An Unfiltered Review of THE ODYSSEY (No Spoilers)

[00:00:03]I think we know why we're all here.

[00:00:06]Christopher Nolan, you crazy bastard.

[00:00:09]You've done it again. And you know what?

[00:00:11]I'd like to issue a heartfelt apology for anyone who maybe had their concerns.

[00:00:17]For anyone who maybe was wondering if it would flop or not, I'm so sorry. On behalf of any willing participant, I'm so sorry. And it's okay if you were hating on this movie. If you thought it was going to suck, if you thought it was going to be trash, let's all come together. We're sorry. All of us. We're sorry. If you couldn't tell by all that, I saw The Odyssey last night on opening night in regular IMAX. And oh my god, this was one of the best movie experiences. I don't even want to say like one of the best films I've watched.

[00:00:50]One of the best movie experiences I've had ever. I can't remember heartracing palpitations since Dune 2. Take a look at my stress monitor where my heart rate was in the last 30 minutes of that movie versus the workout I did that morning.

[00:01:08]Sitting in a chair watching this movie made my heart rate higher than doing an actual workout. Hi friends, welcome back to my channel. It's Miscellaneous Gab and today we're talking all things The Odyssey. Most of this video is going to be a non-spoiler review of me talking about what I loved, maybe the small things I didn't love, and yes, addressing all the controversies that have plagued this film. I'll spend a little bit of time at the end of the video just talking maybe some spoiler corner, some more details. I know this is a 2,000-year-old story, and I don't know, maybe that passes the statute of limitations, but guys, I didn't remember a lot about this story, and I'm so glad I didn't refresh my memory. I am so glad. So, if you maybe read it in high school or college, forget everything.

[00:01:53]Just forget everything. I am so glad that I was able to be surprised. Now, of course, I knew about certain things. I knew about the general premise of the movie, but the last 30 to 45 minutes was genuinely some of the best movie experience I've ever had. And I'm glad that I went in blind to a degree in the sense that I forgot the nitty-gritty details of this story. Let's get into it. I don't think you need me to tell you. We all know, most of us all know about the Trojan War, Troy, the Trojan horse, yada yada yada, Helen of Troy, because there's been movies out. It's been in the zeitgeist for a while. This is a story about Adysius, who was a hero of the Trojan War. They've been fighting the Trojan War for 10 long years. The men are ready to be home after a victory, a victory, a glorious victory that is theirs after so many years of fighting. led by Adysius. They're on their way home and they there's no other way to say this other than a series of very unfortunate events befall them.

[00:02:55]Meanwhile, while those men are trying to get home, Adysius's wife Penelopey, played by Anne Hathaway, and their son Tmicus, they're batting away the suitors that have been encroaching, being like, "You know what? This guy Adysius has been gone for almost 20 years. It's time that you remarry. It's time that Ithaca, which was previously ruled and presided over by Adysius, it needs a king because, you know, women can't rule. So, there are so many things to love about this movie. And I had a hard time trying to wrap my head around the way I wanted to do this review. Honestly, I normally write out a script for what I want to say. All of this is off the dome because it's really hard to put into words how I felt about this movie because something that Nolan's films do, but especially this one is like they go through your brain into your heart. They they touch your heart. Your heart is involved as much as your brain. So, while if you guys watch my channel, you know that I love a good deep dive. I love chatting and breaking things apart. This is a movie that I felt I experienced more than I even logically, rationally put together. I'm gonna dive right into what I loved about this movie. Number one, one one of the main ones is obviously the performances. The performances that we knew were going to be good. And the performances that surprised us. I think everyone here who has seen the movie or anyone who's going to see the movie, there will be a performance that you would have never expected just by looking at the cast who will absolutely floor you. Even the most minor characters, the ensemble characters, they got us caring about them. They had their moment. They made us cry, laugh, everything. Everyone came in to work.

[00:04:35]Like, everyone came and clocked the [ __ ] in for Nolan's latest project. Even the actors who are wellknown like Mia Goth who maybe had just a few moments. Even Lupita Nyongo for as controversial as her casting appointment was not in the movie very much. But it's like everyone knows at this point what a Nolan film is about. What an honor it is to be in one.

[00:04:57]And not a single person in this movie was slacking. Matt Damon, shout out to Matt Damon. I mean this guy's trying to get home in every movie that he's in.

