Does THE ODYSSEY Live Up To The Hype? | Movie Review | Non-Spoiler (with Spoiler Warning)

[00:00:02]So last night I got to watch the Odyssey for a second time and it confirmed for me that I really enjoyed the film.

[00:00:08]Sometimes with these huge movies that have so much hype and energy around them, especially when they're getting crazy scores and Rotten Tomatoes and whatnot, you got to watch it a second time to know for sure how you feel because I don't want to just be guided by the hype train. Watching it a second time helped me to further deepen my appreciation for certain things that I already liked and it helped me to more clearly see some of the things I was feeling critical about inside my heart.

[00:00:28]I'm going to try to get into all that in this video. I'm going to break this down in three different ways. The first is like the extremely non-spoiler version.

[00:00:36]My recommendation, which is already obvious, and then spoilers, which will be the majority of this video. The first part, watch the film. If you can watch it in IMAX, ideally like IMAX film, the best presentation possible. I watched it in an IMAX digital thing. It was still like the proper format and everything like that, but it was digital. And I do want to see it in film at some point before it leaves theaters. that is the intended way for the film to be seen.

[00:01:01]However, I watched an interview with Nolan today. He was saying that he even liked the cropped versions of it. The second time I watched it, I watched it in 1.85 to1. For those who don't know, 1.85 to1 is close to like Marvel IMAX where it's like slightly taller. If you're ever on Disney Plus and you're like, I want to watch the IMAX version, it's like that's close to 1.85 to1.

[00:01:22]Watching it a second time, I'm like, I don't really feel like visually I was missing too much. I remembered off the IMAX version what it was like. It's still the better way. There's no two ways about it. The the IMAX version is the better way, but you're still going to get the story watching it in the crop versions. I strongly recommend it. It's an epic journey, especially IMAX. Like, you are guaranteed an experience you cannot get at home. You cannot replicate at home. Like, you can have the best sound system, the best TV. You can't replicate that IMAX experience at home.

[00:01:49]Seeing it in that crazy format, you have a limited window makes it all the more special. So, I strongly recommend going out and watching it in the IMAX format if possible. And no, I'm not being sponsored or paid by IMAX to say that.

[00:02:00]It's genuinely how I feel, especially when it's like film IMAX. Then it's like, you know, it's really special.

[00:02:05]Now, I'm going to attempt a non-spoiler summary of what you can expect in case you haven't seen the film yet. So, you have two stories going on at the same time in this movie. You have Odicius and then you have Tom Holland, Telmakus.

[00:02:18]Some of the names I'm just going to mess up. Those are the two characters that you're kind of following in this movie for the most part. So, Adius is stuck.

[00:02:25]He's kind of uh experiencing he's kind of experiencing a born identity situation. He's got a little momento situation going on. He's trying to remember where he came from, how to get back to where he came from. That's his story. And so, the movie is nonlinear. It kind of cuts back and forth between past and present in unfolding and revealing to the audience more details, more story details. And so at the same time you have Tom Holland who plays Telmachus. I'm sure I'm messing that up. Tom Holland is trying to get his father back. His father has been gone for a while, 20 years to be exact. There's a bunch of suitors who are trying to marry his mother and Hathaway Penelopey in an effort to become king of this kingdom. She's holding out for her husband to come back even though it's been 20 years. It's crazy. Tom Holland's like, "I got to go get him. I got to find him. either I got to find him and and confirm he's dead so that I can be king or I just got to become king right now. Something's got to happen. And so he's pretty determined. Those are the two stories.

