"The Odyssey" Movie Review | Absolute Cinema

[00:00:00]The Odyssey is hitting theaters, but is it worth the long, arduous journey to the theater? On this week's Absolute Cinema.

[00:00:15]Welcome in, folks. My name is Chris Winn, and this is the show where we separate the movies from the cinema. So, today we are talking about the highly anticipated Christopher Nolan adaptation of the 3,000-year-old epic, The Odyssey.

[00:00:28]So, Matt Damon stars as King Odysseus, who after successfully leading the Greeks in the siege of Troy, makes the long and perilous journey home to his family in Ithaca. There, his wife Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, and son Telemachus, played by Tom Holland, have been waiting for decades for his return, dealing with hordes of suitors hoping to take the throne. Here's a clip from the trailer.

[00:00:52]>> You're a man who needs to control his fate.

[00:00:57]>> I cannot control this.

[00:01:00]>> That world is gone.

[00:01:05]>> No one can stand between me and home.

[00:01:11]Not even the gods.

[00:01:14]>> Keep us safe!

[00:01:23]>> So, that's just a little taste of the scale of this, and in every sense of the word, it is an epic. And conceptually, Christopher Nolan is the perfect man for this. This is a massive story in every regard, from the setting, to the time span, to the locations, to the cast, to the character lore, and the runtime as well. All of which, in the hands of lesser filmmakers, could easily crumble.

[00:01:45]I had actually bought two tickets for this, and the the plans for that second ticket kept getting shuffled around. So, my wife said, "Oh, I'll go with you.

[00:01:52]What's it about?" I said, "Well, it's about Greek mythology." She said, "Oh."

[00:01:57]And I said, "It's almost 3 hours long."

[00:02:00]And she said, "Oh." But then I said, "Well, it's a Christopher Nolan movie." And she said, "Oh, great. Awesome. I'm excited." So, there are very few directors with that sort of pull, and lo and behold, she loved it. And so did I. So, it is almost 3 hours long. It's 2 hours 53 minutes, so do prepare for that.

[00:02:18]But for me, it did feel like a long movie, but I was never ready for it to be over. There was a moment where I felt like the movie was ending kind of in a similar way to Oppenheimer. Then there's a further sequence that's actually one of my favorites in the film. Uh first off, let's let's start off with the the expansive cast of this. We've got Robert Pattinson as Tenuous, Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, Elliot Page as Sinon, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, Charlize Theron as Calypso, and Zendaya as Athena. And there's a whole bunch more who have like even smaller parts in in here. This is a very stacked cast.

[00:02:57]The the star power that Nolan is able to wrangle is extraordinary, and there isn't a bad performance in here. Matt Damon anchors everything showing off all the facets of Odysseus, the cunning abilities as a strategist, the perseverance but also stubbornness as a leader, and inner turmoil over his decisions. He fits in perfectly with the archetypal Nolan protagonist. I was vaguely familiar with the story of The Odyssey, but not enough to weigh in on if Nolan adequately translated the spirits of the original literature. But as a movie, it works incredibly well.

[00:03:29]There's a lot of spiritual companionship to Oppenheimer in that they both are about men dealing with a lot of guilt over decisions that may ultimately change humanity for the worse.

[00:03:39]Oppenheimer looks at how knowledge and ability in the wrong hands can unlock the worst in us as humans, but The Odyssey looks at what is the worst in us, and where does that come from? But But a smaller personal level to Odysseus, Nolan examines his relationship to the gods and how he needs to learn to give up control and accept responsibility, even if it costs him or his men. Christopher Nolan talked in an interview about his increasing interest in the original literature's idea of xenia, which is about kindness towards strangers because the ancient Greeks gods could be anyone walking among them. And that idea is very integral to the ethos of the film played out through the story set pieces, but then made more overt and spoken about more directly in the final act. And I bring this up because there's been a bunch of very nasty online commotion about casting choices and historical accuracy coming from certain corners of the internet that have coordinated these mass campaigns against the movie. But it hasn't been for just the Odyssey most recently. It was for Supergirl and this history of online culture war can be tracked back a decade at this point. And I'll be honest, I was ready to include some snarky dismissive put-down, but this idea of xenia was a nice reminder for me and actually really moved me and I hope it does the same for other people. So instead, I'll just say to those people, I genuinely hope you find peace with whatever is going on in your life.

[00:05:04]Uh while the Odyssey has a lot of familiar Nolan elements, uh there's actually one a new one that worked exceedingly well for me and I'll talk about that a little bit more when when we come back with more Absolute Cinema.

