The Odyssey (2026) First Impressions of an Ancient Historian

[00:00:02][sighs] Hello everyone, Dominic here.

[00:00:04]This is my first impressions of the Odyssey film. We haven't had a good historical epic in quite a while. So, I thought I would step outside of the normal Egyptian uh comfort zone and take a look at this film and give you some of my thoughts. I just saw the film this morning. I didn't go to any press screenings or anything like that.

[00:00:23][snorts] So, this is very much a first impressions and I reserve the right to change my opinion later. If people are interested in me doing a full review, let me know in the comments and I can do that in the future. But for now, here are my thoughts. So, right out the gate, let me say that I mostly enjoyed the film, but I do have a sense of disappointment. That opinion might change on multiple viewings. The film is, and this is not a spoiler, if you if you know Nolan films, you'll expect this. it's done in a nonlinear fashion.

[00:00:54]You know, it's cutting back and forth in time to um more on a thematic structure rather than a strictly linear story progression. And that I do think was a strength in the sense that it's interesting intellectually. Where I was disappointed in the film was more in the characterization of certain figures, particularly Odysius, and just generally his approach to the world. And I'll get into that in a bit more detail in a second. One thing, and this is only a very mild spoiler, it happens within like the first 10 minutes, the sea peoples are mentioned, and that was cool. I liked that. Um, they're kind of a recurring namerop throughout the film, which at least gives me the sense that Nolan might have picked up a history of the late Bronze Age collapse prior to setting out on this scripting adventure.

[00:01:48]I did see in an interview, I think, that he did with um, Steven Cobar or maybe John Stewart, that apparently he was originally slated to direct Troy in 2004. And there were aspects of this film, especially concerning Troy and the the Trojan horse and the fall of Troy, where you could sort of see like, oh, he's this this has the weight of somebody who's really been thinking about this particular set piece for some time, and now they're bringing it to fruition. Other parts of the Odyssey story that's presented do not have that kind of weight. And I came away with a really weird sensation that everything happening at Troy and then at Ithaca was the most interesting part and the actual Odyssey was the least interesting part of the film which was quite strange. Um, there was a film a few years ago now with Rafe Fines called The Return that was exclusively devoted to Odysius returning from his Odyssey and the, you know, the sequence that unfolds with with that and coming back to Penelope and dealing with the suitors.

[00:02:59]I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Nolan hadn't had thought of doing something like that, but then that film beat him to it because the ethic sections of this film are far and away the most compelling sections. Whereas all of the stuff with the actual Odyssey mostly didn't really land for me in a weird way. And I'll I'll sort of I'll explain why in a bit more detail. Now, first things first, and this is actually a problem that I've had with multiple Nolan films, and it's not the nonlinear structure. I usually quite like that, but the editing, like the pacing of the film and the momentto- moment editing between dialogue and characters and action sequences just awful. I think it's his style. I think it's the way he likes to do it, and I appreciate that. It's just not a style for me. But character moments and dialogue scenes have almost no time to breathe. You spend very little time with some characters who are on screen a lot, but their interactions are going by so quickly and so sharply and swiftly edited that most of the characters, even ones who have, you know, dozens of lines, you barely get an impression of who they are beyond plot devices.

[00:04:19]editing moment to moment is not his strong suit or at least he's a he's he prefers a style of editing that simply doesn't jive with me. [snorts] Um, in terms of the pacing, I think this came across really strongly. You have these really extended action sequences like the fall of Troy, some of the battles like with the Cycl, some of the battles like with the Cyclops and the Lystragonians and then the return to Ithaca itself which unfold over, you know, 10 to 15 minutes in some cases, but then other moments which are equally important as far as the storytelling goes, they're brushed over within like 2 minutes of screen time.

[00:04:59]That's an impression that I've had with multiple Nolan films and unfortunately I have it with this one too. I really don't like his way of pacing films and the way he edits character interactions or action beats. If it works for you, this film is full of that to spades. So, if you like that, you'll probably enjoy that. In terms of the mythological stuff, um [clears throat] I'll say first of all with minimal spoilers, I quite liked the Cyclops. I thought that the Cyclops was actually quite creepy in a way that it's never it's always in previous adaptations, you know, it can often seem quite goofy.

[00:05:36]Here they did a really good job of making it quite sinister and I really liked that. Um, the Lragonians, honestly, I thought they were pointless.