[00:03:20]Everything you see in the trailers is unfolding from that. Tom Holland's story is a bplot that is much more minor in the whole of the movie. You're more so following Odysius and his journey. It feels supremely epic, especially watching it on the big screen. I feel like this is one of those movies you'll watch 20 years from now and it will still look fantastic. The way that Nolan shot this movie, in case you don't know, is with IMAX film, which is a lot more complicated than IMAX digital. One of the big hang-ups that Nolan has had for the longest time, is when he's shooting IMAX, he would switch between like IMAX for action and then 35 mm film for dialogue because he does not like to do ADR, also known as dubbing. He doesn't want to do any dubbing. And the IMAX film cameras traditionally have been so loud that he can't shoot his dialogue sequences with those cameras. So he settled for doing 35mm and that's why he's often cutting between two different formats. This is the first time he's been able to go end to end completely in IMAX both for action and for dialogue. I point to bring that up. This is the first movie you get to watch that is shot like this. The complexities of making it are not necessarily something the audience needs to be burdened with, but I certainly enjoyed that techy information because the camera weighed like 300 lb. It was really like shooting a really old Hollywood kind of film in that respect because film cameras used to be insane. Nolan's brought it back.

[00:04:41]The insanity, but it allows us to have these like important dialogue sequences in IMAX and so that you don't get an you don't get a format change at all and so it feels extremely immersive. Nolan is one of my favorite directors. His films are some of my favorite films. Sometimes when you're doing that format change, you know, I do notice it and I I do get a little distracted by it more so when I'm watching it in theaters than I than at home. I love the IMAX sequences, but what happens is when it cuts to 35, I'm like, I just wish the whole movie was an IMAX because it looks so much better.

[00:05:08]And so, finally, I my, you know, our wishes come true for those nerds of us who who really really want that. Let's just get into it then. I thought Matt Damon's performance, this is spoilers at some point are going to come up in this part of the discussion, by the way. So, we're in it now. Matt Damon's performance was awesome. I thought he he did such a great job of carrying this film. Tom Holland also did a fantastic job of carrying his portion of the movie. I felt like I wasn't watching Spider-Man. I didn't feel like I was watching Jason Bourne. I felt like I was watching two people in this epic journey that they're on in this epic story. This film confirmed for me as well that I love Robert Patson. I loved him in The Batman. And funny enough, I would say ironically watching him in Twilight cuz I did a whole Twilight reaction with Kristen Stephenson Pino, it confirmed for me at that time. I'm like or it it at least told me I'm like I think he's a really good actor. Like it takes a solid actor to actually do this material very well. And then watching him in the Batman, I'm like, "Yeah, this dude is dope." And then watching him here, I'm like, "Yes, yeah, he's definitely one of our best." The way he handled the material, he might have been my favorite performance in the movie because I just bought into him. Not an ounce of doubt in my heart, in my mind when I was watching him. There was no sense of artifice. There was no sense of I'm watching an actor in front of a camera.

[00:06:19]It's like I felt like I was watching this dude. As amazing as other performances were in the film, and and there were a lot of great performances.

[00:06:26]I do remember at times I'm watching an actor do acting. Robert Patson was the only one in the film where I'm like I just I'm lost in his performance. I think he's so he's so so so so strong as an actor. One of the controversies around the film is the casting, the multithnic casting, which funny enough, like me being, you know, multithnic.

[00:06:47]Watching films, often times when I see that happen in movies, I can find it distracting sometimes where I'm like, I just can't help but notice the array of ethnicities here. It feels like they're trying. This is the first time that I can recall, now forgive me if I've said this before and I just forgot, but this is the first time I can recall watching a movie that has a colorful array of ethnicities and I don't even notice it.

[00:07:14]Like I'm just gripped by the story.

