The Odyssey - Movie Review

[00:00:00]I'm here to talk about The Odyssey. I think this is a movie that I can't really describe in great detail without watching it multiple times, but I watched it one time and I can't help but talk about it. So, here we go. Again, no spoilers at the beginning of this conversation. Towards the end, I'll let you know when spoilers are going to happen. I mean, it's a very popular story, popular books, even though I've never read them, but I know different bits and pieces about them. So, we'll get into it. Now, first thing I got to say, Christopher Nolan, rarely any misses, if any. Tenet, you know, if you want to count that a miss, but that's just confusing for most people. I think still a good movie. When you think of different directors, Scorsese, Nolan, Cameron, Spielberg, Tarantino, there's a certain level of expectation that comes with these films. And Christopher Nolan, I mean, I know a lot of people love Interstellar. I love Interstellar. This might be better. Again, I'm going into this movie for the most part blind. I've heard different things mentioned about The Odyssey and The Iliad over the years, but I've never really delved deep into the story. I'm blown away. I'm blown away not only at the cast of characters, but how the story just pulls you in. I was watching the movie with someone that is not into movies like this. Once the people look a certain way and it's from a certain time, they're not into it. They were floored. They were blown away by by just how again this movie, this story pulls you in. It is a fantastical story, which makes you wonder more about this world, this fantastical world, but it also makes you wonder about could some of these things still be out there?

[00:01:22]Now, first let's talk about the actors.

[00:01:23]Everybody came to work today. Everybody showed up. And Matt Damon, here's how I view Matt Damon. When I was younger, Matt Damon wasn't really on my radar. Of course, there's certain movies that he'd show up in, but in my opinion, Matt Damon was always viewed as this like prince that was promised character, right? Actor, rather. And I don't know if a lot of people felt like he lived up to the hype or if he'd ever achieved it, but I feel like everybody's like, "He's a good actor. He's a pretty good actor."

[00:01:48]This performance, Matt Damon.

[00:01:51]Matt Damon. The Oscars are going to be overrun with actors from The Odyssey.

[00:01:55]I'm just going to say it here. I must confess because when the Odyssey started, we see Tom Holland and, you know, we had just seen the Dune trailer and Timothy Chalamet, he's on my mind.

[00:02:05]So, I see Tom Holland, I see the atmosphere, I see the different just the world and I'm like, could Timothy Chalamet have done a better job? Is he the best here? Is he Would he have been the better choice here, right? Feels like he fits in very well. Feels like he would have, you know, been a bigger presence. This is how I felt initially and I felt the same about Matt Damon initially. I was like, could Oscar Isaac and I think Tom Holland had a slower start to begin, but then he just completely started to take over, especially as the role started to take shape. Um because Telemachus, I believe his name is, he's not the super badass.

[00:02:37]He's a young prince that's honestly out of his depth trying to figure out where he fits in and also trying to protect his mother. I think Timothy's smugness, natural smugness, would have overrun that role and Tom is perfect. Tom, again, a slower start, but at when he gets going, he takes over that role and I stopped even thinking about Timothy.

[00:02:56]Either way, Matt Damon's the same way where I stopped thinking about Oscar Isaac and I was like, this is this is Matt's role. Now, again, I'm coming at it from perspective of I've never read the Iliad or the Odyssey. So, all of this, for the most part, is completely new to me. I knew about Helen of Troy, right? I knew about the Trojan horse, things like that, but I didn't know how it brought the story together. Now, again, the actors. Robert Pattinson, again, Tom Holland had a slow start. One of the early scenes is Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland and the difference in ability, in my opinion, just shows immediately, right? Where Tom is trying to, you know, do his Tom thing and Robert is just in his bag in this early scene where they're they're conversing and I'm just like, he is so good. And I'm just like, I would like to see him in more roles like this, more just being the bad guy. And it feels like he relishes that fact cuz he was he was in his bag. Now, we'll talk about what became of his character towards the end, but initially great. I was also watching the film like, yo, some of our teenage heartthrobs growing up are now playing middle-aged mothers in these films. Anne Hathaway, fantastic job. Fantastic job.

[00:03:55]She does the role well. When I see women in roles like this in stories like this, I can't help but think of Lena Headey, of course Cersei from Game of Thrones.

[00:04:03]And she's also the wife of Leonidas in 300, where they just hold it down. They hold it down and no matter what they do not bend, and you understand they let you feel the pain that they've gone through from losing that that figure their their husband, their king, but they still hold it down as queens. And shout out Anne Hathaway, I think just she played the role well. Again, this story is it's so much going on, but it's a beautiful tragedy where it's obviously about Odysseus, but all the things surrounding it it builds up Odysseus.