[00:05:16]So we'll be right back.

[00:05:23]Welcome back into Absolute Cinema, folks. My name's Chris Wein and today we're talking about the newly released Christopher Nolan adaptation of The Odyssey. So I have been singing this movie's praises, uh but it does have some kind of minor issues. Uh very similarly to Oppenheimer, the pacing and editing of the first act is pretty sloppy. It It feels like in order to get under the 3-hour runtime, they have to cut like every single ounce of fat from character introductions. So, it goes at breakneck speed to the point where there are some scenes that don't even feel completed. And while I do think if you have to choose an act to do that with, uh it's the correct decision in that I like the movie more and more as it went along, but it still is an issue. And while I thought Tom Holland as Telemachus was solid, I could have used a bit more interiority for his character beyond his relationship with Odysseus.

[00:06:15]Where his story ends would have moved me more if the character wasn't as underwritten. Additionally, the relationship between Odysseus and the nymph Calypso is a great mechanism for delivering narrative exposition through flashbacks, but I could have used a little bit more from Calypso character-wise.

[00:06:32]So, the last complaint is actually a filmmaking one.

[00:06:35]Weirdly, there's a number of shots that are just straight-up out of focus. In the third act, there's a shot that rack focuses between two characters, you know, one in the foreground and one in the background, who are, you know, going back and forth delivering dialogue, and both times going back to the character in the background just completely misses focus. And that was kind of shocking to me. Overall, the film is a technical marvel. So, that does make something so fundamental like missing focus kind of hit harder and is a bit more shocking.

[00:07:05]So, we do want to talk about one new element for Nolan, and that is just straight-up body horror. There's several points where if you're squeamish, you may just want to look away, although half of where the disgust comes from is from the sound design.

[00:07:17]Uh and the body horror includes some of the more supernatural elements, and I was really looking forward to seeing how Nolan would tackle that because he's known for the a very grounded, realistic tone and aesthetic. And for example, like his Batman trilogy, even stuff like the Batmobile felt like it had to go through a pass of, "Okay, how do we make this feel real?" So, straight-up supernatural stuff is new, and he does it very, very well. It never feels totally clashing with the world that he's built, even if what's happening is overtly magical. The use of practical effects in one sequence involving pigs, it was equally fascinating to watch the movie magic happen, but it also like turned my stomach, and I love that.

[00:07:58]If you can, please see this in IMAX.

[00:08:00]This is the first film to be entirely shot in IMAX 70 mm film, and the taller frame that you get in IMAX that you won't get in a regular theater, it's gorgeous to look at. Also with IMAX is that booming soundscape from the towering crash of the waves to the hordes of soldiers that are burning down Troy, to Ludwig Göransson's phenomenal score that you can just feel pounding in your chest. I'm not saying it will happen, but don't be shocked if he's going to go back-to-back best original score Oscar wins for this. There's such a variety of rich textures with the score from the Cyclops sequence where it sounds as if like you could turn a cave itself into music, to an underworld sequence that it sounds like just scratching sand. It's really great. It's also why the siege of Troy sequence is one of the best in the whole film, with the drums increasing intensity like a heartbeat. That whole sequence is equal parts thrilling and terrifying, and you're along for both the initial execution of it and subsequent thematic interrogation of it. I do want to mention really quick, a word of warning.

[00:09:03]There is one sequence about 2/3 of the way through that involved a ship in a storm with a lot of lightning that could definitely affect those with epilepsy, especially if you're seeing it in an IMAX theater.

[00:09:14]So, let's get to rating.

[00:09:17]I do think it edges its way into absolute cinema. There are a couple of missteps, but this is everything that you want from a big-budget epic summer blockbuster. On a pure story level, it's gripping from start to finish, packed to the gills with great performances and great direction from Nolan, and it's evident why he can get lead actors into very minor roles. I can't speak to it on an adaptation level, but as someone who loves Nolan's movies, I was very satisfied with this and plan to go see it again as soon as I can. Even my wife who wasn't looking forward to that almost 3-hour runtime, she said she could watch it again easily.

[00:09:54]So, that's my review of the Odyssey. The last major tentpole of the summer is Spider-Man: Brand New Day in 2 weeks, also with Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal. Uh next week we'll actually be talking with Wavy TV meteorologist Brian Michigan about his love uh for Spider-Man movies. So, thank you so much for watching. We'll be seeing you at next time on Absolute Cinema.

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