[00:07:16]There was maybe one part where it kind of like I tweaked a little bit just just cuz it was an Indian actor who's what was his name? Himesh Patel who plays Yuri Yuri Locus. At one point they're talking to some villagers and he's like no but we're Greek or something and I was like that was my reaction like it's just a little weird cuz you you're so conditioned to you know see a particular ethnicity hear a particular accent when it comes to any kind of period piece like you're conditioned to see white and hear English accents British accents right and so this is like different in that you have it's multithnic. It's not being done with English accents. I don't think I heard any English accents in the film. I was just immersed in the story. I want to talk about the effects a little bit because, you know, Nolan is one of those directors that tries to get everything in camera. And when you're watching this, it kind of feels like an older movie in its approach to things, in the way that these epic moments are being handled. It almost feels like you're watching a film from a long time ago like the Ten Commandments or something in its handling of stuff that is just insane like a giant or a whirlpool or monsters, you know, or giant soldiers, you know, in the way that it handles things. There's something so cool about it. Like it's undeniably amazing. I am asking myself how he did some of these things. Knowing his approach to film making, knowing how real it looks on camera, I'm like, how like what what the hell? How did you do that, dude? There's not too many films these days that make you ask that because like you're so inundated with so many things that look amazing all the time. Just opening up Instagram, there are so many things that look cool that it's hard to impress people these days. And I'm watching the movie and I'm like, I am so goddamn impressed right now. How is he doing this? The fight with the giants, that might be my most favorite scene in the movie just from a purely technical point of view. Like the way it pulls you in, the way you get scared, the way everything unfolds. It was an incredibly interesting scene. On the whole, effects were amazing. The only part where I was like, I kind of noticed that it didn't look as real was when right after the whirlpool or during that whirlpool sequence when the little that monster, not little, when that monster came out of the rocks, the mountain. That was the only part where I was like, that looks like CG to me. I don't know how he did it. Maybe it's not CG, but it looked like CG to me. And it's the only part that I questioned. But I didn't question it in a way like this movie sucks. It was more like I just noticed, you know, it wasn't anything that like hurt my experience. The editing is a thing that I want to talk about. So, I don't know if this is a thing that only someone like myself who's like hyper analytical and hyperritical is going to notice, but I would imagine most people watching the film would be fine. There's two things to talk about when it comes to the editing. There's the format, which is nonlinear, which Nolan has been doing.

[00:10:09]Like, I don't even know if there's a single movie. Well, okay. So you have Batman Begins, Dark Knight, and Dark Knight Rises, which for the most part are linear films, but I feel like everything else Nolan has done, I haven't watched the following, which is his first feature. I feel like everything else Nolan has done has been nonlinear. He's always playing with time in some way. I mean, Tenant is literally about playing with time. Dunkirk, you're you're watching three different stories that kind of all converge. Inception, you're playing the whole thing is playing with time. I guess that one is not nonlinear, but you're still playing with time. time is one of those characters in every single Nolan film.

[00:10:43]So, the the nonlinear format is is something that happens in this movie.

[00:10:47]Honestly, I kind of wish that it leaned even more into that because there was a chunk of movie where I'm like, I don't know where Tom Holland is. Like, I was just kind of wondering why it stayed so long on Matt Damon's storyline and didn't cut back. You know, maybe that's just the source material and Nolan honoring the source material, but I haven't read the comic, right? like cuz like you have obviously you have the Odyssey the original but then there's like a comic version which I my understanding unless I'm incorrect is that this script is based on that comic.

[00:11:18]It just seemed like there might have been more story to tell with Tom Holland's character and more to do but you know it's like you get the beginning of of Tom Holland's story and then then he disappears from the movie for a long time and then he comes back and maybe that's all we needed and that's fine. It just felt like it it was a long time before we saw him again. Outside of that, everything nonlinear in the way that it decided to tell the story and and and drop hints at stuff, very Nolan, very cool. I enjoyed it. Like the editing for the most part in that respect was dope. The editing I didn't like in terms of like scene to scene stuff. There's like dialogue in the movie that sometimes like I'm I find the editing just a little bit jarring where I'm like, why is it cutting like this?

[00:11:58]Why is it cutting so quick in dialogue sequences? Is it supposed to be jarring?

[00:12:01]Am I supposed to feel unsettled? Is that why it's being cut like that? because I find it a little distracting sometimes.

[00:12:06]Like there's the scene with the witch with the pigs. Matt Damon is talking to the witch and it's cutting really fast sometimes and I'm like what? Why is it cutting like this? Like I didn't even get a chance to see Matt Damon get two words in edgewise before it cuts away from him again. There's the Korean guy from Altered Carbon. I think I think that's where I saw him. There's a sequence on the ship where everyone's sort of talking about, you know, who's that giant and the giant is the son of Poseidon and all that stuff. everyone's got something to say. When the Korean actor starts talking, it cuts to him like part way through his sentence and then cuts away from him. And I'm like, what? Why? Why am I not allowed to see him say his line? And so sometimes the editing just could feel very jarring.