[00:04:33]Again, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Travis Scott is in this movie.

[00:04:38]Seeing Travis Scott and John Leguizamo in roles that you don't typically see them in, at least for me, it felt good.

[00:04:44]Felt good. I think they did a good job.

[00:04:45]Travis Scott, I mean his role was pretty small. John Leguizamo did a great job. Blind He played a blind man. And again, all the actors showed up to work. Now once you get past the actors, the score. Oh my god. And I watched it in IMAX. The score, some of the shots, the direction. Now, there are moments where the story is told through flashback. At moments, there are montages like when um somebody leaves and they're traveling, but it's it feels like a trailer. Like when they're traveling and it's like, oh okay, so they're traveling. But it's just skipping around, but the movie brings it all together. I think just in general how they captured the action sequences, the sound design, the actors showing up, and you can tell the actors all wanted to perform. All the actors came out and said, we can't be the one to mail it in, right? We can't be the one to kind of like come out to a Christopher Nolan film and not do the damn thing, especially for a story like The Odyssey. I can't think of any bad performances here, even for the support characters. Odysseus's men, Circe, even Zendaya. The small role that Zendaya had showed up to freaking work. And bro, I'm so pleased with this movie. I'm definitely going to watch it again a few times. This hasn't happened in a while.

[00:05:55]After the movie, standing ovation. And this was at 2:00 a.m. Going to a later movie, it's 2:00 a.m. Standing, clapping. I'm in the movie and I'm just like blown away. Especially that final act. I mean the entire movie, but that final act, when everything is slowly coming together. I think I'm watching the film and I'm thinking, "Okay, we're at the final act.

[00:06:12]They're going to rush through it." They take their time. It's a 3-hour movie.

[00:06:15]It's taking its time and even in the midst of 3-hour movie. Here's my only issue with this movie, my only issue. We do not have enough time to focus on a lot of the characters that I would like to focus on. Antinous Antinous, Robert Pattinson's character, would have liked more from him just because I can't I think Robert Pattinson is a fantastic actor. Telemachus, more from him, even though he is a mainstay in the film. He has a lot of moments in the film, but again, it jumps around. It it's Odysseus's story. So, he gets more of the focus. And I'm just interested in this world. I'm really interested in like everything they have going on, the different islands, the idea of hell, the idea of the gods. And I I I know, there are a lot of stories that focus on a lot of different elements from what was in this movie, but I'm just like, "Bro, what is going on?"

[00:07:01]Now it's spoiler time, okay? It's spoiler time. I can't help but getting into spoilers. So, if you have not watched it, go watch it. I recommend IMAX. Go watch it and come back. Now, let's lock in. The Trojan horse. You've heard about the Trojan horse, seen it in action, and it being described as we're in this wooden horse and we're stuck here pissing, and we're stuck, right? This is the plague to break into the city. And seeing it play out in a way, I'm just like, "This is this is fantastic." Elliot Page did a good job.

[00:07:27]Of course, when you see Elliot Page on screen, you can't help but think about the controversy and then some of the things about Elliot Page and it it kind of bleeds into the film, but I quickly forget about it. Be right? Because not a major part in the film, but significant moments. So now, Sinon plays the role of a person delivering this gift, and through this gift, they think Troy think they've won. They break into the city, and they end up winning the war. This story focuses more on Odysseus's journey after the fact, after they win the war.

[00:07:56]Agamemnon, king and his choices, Menelaus, John Bernthal's character, Helen of Troy.

[00:08:02]Of course, I saw the Helen of Troy controversy. I think Lupita Nyong'o is a beautiful woman. I absolutely loved her in Black Panther, thought she was gorgeous in Black Panther. I don't hate the casting. Here Here Here's Here's Here's what I'll say. As an actress, completely delivered. Completely delivered and sold the part. When you think of what that role means, you can be a bit taken aback. It's like, "Okay.

[00:08:23]That's That's kind of what you do. Okay.