[00:05:45]They they added nothing really to the film except for just a body count. They don't look good. They're they're clanking around in this kind of pseudo medieval armor. And as far as what they actually contribute to the story, it really just feels like they're there because they're in the Odyssey. This next part is not not a huge spoiler, but it's a thematic spoiler. So, if you don't want to have anything [snorts] spoiled um in terms of the ending, nothing to do with the plot, but more just the things they're talking about and the themes, skip away. So, as I said, the sea peoples get a name drop in the film, and that was cool. I really liked that. And they're mentioned a few times by different characters. And then right at the end, Odysius has a sort of small monologue where he reflects on the Sea Peoples as being a hallmark of the end of end of their era, the the Bronze Age. And it's kind of weird because the sea peoples are just mentioned. You never see anything related to them. you never see any devastation. So, it has this weird feeling for somebody like Nolan where it's like they tell you that the Sea Peoples are a thing, but they don't show you. So, it's kind of in this weird place where he sort of he makes a gesture towards the Bronze Age setting of the story, but he doesn't do anything with it in a meaningful visual or storytelling way. That was kind of a, you know, two steps forward, one step back for me. I was like, "Oh, good. See people's mentioned." Oh, we're not we're not doing anything with that. Okay, another sort of thematic spoiler, but not necessarily plot. I did quite appreciate the way they handled the other worldliness of the Odyssey tale. You know, the the sort of the classic meme these days is how did how did it take Odysius 10 years to get back across the Aian and part of the Eastern Mediterranean. Here there's a very clear moment in the film just after the sack of Troy. We see the ships, the Greek ships packing up and starting to leave and the ship of Agamemnon goes off in on [snorts] one route and Odysius says we're taking a different route. And I took that to be Nolan's explanation of why things transpire. Once Odysius takes this additional path, he is leaving our world and he enters the realm of magic, monsters, and gods. And that's partly the explanation for why he takes so long to get home and also how the mythological aspects weave in. Even though it's not obvious, there seems to me a very clear dividing line between the mythological world and the actual Aian and Eastern Mediterranean. And it happens there. And then it he he emerges from that world towards the end of the film, of course, for reasons that I won't spoil here. My point there is that I liked that approach to it. Some characters go off and get home safe and sound. Other characters have things they need to deal with or things they need to pay for, and so they get sucked into the magical realm, as it were. I liked that they didn't make a big song and dance about it of him like transitioning out of our world, but I think I think that's what he intended. And if so, there's a very clear dividing line where that happens. So, to bring this round, uh yeah, um obviously I should mention the costumes throughout.

[00:09:14][snorts] They're not great. Um again, that's something I've had with Nolan in the in the past. I he doesn't tend to do costume films. The last one he really did was the Batman trilogy. And I'll be honest, I really dislike his visual interpretation of Batman. I like those films, but I really never liked his Batman costume or the designs he used for those films. Here, it's kind of the same thing. He goes for something very muted, very unobtrusive, which I can understand. He wants to focus on the sequences and the characterization. And if you've seen some of those like AI um edits where people sort of do it, but it's Bronze Age or Minian style armor, it is distracting. Like it it's ve very visually crowded in the screen, so I can understand why he didn't do that at all.

[00:10:05]Doesn't mean I like it though. Um especially things like Agamemnon.

[00:10:11]I have to say he did have Agamemnon. I quite liked how they handled him as a presence. He has this very imposing omnipresent feel and he doesn't talk much and during sequences like the fall of Troy his his physical presence and cinematic presence was actually quite evocative but the armor it looks really cheap. Um and I I don't know why Nolan or his costume designer went with this kind of approach. You know, there's a there's a happy middle ground between something that is too historically accurate and distracting, but also something that looks like you got it from a Halloween shop. Agamemnon looks like he's a Halloween costume. Odysius and Crew, they really just look the way they're dressed, they just look like, you know, rejects from a low-budget Iliad adaptation. There's no getting around that. If you're particularly interested in the late Bronze Age, which I assume you are, that's a sore point.

[00:11:15]It sucks um to see this world rendered so unimaginatively with such a lack of visual flare or inspiration. You know, it's it's meat and potatoes visuals the whole way through. And again, that's kind of what I expected. You know, he's no David Lean. He doesn't have that visual flare. He certainly doesn't have a hand for the epic. I think Nolan is better with close quarters, tight up um close-up character characters and sequences. One quick insert to talk about performances. Uh John Leguisamo was the standout. I thought his character was really impactful and I liked what he did with it. Uh Tom Holland as Telmarcus was pretty good and same with Penelope. Anne Hatheraway as Penelopey. Kind of going back to how that Ethica sequence was the most interesting of the film. Um, yeah. So, performances pretty solid. No complaints, but nothing really stood out as like amazing. As for the set design, it had its moments. Um, Ethica, the palace hall gets a lot of screen time.

[00:12:19]And I kind of appreciated some of the background details. You know, some of the fresco were very clearly adapted from the Konos fresco and perhaps even a little bit from the Tel Daba in Egypt, the Manoan Palace there. But I think it's mostly Kosas. It has the Arthur Evans reconstructions all through it. Um like with the columns and the throne.

[00:12:42]Ethaca was pretty decent. I I didn't dislike it. Um although it does there are weird flourishes through the films like staircases that have no obvious support. So they're clearly made of like reinforced concrete. And Troy has this giant pseudo temple to Athena that is this open air kind of colonard portico that just looks like it's out of a um like a bow house kind of art architectural digest.

[00:13:13]Weird choices.

[00:13:16]Didn't hate them on on the on the big screen. Um, but they definitely jar with a version of Troy that is actually pretty sizable and impressive. But yeah, same thing you would have expected from the trailers. This is a Mediterranean world with no color. None of the statues are painted, which is a shame, you know. Um, we don't get these kind of big budget adaptations very often and it really would be nice to see somebody who has the care and passion of a Christopher Nolan cuz he's clearly very dedicated to his films.

[00:13:52]It's a shame that we just never get anything remotely impressive, inspiring, or even particularly just attentiongrabbing. His focus is 100% on the actors on screen. He's not interested in world building except as a support for them. Fair enough. That's film making 101. But it is a shame that we're we're still in that era where the ancient world is gray and nobody has a good time. Everyone's miserable. Um overall, I thought the film was solid, like decent. Um I wouldn't pay to see it again, but I will watch it again when it's on Netflix or something like that.

[00:14:33]It is a bit disappointing unfortunately.

[00:14:35]I really tried to go into it with an open mind and there are definitely some highlights like the monster design is kind of cool and there are those little references to a larger world which I liked and I liked the way they handled the mythological stuff and the gods and all of the Ithaca sequences. Everything that happens there. That's good stuff.

[00:14:54]Same with the Troy in between the actual Odyssey stuff. Didn't love it.