[00:05:06]Matt Damon can carry a movie by himself.

[00:05:09]I mean, that's clear in The Martian, but he did such a fantastic job as Odysius.

[00:05:14]Tamesh Patel, who is part of Odysius's crew, absolutely slayed this role.

[00:05:21]Slayed it. I was so invo also another person that I thought would just kind of have a minor role. He shines. He absolutely shines in this film. Samantha Morton as Cersei. Oh my god. One of the standout moments of this movie. I won't say more until we hit the spoiler corner. Robert Patson. I mean, not that I had any doubts, but Robert Patson playing one of the villains, a not so good guy in this movie, just got me so effing pumped for Dune to see him as Sidale. This man is on a roll, like a generational role. I mean, what talents all across the board. Fantastic work.

[00:06:06]Hats off to everyone. Don't have anything negative to say about any of the actors in this movie. Everyone gave it their all. They even had to cast a younger version of one of these characters. And oh my god. Next, I need to talk about the sound. The sound of this movie was such an adventure. So, you have the score obviously, which was incredible, Oscar worthy score, but you had the sound effects. I don't know if I've ever experienced a movie with sound that told a story. the sound. It was oppressive. It was tense. It was overstimulating in all of the best ways where I felt like I was there. I felt like I was on the boat. I felt like I was in the cave. I felt like I was in the silence of the hall with a boast.

[00:06:51]Like I felt like I was in every scene.

[00:06:54]And a large part of this was because of the sound. The sound made you feel horror, disgust, fear, hope, excitement, anxiety. Please let me know what other movies I can go watch where the sound itself, the sound design, the sound effects will take me on such a journey.

[00:07:14]Hats off to the sound. Hats off to the score. What was truly incredible to me about this movie was the storytelling, the pacing of the film. It's bold. The way they tell this story is so bold. It It takes its time. It takes its time to breathe at the beginning. It It's like opening a bottle of fine red wine. You open it, you allow it to breathe, you let it sit, you're patient with it. So, by the end, when you pour it into the glass and you take that first sip of that vintage that you bought so many years ago, wondering if it was worth the money, baby, it was worth the money. A bottle of fine wine that you've been waiting for for a special occasion, you let it breathe. This this movie takes its time for a story that is an epic poem in a way where it's like detail stacked on detail. This happened, then this happened, then this happened. The way this movie breathes, the way this movie takes its time, the creativity of the storytelling that you might be getting a flashback to a certain scene that's told in three different parts.

[00:08:10]This is a level of storytelling genius that goes beyond simply telling a good story. It's it's not just a good story you're telling. You're telling a good story in a fantastic way. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it does to me. I had seen a scene of this film in the IMAX 70mm as a preview to Project Hail Mary. And it got to a point in the movie where I'm like, is that scene even going to be in this movie or was that like an extra thing just because of the way the story was told? And I think it makes you as an audience, you never know what to expect. And that is why I think it can pull off an almost 3-hour runtime cuz look, I get bored. And I think it pulls off this 3-hour runtime is because you're almost being tossed around like you are on a boat. Like you are in the middle of a storm. Like you've pissed off Poseidon and you're trying to get your bearings. It is very disorienting in the best way only accompanied by the sound. And like I said, this storytelling that is completely unexpected. Now, speaking of storytelling, like I said, the way the movie wraps up, the payoff of what they set up is so [ __ ] incredible. Excuse my French. It is masterful. It's It's masterfully done. So, it just it just completely enraptures you, different parts of the story being told in installments, the way it builds, the way you're able to go a level deeper into the humanity, into the message. This really is Christopher Nolan's take on the Odyssey because there's so many different layers. There's so many different angles that you can take with this story that maybe wasn't in the source material because it it goes into the human. It goes beyond the detail. It goes into the mind, the heart, the soul, the body, and therefore because that is explored, it goes into your heart, mind, and soul and your body. And I don't know if any of you guys read this book in high school or college or whenever you read it, but I know when I did, even being someone who enjoys literature, I was like, "Okay." And sorry. I love how you learn about a character through himself, through his analysis of himself, but through his people, through the people. You learn about Adysius through the people who follow him, through the people who miss him, through the people who hate him, through himself. I mean, holy [ __ ] Scenes that stuck out to me without giving it anything. The Cyclops scene, horrifying, gruesome, disgusting. The Cersei scene, the giant island, the end. That's all I'll say there. But just just know if you are if you haven't seen the film, you're just in for some incredible incredible film. So now before I get to my spoiler section, I do want to address the controversies surrounding this film that seemed to stack one on top of the other on top of the other on top of the other. When I found out Christopher Nolan was doing the Odyssey, when I saw how effing stacked this cast was, I was like, "Bet, let's go. Looks good. Checks out. Sign me up. I trust Christopher Nolan. I'm in." And then slowly things started to come out. I remember the first trailer dropped and people were upset about the armor and then obviously some people on Twitter got really really really intense about the casting. It's about there not being Greek actors and then it's about the certain reading that Christopher Nolan did and so I don't even know if it was any one of these in particular but everything started brewing into like well maybe he's going to have his first flop or maybe this is not going to be what we think it will be. Maybe it's not historically accurate to a fiction book that never happened that's about magic and giants and cyclopses. Things started to cascade. I want to pause here and say that if you if you didn't like this movie, that's fine. That is totally fine. I think my problem is the people trashing this film, harassing the people involved in it, being cruel and awful and ugly who haven't seen it and maybe will never see it. Cuz if you see it, I don't think you could see this movie and hate it. I personally don't. If if if you are that person who saw it and hated it, let me know in the comments. I will respect your opinion. When you see the movie, you see that these things don't matter.