[00:08:25]All right. Fine." Either way, I think she did a great job. Great job as Helen of Troy. Odysseus, uh this There's certain movies that you watch where it makes you contemplate different things in life. I think Odysseus's journey and just what the story tries to tell is not only how you treat people, but how you treat strangers. Like, the rules of Zeus, guests into your home, how to treat people, treating beggars. Here's what I got from it. I don't know exactly what it means, but here's what I got from it. Because towards the end of the movie, it all comes together with Odysseus kind of telling us he made a mistake. It doesn't show and get as graphic, but it is implied that once these people take Troy, they not only kill and ransack the entire city, but it is griping and pillaging happening. And so, Odysseus seeing all of this, he's like, "I made a mistake." And what I took from it was we gave a gift almost implying the aspect of surrender and that we're backing down. We used those rules that are implemented that somewhat governed this world, and we completely broke it apart. We set the tone where now the rules are not being followed all throughout the kingdom because of how much we got a leg up. I Again, that's what I got from it where my idea, how I played it, even though we got the W, we really lost cuz Agamemnon lost his life.

[00:09:41]Basically, Menelaus, he got I mean, he became the king of Sparta, but it changed the world. I think throughout the journey, the idea of Odysseus and his travels is really about him, his character, his choices, and also the choices of people around him, accountability, responsibility, and it's a it's a journey to find oneself. And I think it's a beautiful way to do it because you have all these different trials and tribulations where I don't think Odysseus made every correct decision. Even his men started viewing him a bit of right? Especially when they went to Polyphemus, right? The Cyclops.

[00:10:12]When they go to his island or the island that he was at, they go into the cave and one of his men are like, "Yo, we should probably leave. They don't They probably don't understand the rules of Zeus." And he's like, "Whatever. We'll [snorts] just wait for them." Comes back, and then they're waiting. They start a fire, and here comes Polyphemus with the sheep, and he is a large Cyclops. I think that was a terrifying again, I never really focused on the trailer. So, seeing that moment, I was like, "Oh, shit." It was jarring because he comes into the cave and then he just basically turns the light off. He's like, "Okay, I have visitors. I'm going to turn the light off, and this is my domain. They're my prisoners." So, then he just eats two of the guys, goes to sleep, and then the entire time we're trying to figure out, "How do we leave this without this guy killing us? Let's go out with some sheep. Let's try to do it." So, in this moment, it looks like they're out. They're good. And Polyphemus, he's kind of like, "Okay. It is what it is." Odysseus takes that opportunity to get like one last blow in, which leads to the death of more of his men. And one of his guys is like, "Yo, why'd you do it?" He's like, "Well, look how many of our guys died, right?

[00:11:14]Look how many of our men actually died for this. I had to get one more hit in."

[00:11:18]But as the story goes on, you realize that for Odysseus, some of it is just like, "I'm not ready to go home." So, it it's causing more of a dissension amongst his guys, but also, it could be a bit of feeding the ego. But one thing about Odysseus, you know his heart. His heart was always in the right place. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when they visit Circe. I mean, it feels like you guys have probably seen this movie Animal Farm, maybe, where the nature of these animals come out and at one point you felt like, "You know what?

[00:11:51]They have a chance to be good people and do good things." But, sometimes you can't escape your nature. But, they're men going to Circe and they're just asking for food. And through the food, she turned them into pigs. And one of the conversations or how I took it was where Circe said, "I didn't turn them into pigs. They turned themselves into pigs. That's their nature." But, also something that she said is, "Well, Odysseus asked her, 'Did they hurt you?'" She said, "No, but they came in here almost demanding food. What would have happened next?" And then I'm like, "Well, they didn't hurt you." But, then we go back to the fall of Troy and what you don't see, what is implied is like, "Well, these guys were doing some dastardly things." Cuz her implication was that they would have, eventually after they ate, they would have taken advantage of me. I'm like, "Whoa."

[00:12:36]Whoa. But, then as you go on, you realize like some things are already set in stone. Odysseus is trying his best to save these men, but one of the quotes was, "The gods have a plan. You can't save them from the gods." Odysseus, "I would save them from the gods." It's like, "Okay, even if you save them from the gods, you can't save them from themselves." And that plays out on his own on the island with the cattle. Where they go and hey, the one thing we can't do here is eat the cattle. The wind drives them there, it's perfect. They anchor and they're there and then eventually they run out of food. And eventually they they go and they they dig a trench to to to kill this cattle.

[00:13:07]And Odysseus walks around, he's like, "You think if it's quiet that the gods are not going to know you you ate the cattle?" Oh, we was trying to be quiet because he He's like, "I'm not the problem. I just want to keep you guys alive." At that moment, the wind comes back, they can leave and now Poseidon is going crazy. And also Polyphemus, he's a son of Poseidon, apparently. So, that led to the men turning against Odysseus even though he was trying to save them.