[00:12:46]And I didn't know why it was being edited that way. I don't know if it's that Nolan just shoots super fast and the editor is just doing his best to stitch it together. I have no idea. But I just notice sometimes where I'm like I'm being kind of pulled out a little bit because the editing is just a little too quick during dialogue. Again, this might just be me and or maybe that's also the intended effect is that you're you're supposed to feel unsettled. If that's the goal, it worked. I felt uncomfortable, but I don't know if it was if it worked in an immersive way. I found it it it worked in a way that kind of took me out of it just a little bit.

[00:13:19]The music was awesome. Nolan has been working with this dude whose name I don't remember. I apologize. He's been working with this guy for a few movies now. He stopped. He hasn't worked with Han Zimmer in a minute. There is a part of me that misses Han Zimmer. Every Han Zimmer score associated with Nolan is remembered. It's memorable. I think that this score is pretty cool. I enjoyed it.

[00:13:39]It definitely elicits feelings. It marries very well with the visuals. You know, I'll say that much. But I do miss Han Zimmer. It's just that's just my honest feeling about it. I think Hanimmer is dope. You know, whatever Han Zimmer is doing when he works with Nolan, it's always amazing. And so music here is pretty cool. One of the things that stood out to me as something I could have done with less of was some of the narration. For me, it felt like I don't know. I I don't again I haven't read the source material, the comic, but sometimes there was narration being kind of intrusive on the on the adventure.

[00:14:11]Like you have um John Bernthal who's like, "Have you heard about the story of the Trojan horse?" He's like, "But did you hear about it from the inside?" I'm like, "Cool. We're going to get it from the inside." and we go inside and then John Berthal's narration is coming in sometimes and I'm like I don't need that. Like I don't need it. I understand you're telling me a story. It would be one thing if the narration was assisting with an an understanding like in a comprehensive way like it's an understanding of what we're watching.

[00:14:37]Like the question I asked myself is if the narration wasn't there would I be missing a feeling? Would I be would I be missing any kind of understanding of what's happening? And I feel like, you know, 10 out of 10 times if you took the narration out, it would have improved the scene. It would have improved the experience and the immersion would have stayed strong. I don't know why the narration had to be there as much as it did. It's not just that scene with John Bernthal, but it's like there was stuff with Matt Damon where Matt Damon said something, Deius was like, I the last thing I remember was Zeus's hand and then the ship breaks in half. And I'm like, did I need that? Like did I need him to say that? because I feel like I was already feeling just scared and concerned for the peril that these characters are going through. It just sort of broke my immersion a little bit every time it did that where I'm like, I don't need the extra narration. I don't need you to like guide me through every step of the story. Like, I get it.

[00:15:27]There's so much repeating of things in the film like Zeus's law that it's hard to get lost. You know, I I feel like the film does such a good job without the narration uh that you'll be fine. I guess you can call it a nitpick, but it's one of those things where I'm just like, I just didn't feel like I needed it. Now, the first time I watched the film, it's not something I was like, I hate this. It was just more the second time I watched it where I'm like, yeah, I really don't need that. But I still really enjoyed the film. Obviously, Nolan did a fantastic job of creating an epic journey that you're you're you're seeing Odicius Odysius go on. I apologize if I'm saying his name incorrectly. Uh but you're you're seeing him go on this adventure and and he's just trying to get his men back home and it's such a arduous task where everything is in his way. Ultimately it all culminates and you know what helped me to to understand this funny enough was was John Stewart talking about the movie with Nolan. But he likened it to Oenheimer in that you're dealing with a main character who is regretful and concerned for humanity. Well, like if you had to summarize it as few words as possible, we are hurting ourselves. Both films say that very effectively. So, I'm giving him his props. I I really enjoyed the film. I'm going to buy it. Where I take issue is I felt like the depth of field in this film was just way too shallow. I don't know who decided on the depth of field in the movie, but it felt like a task that was too tall, but like they shouldn't have aimed for such a shallow depth of field. Now, if you don't know what shallow depth of field is, I will try my best to explain it as quickly as possible. So, this is being shot at an f/2.8. Now, if I get closer to you, you see the background there is out of focus, right? 2.8. The smaller the number, the more out of focus the background will be. The bigger your sensor, the more of that effect you're going to get. The smaller your sensor, the less of that effect you're going to get using the same aperture and the same focal length. And so, I'm shooting at I guess 28 mm. And so if I if I go like really close, you see how out of focus all that is? It felt like all the the entire film was even more out of focus in the background than that. Now, the reason for that is it's being shot on this huge IMAX film. The bigger your your film, the easier it is for the focus to be even more critical and less forgiving. So, if you're shooting at f4, it's still super shallow depth of field on that size of of film. But my point in bringing that up is I wish that they had stopped down to something that was more reasonable and more manageable because so much of the movie was out of focus.

