, there’s a lot of rot in Denmark. Good thing ol’ Riot doesn’t succumb easily to the noise, amirite? Regardless of the online toxicity, I admit I had a lot of trepidation going into this one. While I haven’t read The Odyssey since high school and college and my memory is admittedly fuzzy on a lot of details, I do remember being quite fond of Homer’s epic tale. And in what is apparently an unpopular take, I was a big fan of 2004’s Troy, which was inevitably bound to sway my opinion on Nolan’s approach to The Odyssey one way or another, but I’ll get into that more later.

So why the trepidation? 1) As much as I overall like Nolan’s works and particularly love what he did with Batman, I don’t trust Nolan. Take that however you want. 2) Hollywood has a tendency to have a film like this pop up from time to time where it is one giant Hollywood massage job where mass media and their own propaganda machine politely informs you this is the best movie of all time and you best love it because “look at all the shiny stars!” 3) Casting choices mean almost less than nothing to me nowadays, but I heard enough about what version of the source material Nolan was basing the film off of and I wasn’t too thrilled about the news. And finally 4) he wanted to jam Homer’s epic into one film. He wasn’t the first to do that, mind you, but Nolan’s infamy for making long films kind of had me hoping for at least two, if not three movies. So with the overabundance of star-power, a beloved story to tell, and an IMAX camera ready to go, was The Odyssey a brilliant adventure, or a grueling and endless journey?

Turns out, I think both! Starting with the positives, I think The Odyssey was textbook Nolan. Visually, it is stunning in its grandeur and the determination for practical effects with this movie was absolutely the right choice. Everything feels raw and brutal but in a good way, where the audience is drawn into the gruesomeness of this journey and the trials/pitfalls of everything that happens to Odysseus and his men. It really is absolute cinema in the ways you expect and for the most part, the acting is pretty decent throughout. However, since the acting is also a negative for me, I want to give special nodsto Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, and Jon Bernthal who I’d argue leaned further into the gravity of the content and the emotional journey of their characters better than the rest of the cast did.

While I felt like it could’ve used more, there was some particularly good stunt work and fight choreography, especially in the final confrontation with Odysseus and the suitors in Ithaca. If I’m being completely transparent, that 20-30 minute sequence of events may have saved the entire film for me. There is a particular amount of schadenfreude (the satisfaction you experience when someone you dislike suffers a setback or fails) with everything that happens at the film’s conclusion and watching Nolan’s interpretation of the trial of the bow was incredible. Now while it isn’t at all my forte (and you lovely readers know this about me) I thought delving into the horror elements of Homer’s epic was actually a really inspired choice. Because of this, it deviates heavily from the literature, which hurts me, but adding jump scares, brutal/stomach churning visuals, and ear-piercing/haunting sound effects was a take on the tale I never really considered before. It was exceptionally brave for Nolan to take that route.

Sadly, my praise ends here. So let’s dive into the negatives, shall weeeee? WARNING: I’m going to get into spoiler territory here, but guess what, it’s an almost 3,000 year old story!!! First, the retcons of the literature were too much for me to overcome, particularly everything involving Odysseus, his motivations, and character arc. Homer’s Odysseus was arrogant, so full of hubris that he openly defied the gods and had to be humbled because of it. He was broken down and remade by the journey, holding on to his commitment to home, his family, and his one true love. It’s no mistake that he starts as a King and ends up disguised as a beggar. This PTSD and grief riddled, unsure of himself (and kind of a coward) version was tough to watch. Nolan evidently didn’t want to pick a lane on who he was supposed to be. His fits of arrogance only come out to serve plot points that don’t actually exist in the original story, and making his entire arc be about regret for the things he did in Troy was a weak interpretation at best. That’s all to say, the saga with the cyclops, as visually and auditorily horrific as it was, is probably the most bastardized version of the story (if I had to pick one).

