The Odyssey is more than we ever could have dreamed

[00:00:00]Mr. Christopher Nolan, as a Greek mythobsessed child, I thank you. And as an even more Greek mythobsessed adult, I thank you once more. To say I was excited to see Christopher Nolan the Odyssey was an understatement. I grew up obsessed with the Percy Jackson books, which means that anything I could get my hands on that was about Greek myths or legends and tales, I was obsessed with.

[00:00:21]Odyssey is an epic poem because of the length of this story. Themes of trying to evade fate, returning home.

[00:00:27]Christopher Nolan has somehow captured all of that and also translated the immense scale and just magic of a world that existed thousands of years ago. The grandeur of this film is something that I was hit with multiple times throughout watching it, but it still feels tangible and real and like something you can connect with. And I think that's largely because of the characters. Obviously, Odysius is kind of our central hero. And I think Matt Damon did a wonderful job.

[00:00:54]But my husband and I were debating this all the way home and he compared it to Russell Crow's performance in Gladiator.

[00:01:00]I feel like Matt Damon is so human and relatable in this film while also being such a witty and cunning leader and a soldier as well as a person who at times experiences doubt and commits wrongs. It It fits so well for me. It works so well, which applies to the entire cast.

[00:01:19]I don't think anyone here was miscast. I genuinely think that everyone was incredible in their roles. And while she's not always playing my favorite characters, I genuinely felt so deeply for Anne Hathaway's Penelope in this film, this film feels silly talking about singular elements and pieces.

[00:01:37]Although some of them are genuinely so wonderful. Like the sound design, the music and scoring of this film is insane. By the way, I know that Han Zimmer and John Williams, we need to put respect on their names, but Lwick Gordon simply no one else is doing it the way that he is doing it. he can create a score that is so synonymous with a film and that is so distinct and like something you've never heard before but also feels so perfect for the thing you're experiencing and I can't rave about it enough. There is one specific sound choice that is applied to a specific weapon in the film which if you are familiar with the story of the Odyssey I think you might know what I'm talking about but to avoid spoilers I won't say it. Every single time that note is hit it is chills. It is so incredible. It is tied so deeply to the character with which that weapon is associated in such a distinct way. I really truly feel like this film will be only better on multiple watches simply because there is so much to dissect about it. There's so much discourse that will come out of this film. And I for one am jealous of the people going into film schools today with this film being in the ether as they get their degrees because my god, what I would have done to write an essay about this film. This film is not just the cinematography, the scale, the sound design. It is the story underneath it. Because simply put, the Odyssey is a story of a man trying to come home after war and making so many mistakes and getting lost not only at sea, but being lost from the person he was prior to this war and prior to this odyssey. That's what this story is about. And a man coming to terms with the wrongs that he's committed, how he can do right by the people that he has wronged, how to get back to the people he loves. There's even a line in this film about promises being made and thing that you want but will never have or the things you already had. [snorts] The bars in this film, I swear there are deeply deeply human themes here about wanting to avoid one's own fate, wanting to have control of one's own life, the love we have for family and the people that we experience hardship with. Human connection and hospitality is such at a center of this film. One of the largest things that I think is not a spoiler that going into this film will serve you better is the concept of Zeus's law which is also kind of known as the golden rule which is do unto others as you would have done unto you in the context of a mythological world where witches and goddesses and gods are walking amongst you. It is the concept that anyone could be a god and therefore we should treat them with kindness and hospitality so that if they are a god we have not lost favor with them. But it it fundamentally is about hospitality and kindness and and warmth towards other people. And I thought this was such a amazing amazing delivery system for those concepts. Not only because the Odyssey as a text has them all there so clearly. It feels so current and relatable. Feels super typical Nolan as well with the way that this story unfolds over varying time frames and additionally feels like a very natural follow-up in a weird kind of way. Was having this epiphany as I was walking out of the theater to Oenheimer because Oenheimer is fundamentally a story about a man who is intelligent who is trying to grapple with the consequences of his actions on the larger world and humanity. That's very much what's happening here. very much. Both of these films have a just because you can does that mean you should concept and element that both of the main characters are struggling with. And I think it's so fascinating how you can have a film that is quite literally about entering like a modern age of technology and science and warfare with a film that is like quite literally ancient and classic. And this film to me feels like a culmination of some of his most recent films coming together and making it the masterpiece that I personally think that it is. My absolute favorite part of this film, walking away from it, is if you have studied the Odyssey at all, you would know that it was passed down orally.

[00:05:30]This film is formatted and structured by conversations with other humans which filters into Nolan's themes of human connectivity here but additionally discusses like the beauty of connecting with a person and telling a story giving the gift of a story and whether that is for the sake it is in the film of information of Odysius's whereabouts and the political workings of the time but additionally as a personal connection point of our collective memory as humans is through stories and through the stories that we tell one another. And my god, I just thought it was incredible. I really ultimately struggled to find a flaw with this movie, like in any capacity. I personally loved it so much.

[00:06:11]I will say that so much of the discourse surrounding this film prior to its release, which is insane to me to even talk about because it's Christopher Nolan. I thought we had kind of universally agreed like, yo, if anyone knows what they're doing, it's Mr. Nolan. There have been so many ridiculous controversies surrounding this film. And what I think everyone needs to be reminded about quite honestly, if a creative has the legal right to adapt something, they're allowed to take whatever creative liberties they want. And I think the reason he has answered so confidently when he's been interviewed and asked these questions in the the press for the Odyssey, it has largely been because I think he knows what he did. I think he knows that he dropped an absolute banger here. He is not just a filmmaker, not just one of the greatest of all time, but a true storyteller as demonstrated through his adaptation of the Odyssey.

[00:07:01]This is such an accessible version of the Odyssey. Like, I'm jealous like once again of all the kids who will read the Odyssey in high school and get to watch this movie as a homework assignment to better understand this piece of work. I truly believe that a lot of the choices that Nolan made here, such as the American dialect, you're not going to hear me complain about it. No, because it's accessible. You're not going to hear me complain about having a less actors in this film because I think it makes the film more accessible. I would continue to to beat this Trojan horse, if you will, about how much I loved this film, how much it resonated with me and how much I will be going to see it as quickly and as soon as I can again. But I highly recommend you go see it. I highly recommend you go see it on the biggest screen possible and support your local theater, whether that be of a chain or an independent at this point.

[00:07:49]Just go to the theater. Thank you guys for watching. I hope in edit I make this very coherent cuz right now it feels like I am just giving positive ramblings about this film for almost a half an hour now. If you enjoyed this review and are looking forward to other blockbuster reviews like Spider-Man Brand New Day, like talking about Off-C, this is the place you want to subscribe. Go hit that subscribe button. I dare you. I triple dog dare you actually. Yeah. Mhm. I didn't even I didn't even double dog dare you. I just skipped straight to triple. Go ahead and subscribe. Thank you guys again for watching. I hope you have a wonderful day or night, whenever you're getting to watch this. Go and see the Odyssey and I'll see you in my next video. Bye y'all.