[00:18:03]Like there was a a scene where towards the end where Anne Hathaway is holding Matt Damon. It's not even like action.

[00:18:10]It's just a it's just a close-up of Matt Damon and his face is out of focus and her face is in focus. This is what happens when you shoot with film is you don't actually know what you have until you look at the dailies until you look at it printed up, you know, and developed. Like then you can actually see what you got. But by that point, you've moved on, right? All I'm trying to say is I I wish that they made it a little easier on themselves and gave themselves a little bit more latitude by stopping down. I don't know what the T-tops are on film with with the IMAX film. I have no idea. This is beyond my understanding. It's shallower depth of field than you get with like a Netflix in an Amazon movie, which is my big complaint with those is like you have all these Amazon Prime movies and shows.

[00:18:53]It's like the shall it's like this the whole time where it's like super shallow depth of field. I'm like, can we chill on the shallow depth of field, please?

[00:18:59]Like I want to see the background. I want to see the environment that you spent all this money on. When you go back and watch The Karate Kid, it's shot at T5.6 or or or stopped even further down so you can see everything, right?

[00:19:10]That's how films used to be shot. And with this film, it's like that's my biggest complaint is that like it's such shallow depth of field that you're losing critical focus a lot. I can't really enjoy the background, the environment as much as I'd like to. And so much of the movie is shot with the idea of like putting you in the trenches of everything going on. So there's the sequence when Matt Damon is about to be separated from his crew when he said he felt Zeus's hand, you know, and then broke the ship. You're not getting any wides. You're not getting any aloof shots at all of seeing the whole carnage, right? The entire time you are in the trenches there. So, it really feels like you're part of what's going on in a very aggressive way, which is cool with that. Let me see what's happening. You know, don't make the shallow. Don't make the depth of field so freaking shallow, which is an inherent part of IMAX. It's like it it's going to be shallower depth of field.

[00:20:01]So, the the rules that you have with 35mm film is going to be different than with IMAX, which they know cuz they've been shooting with IMAX. So why why do they feel compelled to go like that? I that's my one question that if I had a question for Nolan, I would ask him like why is it such shallow depth of field?

[00:20:15]Why does it need to be that way? Cuz I personally would rather it a lot let me see let me see more of your environment you know that's all you know considering the size of this damn camera considering the size of like what went into this.

[00:20:27]There are certain moments where the camera's moving around and whatnot and I'm like damn they are moving a 300lb camera swiftly right now and it looks amazing. There were like the part that jumped out at me was when they were going up to the giant's cave, the the the the Cyclops's cave. I imagine that it's on a on a jib arm, like some kind of crazy ass Hollywood jib arm. The camera's backing up as Matt Damon is is trekking up this mountain and it looks amazing. Like that's a moment where you get to see the whole environment and it's behind him and tracks up with him as he's going up to the cave and it looks awesome. There's a scene where um Robert Patson is plotting to kill Tom Holland's character and he's plotting with Cory Hawkins who plays Polibus. I probably didn't say his name correctly, but anyway, John Luisam was pulled out of the of the of the castle thing, right? There's a shot of Robert Patson and you see the scope. It's one of the few shots in the film, I feel like, where you like you see an actor and you see the scope of his environment of of their environment. And I'm like, yeah, like I would have loved more of that.