[00:12:00]So, let's get into it one by one. The armor apparently the armor not being historically accurate. I'm sorry. I I personally don't give a [ __ ] because the armor of Agamemnon, more like because that man was aura farming in every shot.

[00:12:16]the the character the the armor and the aura matched the character and that was one of my favorite parts for someone who had like barely any lines. And again, another supporting character whose face you barely even see. Incredible. The no Greek actors thing. So, I'm not Greek. I can't I can't be either offended or not offended on behalf of the Greek people.

[00:12:36]If you are Greek and you are watching this and you are upset, you are entitled to your thoughts and your feelings and I totally respect them. All I'll say is that every character in this movie played their part extremely well. All I have to say is like Christopher Nolan knows how to work with the actors that he works with. Now, would it have been cool if there were some some more maybe Greek ensemble or supporting characters?

[00:12:58]Yes. I think Nolan picked who he trusted and and who who he's worked with before.

[00:13:04]They won't let you down hopefully. And I get it. like you want to see your culture, your history represented and and that's totally fair and that's totally accurate and I don't I don't have an answer that's going to make everyone happy, but all I have to say is I loved every casting choice here.

[00:13:16]Speaking of casting choices, people were very upset that they cast Lupita and Yongo as Helen of Troy. If you wanted to see somebody more representative of that time and culture, totally fair. What's not fair is to call the actress ugly and hideous and all these awful things. All I have to say about this is Lupita Nyongo is one of the most beautiful women that I have personally seen. She is so striking in this film. It's really quite incredible how striking she is.

[00:13:48]She stands out. She stands out. It worked for me. She's not in the movie very much at all either. So, and then the other casting controversy of Elliot Paige who did not play Achilles. And kind of the whole point of the character is that this character is kind of weak and scrawny and unprepared and unsuited for this war. So, it worked. The last thing I'll say in my non-spoiler review that maybe didn't work for me that I think is maybe a fair criticism is some of the dialogue. Would I have preferred if everyone would have had British accents? Yes, absolutely. I think there's just something about a British accent in historical dramas that would have worked here. I do think that the dialogue was probably the weakest part of the movie to me because sometimes it felt like people were speaking in maybe more familiar modern American lingo for lack of a better word and then other times they were speaking more formally and poetically and sometimes the discrepancy between the two took them out. Now there were moments of of genuine humor in this that I really really thoroughly enjoyed. I like it got some chuckles. But the the humorous moments were the dialogue that sounded more colloquial to me. Like that sounded like something I would hear a friend say or on the street. Haha. And that juxtaposed with maybe a little bit more flowery and poetic language. It did take me out of it some time. However, minor gripe with such a stunning movie. I don't really think we go to Nolan films for top tier dialogue. But that being said, if that's a criticism that that's a gripe you have. I do think in this instance, it is fair. All right. Now, I'm going to get into a little bit of spoilers. If you haven't seen the movie, it's a good time to click away, but please like this video. Let me know in the comments when you're going to go see it. Come back and let me know what you thought. And don't forget to subscribe.

