Why Didn't The Odyssey Feel Epic?

[00:00:00]Peace.

[00:00:02]Peace.

[00:00:05]I hate the word.

[00:00:08][groaning] [screaming and groaning] >> Are you not entertained? [music] Have you ever noticed that the greatest films somehow disappear? No, of course not literally. I mean, you stop seeing the film making. You forget that you're looking through a camera. You stop noticing the editing. You stop thinking about the actors for a couple of hours.

[00:00:39]You simply believe. That's the magic trick of good cinema. Whether it's science fiction, fantasy, a war film, or a movie about the mafia, the goal is always the same. Create a world and convince the audience it's real. Think about The Godfather. You're not watching actors pretending they're gangsters.

[00:00:54]You're sitting in the room with the Corleó family. You believe every one of them belongs in that world. Think about Lord of the Rings. Nobody spends three hours saying, "That's Vgo Mortis. He's Aragon. Ian Mckllen." No, that's not Ian Mckllen. That's Gandalf. The illusion is complete. What about Gladiator? Russell Crow isn't just an Australian actor.

[00:01:10]Well, that's because he's New Zealander, but we claim he was ours. He's Maximus.

[00:01:14]>> My name is Maximus Desimus Meridius, and I will have my vengeance in this life or the next. Ridley Scott doesn't just recreate ancient Rome. He makes you feel like you've been there.

[00:01:25]>> Have you ever seen anything like that before?

[00:01:27]>> That's that's what cinema is. Not the photography, not the technology, not visual effects. Belief. The audience has to believe.

[00:01:35]>> But they'll never take freedom. [music] >> And that's why I walked out of Christoph Nolan's The Odyssey feeling so conflicted because I admired it. I respected it. Some parts were impressive. But I never believed it. I never believed I was on a Greek journey.

[00:01:52]I never believed I was on a journey that took 10 bloody years. No, I was watching Matt Damon doing the Odyssey story. Help me go home. Now, Hollywood has spent decades trying to bring the Odyssey to the big screen. Sometimes they nail it.

[00:02:03]Sometimes they give us something that makes you wonder if Homer is spinning in his grave. But if you are into mythology and history, then you should check out Heroes of History. If you've been looking for something you can jump in for a quick 10 minutes or accidentally spend an hour in, because that's what happened to me when I booted up Heroes of History. What grabbed me most is building a team from over 120 heroes inspired by real historical and mythological figures, including Napoleon, Tesla, and Odysius, all fighting on the same team. Each hero has unique powers and elements, so figuring out which ones actually work well together is the fun part. Outside of battles, you'll be managing your own civilization, watching your city grow, while auto battles keep resources coming in, making it really easy to pick up and play without feeling like it's a huge grind. And right now is a great time to start. Since the new great Odyssey event is live, you can recruit limited time heroes like Odysius, Penelopey, Aminoas to take on the new Skylar boss fight.

[00:02:53]And if you log in for 7 days straight, you'll unlock a free fivestar Odysius, which won't be available once the event ends. If you want a head start, use my link in the description or scan the QR code on screen and then use the code robot H to grab a free starter boost with 10 antimatters, 2,000 XP, and 20,000 food. It definitely makes those first few days a lot easier. Just go to the game's menu, profile, settings, redeem promo code, and enter robot H.

[00:03:19]Thanks, Heroes of History for sponsoring this video.

[00:03:21]>> Matt Damon.

[00:03:23]>> No, I was watching Matt Damon doing the Odyssey story. And that's a big problem because visually the film looks fairly spectacular, which is what you'd expect from Christopher Nolan. The guy knows how to point a camera. The landscapes are impressive. The sea and ships look impressive. Nobody shoots large format IMAX cinema quite like Christopher Nolan. Nobody. My name is nobody.

[00:03:43][snorts] Nobody.

[00:03:45][groaning] >> This is blockbuster filmm on a scale Hollywood rarely attempts these days. I genuinely want more films like this. I want more films with this ambition. I'll take a giant original mythological adventure over another lazy franchise sequel any day of the week. So, if you're expecting me to spend the next 10 minutes screaming that this movie is terrible, I'm sorry to disappoint because it isn't. It's a good movie.

[00:04:07]sometimes a very good movie, but it's one of the most emotionally distant films Christopher Nolan has ever made.

