Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey may be confusing but it's worth a second watch

[00:00:00]We won the war.

[00:00:07]Help me go home.

[00:00:10]>> Okay, so will it be a blockbuster, a critic favorite, or even an Oscar contender? Christopher Nolan's quest to bring the Odyssey to life is entering its final chapter theatrical release.

[00:00:22]The film arrives with a star-studded cast and it is the first film shot entirely on 70 millimeter IMAX cameras and fans eager for the highresolution viewing experience started buying their tickets last year, not last week, not last last month, last year. Eli Glassner is here to tell us all about it. Always happy to talk to you, Eli. So, this film is massive.

[00:00:47]>> The hype around it is massive.

[00:00:49]>> The screens are massive. you can get to them.

[00:00:52]>> But I if you did not study classic literature, if you did not have the time to read the 600 pages, tell us about the story. Catch us up.

[00:01:00]>> Okay. So, uh, Greek Classics 101. I I familiarized myself. Uh, there's a guy named Homer 3,000 years ago. He's credited like if you look at the credits in IMDb, it's Christopher Nolan Homer.

[00:01:14]So, this is the tale by Homer. Matt Damon is Odessius. He is the king of the small island of Ethica and sent by the Greek ruler I believe Agamemnon to fight the war against the Trojans. And as you saw he's leaving his family. So him and his soldiers with yes the Trojan horse heading off to the siege of Troy but leaving Queen Penelope and Hathaway and his son who barely even knows his father to Melikus fending off the advances.

[00:01:49]There they are. This rowdy party in the palace with the suitors including Robert Patson eye on the throne and Hathaway trying to keep them at bay while Odessia's home is under attack. Let's take a look.

[00:02:07]Ethic has a kingdom waiting for a king.

[00:02:11]>> My dad is coming home.

[00:02:14]>> You're pining for a daddy you didn't even know.

[00:02:18]like some sniveling bastard.

[00:02:22]>> I think his king is coming back.

[00:02:25]>> Hathaway is a force in this film. It opens with Travis Scott, the rapper, as a bard, singing the song about Odessius cuz Odessius has been gone so long. He's a song now. He's an idea. He's a myth.

[00:02:42]They don't know if he's coming back. So that is why the palace is in peril. But meanwhile, there is Odessius and his men. They won the war. They're on the beach. Finally, we're going to go home.

[00:02:55]But that is in a way just the beginning of this epic because he is going to fight the elements, the gods, monsters, witches, and himself. Take another look.

[00:03:10]>> You gods don't speak in ways we understand.

[00:03:15]>> Who doesn't understand pain?

[00:03:18]of blood.

[00:03:20]>> The gods told you.

[00:03:21]>> Then I defy the gods.

[00:03:24]>> I defy the gods. Now, I told you this in kind of a chronological fashion.

[00:03:31]>> The thing about Christopher Nolan's stories, they're like origami. They fold in on this self. So, this entire film is like a hurricane of flashbacks. The Trojan War, the siege is a flashback in itself. So the structure is to say the least nonlinear.

[00:03:50]>> I feel like with a Nolan film at the end of it I I go right back to the beginning to watch it all over again. So let's talk about how Nolan will try to make this 3,000y old story uh a modern one, a modern one, one that relates to this audience in particular.

[00:04:09]>> And that's what he's talked about. And in his dialogue, in the way that he's filming it, in the use of the IMAX cameras, he's talked about he wants it to feel real. He wants it to feel relevant. He wants it to feel kind of vital and relatable. And that's about the language. It's also about how he works as a filmmaker. You think of his movies, you think of The Dark Knight, you think of Interstellar. He makes things. He makes things. He builds things. He tries to what would a what would a spaceship look like? What would a Batman look like? What would it look like to see an atom bomb? And then he uses his amazing crafts people to create that stuff. So you just saw this palace on a hill. The cast talked about every day walking 45 minutes up a mountain in Italy to film in that hotel in Italy.

[00:04:53]They shot this in five countries around the world. They built a Trojan horse and filmed inside of it. But the other thing that's challenging is he wanted this to be the first feature film, a feature fictional film entirely shot in IMAX from beginning to end. The problem with the IMAX camera is they're incredibly loud. Let me show you just a brief moment from the filming of the Battle of Cyclops. Take a look.

[00:05:20]3.

[00:05:27]All right. So, that is what that camera sounds like. But if you're doing that touching mother son scene with Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland, how do you even record this sound? So they actually had technicians create what was called a blimp, a cover that goes over the IMAX camera. So it's now this hu it looks like a an SUV. It weighs 300 lb. And that's what they used to film everything from beginning to end. They actually created a mirror system because if I was talking to you and the camera's in front of me, you can't see me. So, they would have a mirror so I can act to Chris and the camera can get my ey line and you were asking off camera. They can only shoot, I think, 2 and 1/2 minutes of film at a time because that film is going through the camera so quickly. But again, this is what Chris is doing to try and bring his version of reality to try and make this ancient world feel real.

[00:06:30]>> Eli, your description alone is epic. And we'll know that it resonated if there are babies named [laughter] this year.

[00:06:38]Agamemnon and Adysius.

[00:06:40]>> Yeah, exactly.

[00:06:41]>> Yeah, perhaps.

[00:06:42]>> Okay, so some are calling this uh Nolan's best film ever. I want to hear what you think of that.

[00:06:50]>> I don't know if I would agree with that.

[00:06:52]And I honestly there are moments where I wondered as impressive as this is and there is a lot to love. I wondered if he was actually the right director for this because I think there's a bit of a a conflict, a clash between the director who tries to make everything real and builds things and a movie that is about gods and about the supernatural and about spells and witches and curses. And it's interesting trying to see him stretch into that with his film making, but I think the tone kind of buckles.

[00:07:27]Now the action and what he has captured on film is undeniably uh effective and intense. Let me give you another taste.

[00:07:46]>> I need everyone [music] in this party dead.

[00:07:50]I can still save them.

[00:07:55]You're a man who needs to control his fate.

[00:08:00]>> But you cannot control this.

[00:08:03]>> That world is [music] gone.

[00:08:07]>> Haway is remarkable. She is on an Oscar track. We love to just watch Matt Damon endure. And he is the right age for this. He is the right kind of person for this. I think it's interesting to see him play this heroic role who is actually not as heroic as he seems. Tom Holland surprised me. Robert Patson is the perfect kind of antagonist. Himsh Patel as the second in command who is so relatable. Elliot Paige has a wonderful scene actually scenes showing like the price soldiers paid for following their leader. But again, there are times where I feel like this has exceeded Nolan's grasp. And I have some qualms about the story, about following it, about consistency. But the thing about his films, we've talked about this. I feel like they grow as you watch them. So, right now, I'm a little confused. I have issues about tone, and I would give it a three and a half out of five, but I'm going to give it a four out of five because I want to see it again already because I think his films, let's take a look at the rating. So, there you go.

[00:09:11]>> Okay.

[00:09:12]>> His from films grow in the viewing. And I think what is also really interesting is when you look at this, there is a connection between his Oscar-winning film Oenheimer, which is about the consequences [music] we create, and the creator wrestling with what he's done.

[00:09:28]You see that again with Odessius. So very interesting film, a lot to sink your teeth into. If you haven't done your homework, you might feel overwhelmed and you might, like me, want to just go see it again >> or take the Greek classics to the cottage.

[00:09:42]>> Yeah, sure. Little cold notes. study it up. Yeah, >> Eli, always great to talk to you. Thank you so much for that.

[00:09:47]>> My pleasure.