[00:15:31]So, click away if you don't want to hear any spoilers at all. Again, I'm going to keep it kind of light. If you're if you're still here, I assume it's because you've seen the full film. A couple things that I want to touch on. Speaking of sound, the scene with the siren song was one of the coolest sound moments when the men have the wax in their ears.

[00:15:50]It goes in between that like muted buzz to Adysius yelling to the sound of the ocean. Just one of the coolest scenes. I can't wait to go see this movie again.

[00:16:02]And that scene specifically is one of the ones I cannot wait to experience over and over again. Cersei, the Cersei scene. Oh my god. I keep seeing people say the word body horror. And I didn't even know what the word body horror meant, but after watching the scene of her turn those men into pigs, I think I understand what the the word body horror means. And again, I didn't remember. I knew she turned them into pigs. And I actually read the book by Maline Miller called Cersei, which of course is like her very creative take on Cersei as a figure in Greek mythology. So, I was getting mixed up between what actually happened in the Odyssey, what happened in the book, Cersei, and I'm I just eventually surrendered to it and said, "Ah, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen." And I didn't know if he was going to get his men back or what, but like I said, Hamesh Patel did such a fantastic job that I was so invested in him. What gets you so emotionally invested in this movie is like, you know, Adysius loses his men if you're familiar with the the book. And like even if you're not familiar with the book, you know, like pretty much from all the omens and all the gods they've pissed off and everything, you know, he's not returning with his men.

[00:17:13]So these people, you feel the love that Adysius feels for his men, you feel that towards his crew. And it's like you want them to be okay, but you know they're not. And so in a way, this movie puts you in the position of Adysius. Like like I'm out there trying to save them, too. And I think that's so [ __ ] cool.

[00:17:33]Like there's just so many cool things about this movie that go just beyond the viewing experience. It's it's the position that it puts you in as a viewer. The Cyclops scene, horrifying, next level. The sound, the echo, the scream, the muttering, the crunching.

[00:17:50]I'm having a physiological reaction to just talking about it. I mean, how many movies can do that? Like, if you guys can't tell, I love this movie. Now, Robert Patson, again, I said this at the beginning, he plays this most sniveling coward. I hate it. He's like one of those characters that you love to hate and despise. And when the weapons are coming down from the ceiling and he's like shield, sword, and just like truly a coward until the very end. So, what justice to have that little thing put in his mouth at the end. That was so incredible. Now again, like I said, I didn't remember what happened, so I did not know if we were going to watch Tmicus die, if we were going to watch Adysius die. I was fully prepared for th both of those possibilities, which is what I think kept me on the edge of my seat. So, I really hope as many of you were able to go into this blind as possible because I'm so grateful. I don't know if the ending would have slapped as much if I would have known what would have happened. Agamemnon, a highlight for me. Just the vibe, the aura, everything. the Troy being told in installments. I mean, obviously the twist with Athena. I have no words. I just I don't know how I could have ever thought of that. I mean, obviously, I'm I'm not an award-winning film director, so I never would pretend to know better than Nolan, but it's just like I can recognize just creativity and storytelling that is on a a level that I can't even fathom. I can just appreciate. And that's kind of where I'm at with this whole movie. I just appreciate it. I can't wait to see it again. I hope you guys liked it as much as I did. If you didn't, no worries. I want to hear from you either way. We can all agree to disagree as long as we're not being cruel and mean and terrible.

[00:19:28]It's all good. It's all Gucci up in here. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Big shout out to my Waffle Party VIP members. Thank you to Mike W.

[00:19:36]Thank you to Matt Winbury, Jim Rodney, Bo Derker, Daniel Ariano, Marlon Yamzon, Chris B, Chris Bazeski, Alex 47, and Banesh B. And thank you to all of my other Patreon supporters who support this channel. I don't feel like I'm good at movie breakdowns [laughter] to be honest. Like I'm really good at comparing books to movies, The Hunger Games and Project Hail Mary, but not so good at just straight up movie reviews.

[00:20:01]So let me know if you guys want me to do more. I'm thinking about doing a monthly Patreon movie review release. This movie just has me a little tongue tied and speechless. Anyway, I'll see you next time, guys. Don't forget to like and comment below. Bye.