[00:21:28]like let me see what's going on here.

[00:21:30]Like it looks so beautiful and so interesting. The way Nolan handled this particular story is while it's an epic journey, it feels extremely intimate in the way that it's shot. Nolan has a tendency to do that. He has has a tendency to make things feel very intimate, which is cool. It's that when it's intimate and the depth of field is so shallow, I can't see with the environment. I'm like, "Okay, I'm making a lot of assumptions here." There's one thing I forgot about the editing, and this will tie into action. The action in this film, like particularly the the sequence with the giant soldiers, epic.

[00:22:01]The stuff with the the cyclops, amazing.

[00:22:03]The whirlpool bit and and that little that monster that comes out of the mountain, like all that stuff was cool.

[00:22:09]I really enjoyed the way the Hades stuff was presented. Super cool. When it came to some of the action, I I felt myself getting a little bit more critical. For instance, when they're running away from those giants and you see Matt Damon firing off arrows, right? Usually when you do that in an in an action sequence, you you can see what he's shooting at.

[00:22:29]And this is the first time I noticed multiple times in the story where we're not getting like what the response is.

[00:22:34]That's the easiest way I can put it. So like Matt Damon fires an arrow and we don't always see what he's shooting at.

[00:22:41]And it cuts to something else that's completely unrelated to him shooting his bow. Again, the the other time that this happened was when uh at the towards the end when Matt Damon was fighting all the suitors and you see Robert Patson freaking out and saying, "Go get him. Go and get the get the thing. Get get the spear. Get the shield." Blah blah blah.

[00:22:59]Who's he talking to? Like, I know he's talking to the other suitors, right? But we're never getting a reaction shot from anyone else. We're never getting a response from anyone else. We just cut to him saying stuff and then we're back in the action again, which I would imagine no one else gives a [ __ ] right?

[00:23:16]This is me just like kind of looking at it like from a visual story standpoint.

[00:23:21]I'm like, who's he talking to? Like no one is Yes, sir. No one is Mhm. No one is like there's no one looking at him.

[00:23:28]It for me felt like I am literally watching a single of Robert Patson says Random Lines and it's just being cut into the action. the leadup to that moment towards the end where Matt Damon strings the bow, fires the arrow, and that whole fight that happened. Like, you definitely got the sense of it being extremely perilous. It felt very intimate in the way that it was handled.

[00:23:53]And my only complaint with that action sequence is that I wish I could see just a bit more of what was going on. It was done in a very, I would say, an evolved classic Nolan way because I think Nolan was getting a lot of complaints thrown at him about the fight scenes in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. And so he acquiesced and you watch The Dark Knight Rises and the fight between Batman and Bane is just a wide and he's like, "Here you go. Okay, stop bitching. Here you go." It's just a big wide shot of the fight. This, I guess, is halfway between of what he used to do with Batman Begins and what he ended up doing in Batman in Dark Knight Rises, right? I just kind of wanted to see a little bit more of what was happening cuz it felt like it was getting lost in some of the frenzy where I also the depth of field again was like just that shallow depth of field, man, was was making it a little rough sometimes. Uh, but what matters most is did I connect with it emotionally? And I did. I did connect with the emotional weight of everything. I connect I connected with like mentally where am I supposed to be at? I'm where I'm supposed to be at mentally for like 90% of it. Like I'm I'm dialed in. It's just like technically I have some complaints, but on the whole like it was a very well-ld story and I was definitely like into it. I definitely enjoyed it. I'm definitely going to buy it. I'm definitely going to watch it again. Um and I apologize if a lot of this video came across as me just kind of complaining cuz that can happen sometimes. But on the whole, like I really enjoyed the film. I thought again the acting was strong across the board.

[00:25:23]The most noteworthy action sequence in the entire film is probably The Invasion of Troy. There was a a film I went to watch, I forgot what it was, that was at IMAX and they showed a significant amount of that sequence as a preview, which is one of those things where I'm like, I wish I could look away from the screen, but I can't. I have to see this scene. And I wish that the first time I saw that scene was in the movie. Um because it took uh some of the impressiveness off of the film a little bit because I had already seen that scene. But watching it again, I was still like this is remarkable. Like it's beautifully done. Like right that the coolest part has to be when Matt Damon takes the the flame and and tosses it and then it just reveals all the the soldiers who are waiting just outside.