[00:04:13]And I think the reason is surprisingly simple. It's the lack of immersion. And immersion is the magic that can take a good film and make it great. The immersion problem in the Odyssey starts very early on. In the opening scenes, we get Spider-Man, rapper Travis Scott, and Elliot Page. It's like a weird in-your-face checklist to guarantee eligibility for Oscar selection. And it's rammed in the start just in case the Academy members only watch the first 10 minutes, which would be 10 minutes longer than some of the films that have won awards.

[00:04:39]>> My dad is coming home.

[00:04:41]>> Now, Tom Holland can't help that he's Spider-Man. But it really doesn't help that when you're sitting in the cinema, they lead into this film with the new Spider-Man trailer, and then his whole performance in this film feels like Peter Parker. Now, I've heard Nolan doesn't give a lot of direction, but bloody hell, he could have helped out Tommy as Travis Scott. Yeah, really not sure why he's here. He doesn't look right. He doesn't sound right. And Elliot Paige playing Son in the worst casting for a role I've ever seen. Son is described by Odysius as quote, "The greatest soldier I've ever known." This tiny, featherless, flightless baby bird running across the sand is apparently the greatest soldier Odysius has ever known. I laughed out loud at that one.

[00:05:19]And I don't care who you are. It looks absolutely ridiculous and shows how far Nolan is willing to bend the knee to please the Hollywood gods. Pretty hard to get swept away by the Greek mythology when you start with a tiny person playing dressups as a great soldier. And it's not just the questionable casting decisions that keep taking me out of this movie. It was also the script. The Odyssey is one of the greatest adventure stories ever written. It has monsters, gods, magic, temptation, revenge, loss, everything you could possibly want in an epic fantasy. But Christopher Nolan tells it almost like he's ticking off a checklist. Here's the Cyclops, rushed through and stripped of any meaning.

[00:05:52]Now, here's Cersei, who Adysius spends about 10 minutes with instead of the one year that's in the original story. Here are the sirens. Well, we think they're there. You never see them cuz they're hidden in the mist. Now, here's Calypso, whose story remains a mystery if you're not already familiar with the story.

[00:06:06]Here are the less trornians who appear with little setup, no story, but luckily are ready to be on the attack. This is what I expected. This is what we got in this film. Everything happens, just not in very interesting ways. There isn't much sense of discovery or mystery or wonder. It's almost as though Nolan is so pushed to get through the source material while using the IMAX cameras that he gets to turn it into a tale of mystery, magic, and drama. The result is a film that moves without ever really gathering momentum. I was never bored, but I was rarely captivated. And that's a huge difference because great epics don't simply tell stories. They make those stories feel larger than life.

[00:06:41]They create moments you never forget.

[00:06:43]When Gandalf stands against the bellrog, you remember it forever. When Maximus walks through the wheat fields dreaming of home, you remember that forever where a T-Rex escapes in Jurassic Park. You're not going to forget it. You remember that forever. But ask yourself, what's that moment in the Odyssey? I genuinely struggle to think of one. Everything is wellmade, but none of it feels special or memorable. And I think that's because Christopher Nolan may have been the wrong director for this particular story. Now, before everyone loses their minds, relax, Nolan files, hear me out.

[00:07:11]Christopher Nolan is a great filmmaker.

[00:07:13]That's not really up for debate, is it?

[00:07:14]The man gave us The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar, Dunk Kirk, Oenheimimer. He's one of the last directors who can convince a studio to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a filmmaker's vision. Hollywood needs more people like Christopher Nolan. But even though every great director has their strengths in The Wrong Story, those strengths can become a weakness.

[00:07:31]Christopher Nolan has built his entire career on making the impossible feel believable. Batman feels real. Dreams feel logical. Time travel has rules.

[00:07:39]Black holes have science behind them.

[00:07:41]Everything is grounded. Everything has weight. Everything has an explanation.

[00:07:44]Well, most of the time. That's exactly why his films are so interesting. But the Odyssey, the Odyssey isn't asking to be grounded. It's asking to be mythical.

[00:07:52]It's asking to feel ancient. It needs mystery. It needs magic. Look at Gladiator. Every time Maximus dreams of walking through those wheat fields, every glimpse of the afterlife, every note of Hans Zimmer's score, really Scott isn't just telling you the story.

[00:08:04]He's inviting you to feel something.

[00:08:06]Whether those visions are real or dreams, it doesn't matter. The emotion is real. That's all that matters. He's willing to push into the surreal to add some movie magic and try and find me a guy that won't reenact that scene every time he walks through long grass.

[00:08:17]Christopher Nolan, he never really allows the Odyssey to become that kind of movie. Even the fantasy feels restrained. The Cyclops should have been terrifying. Instead, he's just there.