I don’t want to go plot point by plot point, but my problems with the retcon of Odysseus’ story leads me to a separate issue: making films for the “modern audience.” First, I’m still struggling to understand what exactly this means. Second, when you have your characters in the setting of a Greek epic, clad in Bronze Age armor and such, and they’re speaking Americanized, plain English, it kind of ruins the experience. I get that it doesn’t have to be all heavy “British accents” and ultra-flowery language like Hollywood has a tendency to do, but Nolan’s script just didn’t have the same gravitas that his visuals did, which I think hurt the acting a lot and you can’t help but sense it in the delivery of almost every actor/actresses lines. When you consider the modernized plot points, there’s a lot of other films that have done a much better, more succinct job at evaluating the horrors of war and the folly of men in conquest. In that sense, Troy did a vastly superior job at undermining Agamemnon. This version felt so underdeveloped and petty that I wish it was never included. Sick armor but no substance. And by the way, everyone I know talks about “modern times” like they’re the worst f***ing thing ever, so why in the hell are we adapting 3,000 year old stories, that have stood the test of time for a reason, and shoving them into this ultra-nihilistic, “modern” sensibility? Get outta here with that nonsense already.

Maybe age is catching up to me on this next point, but the music/sound effects were oppressive. Granted, it could have been my theater, but I do feel like this is a staple of Nolan films, where the music and sound effects, in an attempt to further the story, kind of bully the audience into feeling something. It feels like a weapon and not an enhancement. On the spectrum of musical scores for his films, I’d give this one a C+. I’d also have to give costume design a C+ or B- at best, if for nothing else than the helmets of the Trojans. I mean…wtf are those? I felt the same way about the Laestrygonians. As cool as the moving forest was and the brutality of the fight, the design choice for their armor and the catalyst for the whole scene was quite mid.  

To Nolan’s credit, this was a two hour and fifty-two minute movie that didn’t really feel that long. Because of the sheer quantity of content, it moves at a brisk pace and I think shows enough deference to the time needed for each stage of the journey. I wish I wasn’t bothered by the things that I was bothered about. But as many of you know, I am nitpicky to a fault. Like having Zendaya do the Lee Trevino head shake intermittently throughout the film made me giggle instead of feeling somber. And even though I’m probably stepping on a land mine here, I think it’s time we get real and acknowledge Elliot Page is simply a bad actor. Watch Umbrella Academy and tell me otherwise. Page is somehow the only person in the whole film to mis-pronounce Odysseus’ name? Please.

I get that was a whoooole lot of time and words spent on the bad, but you’ll just have to take my word when I say that I don’t honestly think it was a bad movie. Numbers speak louder than my words ever could anyways and the film is raking in the dough. I genuinely believe this is an important addition to cinema and I noted multiple times during the film that the visuals were keeping me trapped inside of Nolan’s latest web. The literature guy in me was screaming in agony to be sure, but I don’t at all regret seeing The Odyssey even if I am unlikely to ever watch it again. I reiterate, that last 20-30 minutes are incredible and well worth the wait. Do I wish there was more deference paid to the original story? Sure. Is the adaptation an affront and Homer is currently spinning in his grave? Hyperbolic, yet debatable. But a visually stunning movie that holds onto your attention and doesn’t let go is going to be worth checking out, no matter what any online opinion or silly little blogger (hi!) has to say.

Riot’s Rating: 8.2/10: If you’re looking to reclaim the same feelings you had during LOTR or in my case Troy, I don’t think you’re going to get it. But, the film is a gift to the eyes and a vast undertaking worth some respect.

P.S. The Circe scene almost made me barf, no lie.  

P.S.S. While it helped add to the gravity of the situation, the design of the Trojan Horse and its journey into Troy was a bad miss for me. It looked impractical, felt unrealistic, and didn’t really serve the story that well.

P.S.S.S. Odysseus and his soldiers are, probably too often, shown running away for their lives…poorly. It often looks about as convincing as Monty Python and the Holy Grail. RUN AWAY!!!