[00:13:30]Again, there's so many small moments in this film where I'm just like, "That's a lesson. Oh that's a lesson. That's a lesson." And that's just with his journey. That's with his journey. Not to mention when they go to the island of giants. That was creepy, right? Where they pull up and all of a sudden these big-ass giants come out of nowhere start cutting them down. That was but That's again, a lot of these shots are beautiful. A core memory of mine as a a movie watcher is watching Pan's Labyrinth for the first time and seeing just how amazing everything looked, how everything jumped off the page, how it just like gripped you and pulled you in, how how you felt it. That's how I felt for The Odyssey times 10. Every single scene hit. That scene after they left the island of cattle and it was basically the demise of his soldiers. It is impactful. The score is going. You The lightning is flashing, right? The rain is just everything is coming to life and Matt Damon is in his bag.

[00:14:28]Again, this story is told through word of mouth, through flashbacks, through just memory, and that's just the story of Odysseus's journey. They get back to Ithaca and his return with Telemachus and everything at the temple and how he reveals himself to Telemachus, how he takes his time to reveal himself to his wife. That final scene where the suitors are there um stringing the bow, firing the arrow through the axes. It's just everything just comes together and then once once Robert Pattinson, that character realizes Odysseus is back, he tries to run and hide. They all attack him. I'm not going to lie. There are moments in the final act I'm like, "Yo, Telemachus is ass, right? He is ass."

[00:15:06]But, you know, he's doing his thing to help his dad and trying to help his dad survive. Ultimately, he does. I like at the end where man, the queen, she held it down. She held it down. And one of my favorite quotes in the film is when um Tom is talking to Robert, right? And Robert says something to the effect of something to something something um let's do your mother's wishes. Like let's have your mother's wish. And then Telemachus like my mother's wishes for you to bow. And the little British came out to bow.

[00:15:30]Like But Odysseus came in and he just put his foot on the table and said, well okay, he didn't do that right away, right?

[00:15:37]Because he was told by Agamemnon.

[00:15:39]Agamemnon, he deserved it because he killed his daughter for glory. He comes back and his wife, you know, kills him.

[00:15:45]Hey, just desserts. Odysseus tells him like take your time. If you go back, don't fit your way in. Don't go back expecting fan fear and everybody bowing at your feet. So he learned from that and he slowly slowly just worked his way in. I got to say, I will watch it again.

[00:16:00]I might have a follow-up video just giving a full thing about this movie cuz I feel like I want to do a write-up about it. But overall, fantastic film.

[00:16:08]Accents. Didn't watch many of the trailers. Didn't even finish a trailer to be honest. I was taken aback when it I mean Odysseus sounded like me, right?

[00:16:15]No, not necessarily, but no accents. And even Tom Holland who is British turned on his American accent. Like what John Bernthal sound like the Punisher, right?

[00:16:23]It's it's it's a bit jarring because for movies that look like this, they typically sound a certain way. Doesn't sound like that. But the good part about it is I think more people will be willing to watch this film because it doesn't sound like that. There's some people that they can't watch films like that because they're like, I can't get into the whole accent and the the manner of speech, whatever. Bro, they all sound just American, right? They sound American for the most part. So at first I was it was a bit jarring cuz I was like, oh, okay, it sounds like this. Then it's just it's easy. It's easy. So this film is going to do really well. It's going to do really well. And I'm more than likely going to go back and watch it in theaters. It is that damn good. Guys, this is When we think about again, Oscars, Oscar nominations, Matt Damon definitely will get nominated. Robert Pattinson in his role, I don't think it's significant enough.

[00:17:13]He could maybe get a supporting actor nomination because he is great. Just being Just generally, that's kind of what he is in the film. And I think the film as a whole, right?

[00:17:26]Let's not just focus on actors. This film was going to clean up. Christopher Nolan has done it again. 10 out of 10. The last film that I viewed that I rated a 10 out of 10 was The Furious.

[00:17:39]And this is I mean, this is so many This is This is leagues better. It's a different type of film, but leagues better. It's obviously 10 out of 10.

[00:17:46]Would watch it again in theaters, in IMAX, and once it comes out on streaming. The Odyssey is a masterpiece.

[00:17:53]Everything looks amazing. There are some small scenes where it's like, "Okay, you know, a bit of a green screen here." But but in general, a masterpiece. Fantastic movie. 10 out of 10. Would recommend.

[00:18:05]Let me know your thoughts. Did you like this film? Would you watch it again?

[00:18:08]Your favorite moments.

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[00:18:11]I'll catch y'all on the next one.