[00:08:27]The sirens should have been haunting, beautiful, mesmerizing, the kind of scene people would still be talking about 20 years from now. Instead, they're hidden away, covered by smoke, almost apologizing for existing. When our Greek boy here, Teriyaki, swims to the sirens, Nolan chooses to just sail away. Terrii's fate is left as a mystery. It's like the film keeps pulling back just when it should be leaning in. Be brave. That's what I kept thinking. A director should be braver than this. This is Greek mythology. This is one of the greatest fantasy adventures ever written. Go for it.

[00:08:57]Don't be afraid of the weirdness. Don't be afraid of the beauty. Don't be afraid of the impossible because that's what mythology is. Instead, everything feels strangely safe. God, you know, Mel Gibson would have gone to town with this story. You feel that he would have had the faith in his audience that they would go with him into the bizarre because remember this is the guy who made Apocalyptto in the Yucata language.

[00:09:17]While Christopher Nolan chose to have every actor do an American accent to make it easier for the American audience. One of the quickest ways to destroy immersion is with the language.

[00:09:26]Language tells us where we are. Watch Master and Commander. Watch Gladiator.

[00:09:30]Watch Lord of the Rings. Nobody sounds like they just walked in from a modern Hollywood coffee shop sounding like they're talking too loudly on their mobile phone. Their words in those films feel like they belong in their world.

[00:09:40]The dialogue in the Odyssey often doesn't. Characters speak with modern rhythms, modern phrasing, modern sensibilities. Now, nobody needs to sound exactly like Homer, but they should at least sound like they come from another time and place. And that brings us to the casting. As we all know, the Odyssey is Greek mythology.

[00:09:56]Now, we have a very large Greek population in the city of Melbourne. the third largest Greek population in the world. I have a lot of Greek friends, great people, great food. I'm not sure if Christopher Nolan has ever seen a Greek person. A diverse cast is fine in most films. Not in a film based on a Greek myth. We are talking about immersion people. They should at least look Greek. How's that? Not on display.

[00:10:17]>> Now, many people online keep saying it's not a real story. It's just fiction.

[00:10:21]Which to them means you can apparently do whatever the hell you like. These people don't seem to understand what a myth is. It's a fiction based on a culture's history and beliefs set in a specific place and time, but it's not just about the importance of mythology.

[00:10:34]Again, it's about immersion, the suspension of disbelief. Let's use an example that's not a thousands of years old. Let's say we want to make a movie about the mafia. Maybe we want to remake The Godfather. Everything stays exactly the same. Golons are still one of New York's great Italian crime families. The dialogue is exactly the same. The plot's the same. As the audience, would you be expecting to see a lot of Italian-looking people in the cast or would you expect a cast made up of Squid Game and the Jeffersons? If you say you could watch a mafia drama made up of the cast of Squid Game and the Jeffersons, I call [ __ ] >> I CALL [ __ ] [ __ ] >> You lie or you have some type of mental deficiency. A good film should make the audience forget about the cast and who they are. Because once the audience is thinking about the casting, they've stopped thinking about the story. Yes, the good times mafia story could be made. But would it be immersive? No, of course it wouldn't because authenticity isn't just about historical facts. It's about creating an illusion so convincing the audience never questions it. Lupita Nienos, I apologize if I'm getting that name wrong, but I have no idea how to say it. Lupita is a fine actress and could play lots of roles, but Helen of Troy, I never once thought I was watching Helen of Troy. It was a big distraction for absolutely no reason.

[00:11:43]Plus, they decide to make her an identical twin, which sort of cancels out her most beautiful woman in the world status. And they also decide to scar up her face with no explanation.

[00:11:52]This film has so many odd choices. Now, this doesn't mean you can't reimagine a famous story, but you have to have some balls when doing it. Look at Baz Lurman's Romeo and Juliet. Modern setting, classic script, done in the original language of Shakespeare's time.

[00:12:05]Now, that's ballsy filmmaking.

[00:12:08]>> And look upon thy death.

[00:12:10]>> I do, but keep the peace. Put up thy sword.

[00:12:13]>> Peace.

[00:12:16]>> I hate the word.

[00:12:17]>> The Odyssey. The Odyssey doesn't make any brave decisions. Every change from the original text is made to dumb down the story, not reframe it. That's why the Odyssey lost me several times. Now, some of the casting choices were fine, but others constantly reminded me that I was watching a 21st century Hollywood production. And every time that happened, the illusion is broken. Not forever, just for a moment, but those moments add up. Then there's the action.

[00:12:39]And honestly, this surprised me the most. If you had asked me before seeing the film, "What are you most looking forward to?" It would have been Christopher Nolan directing one of the greatest adventure stories ever written.

[00:12:49]Massive sea battles, ancient armies, mythical creatures, the kind of spectacle on a grand scale that only someone like Nolan could bring to the big screen. So, I thought instead, I thought the action was fine. And fine is probably the most disappointing word you can use to describe a Christopher Nolan action sequence. It all looked real. The photography was good. The practical film making was obvious, but I never felt that rush. That feeling where you instinctively lean forward in your seat, where you forget you're watching a film and you just go along for the ride. In the Odyssey, I just watched the action.

[00:13:19]I didn't experience it. And everything felt surprisingly small and confined. I really felt like Christopher Nolan's obsession with realism became his limitation. He shot the action like an observer, not like a storyteller. The camera feels more like it's documenting what's happening instead of making you feel what's happening. Compare that to Ridley Scott, Mel Gibson or George Miller. Watch the opening battle in Gladiator. Watch the battle of Helms Deep. Watch Braveheart or Fury Road.

[00:13:42]Those directors aren't afraid of emotion. They're not afraid of chaos.

[00:13:45]They're not afraid of making the audience feel overwhelmed. Everything is working together. The music, the editing, the performance, the camera, the atmosphere. You're not just watching the action, you're living it. And it doesn't just have to be the huge set pieces. When Mel Gibson rides a horse into a guy's bedroom to kill him with a long chained flail, you remember it.

[00:14:02]It's totally nuts and amazing.

[00:14:07]That's what I keep waiting for in the Odyssey. That one sequence where I sat back and thought, I've never seen anything like this. That scene, it never came. And maybe that's the biggest disappointment because the Odyssey should feel magical. Not just because there are monsters or gods or mythical islands, but because the story practically invented the fantasy adventure. This is the blueprint.

[00:14:24]Without stories like this, you probably don't get the Lord of the Rings. You don't get Star Wars. You don't get half the fantasy films we love today. This should have been a filmmaker's chance to completely let loose, to astonish us, to make us feel like children again.

[00:14:37]Instead, instead, everything felt carefully controlled, carefully grounded, carefully restrained. Almost as though Christopher Nolan didn't quite trust the mythology. And that's a shame because if there was ever a story where he had permission to go too far, this was it. Be bold, be weird, be beautiful, be terrifying, be unforgettable, be brave. Instead, the film settles for being impressive. And that's where I think there's a huge difference between a film that's respected and a film that's loved. Competence earns respect.

[00:15:04]Great films earn love. And they get there through creativity, emotional weight, and the guts to go for it.

[00:15:09]Nobody walks out of Lord of the Rings talking about how efficient it was.

[00:15:12]Nobody leaves Jurassic Park saying, "Well, that was competently made."

[00:15:16]People remember how those films made them feel. Wonder, fear, excitement, awe. That that's movie magic. And for all of Christopher Nolan's extraordinary talent, I don't think the Odyssey ever captures that feeling. I walked out respecting the craftsmanship. I admired the ambition. I appreciate the fact that Hollywood is still willing to make movies like this. And I genuinely hope that Christopher Nolan keeps making giant original films. We need directors like that. But this time, I don't think he was the right filmmaker for the material, not because he lacks talent.

[00:15:43]Quite the opposite, because every director sees the world differently.

[00:15:45]Really, Scott sees myth. Mel Gibson, he sees passion. Peter Jackson sees wonder.

[00:15:50]And Christopher Nolan, he sees logic. He sees systems. He sees realism. Usually, that's exactly what makes his films unique. This time, I think that's what held him back, and that's why we got a good film and not a great epic. Help me go home. Anyway, maybe immersion is becoming an old-fashioned idea. Maybe audiences don't want to disappear into movies anymore. Maybe watching a film while checking your phone every 5 minutes is just the new normal. Well, I hope not, because when cinema truly works, it still performs the greatest magic trick ever invented makes you forget you're watching a movie.

[00:16:19]>> ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

[00:16:21]>> As I said, good films earn respect.

[00:16:23]Great films earn love. Christopher Nolan gave me a film I respected. I just wish he'd given me one I loved.

[00:16:28]>> He'd consume the English with fireballs from [music] his eyes and bolts some of lightning from his ass.