[00:26:07]Amazing sequence. both like each time you see it in the movie, it is handled so phenomenally because of the peril that you feel, the anxiety you feel, the suspense of it all, and just how epic it is when the camera's going over everything, and you're you're just watching all this stuff unfold, and you feel like you're part of this craziness that is happening every time it cuts back there, and you're you're seeing it like from the in beginning of the invasion to the continuing of that invasion, uh, all the way through the rest of it. like it's wonderfully handled. The costumes, the set design, um just just like the lighting, every like all of it is just amazing. If there's any scene or set of scenes in the movie that beautifully exemplifies just how dope this movie is, it's The Invasion of Troy. Like amazing. Just an amazing sequence. There's like a moment where you're seeing Matt Damon walking just with aggression as he's going through and you just see the like the parade of extras behind him. The parade of soldiers behind him just like it's magnificent. It's beautiful stuff, man.

[00:27:17]I can't believe what I'm seeing is real.

[00:27:19]Is like how it's one of those scenes that makes you go, "How did they pull this off? This looks insane." Yeah, I I love that scene. The sequence that I found the most unsettling was probably the sequence with the witch and the um her turning everyone into animals or into pigs. That's one of those that and the leadup with the with the cyclops.

[00:27:41]Those are two scenes in the film where when you're watching it, you're like, why? Why? No, don't do that. Like don't go that way, guy. Like you're making a mistake right now. I can feel it. And that is it's that's because of Nolan's very smart filmm in the way that he told that the the story in those particular moments like it's making you think things like okay so they're they're going up the mountain up to the witch past a lion who's not trying to bite them past a tiger who's not trying to eat them past these animals that are like extremely dangerous animals but they're not bothering the the soldiers.

[00:28:14]So that's making me ask some questions like I don't think this is the way bro I think you need to turn around and I don't know what's up there. I don't know what's ahead, but I feel like it's bad news. And they get up there and they're they're eating the food and they can't stop eating. It was like so I watched it twice, man. And both times that's a hard scene to watch. It's so unsettling. It's so gross. And when she's morphing them, I'm watching the effects. And I'm so glad that they did it the way that they did it cuz it looked so real. I mean, from what I can tell, it was not CGI. If it had CGI, it was enhanced by CGI, but it looked like a lot of practical stuff going on. And I was definitely feeling unsettled by the whole thing. I thought that they did a really really amazing job from an effect standpoint. The whirlpool stuff, I don't know how they did the whirlpool, but I I noticed the second time I watched it that you only saw the whirlpool for like half a second or something. And so it was like a very very smart use of CG if they were doing CG. I don't know how they pulled that off, but it was like quick cuts. And it was just enough to make the point. The film does rely on actors reacting to stuff, which is very smart. You know, like in the cave with the Cyclops, you're looking at Matt Damon look up.

[00:29:26]He's not looking up at anything. That's his acting. But because of like the cutting back and forth, it's so brilliantly told in those moments that you really believe that there's this freaking giant in there who's doing this damage and whatnot. I actually didn't know if this movie was rated R or PG-13 going into it. I'm pretty sure it's rated R given the amount of f-words that were in the movie. I suppose the violence was just enough that it would be rated R, but it felt like Nolan wasn't pushing the violence as much as he could. Not that I wanted him to. It's just something I noticed. I'm used to so much more graphic violence now with like Amazon TV shows like The Boys, that when I'm watching it, I'm like, I do notice that the violence is not insane. It made me wonder if the movie was PG-13 for a while because if you guys remember in The Dark Knight, Michael J. White and and the Joker's about to kill him. I think it's the first time you hear the Joker say, "You want to know how I got these scars and and then he he kills him." The way it was done, there's like this music crescendo and then he's dead.

[00:30:26]It almost felt like it pulled its punch and but then you remember this is a PG-13 film. They can't really show too much. what whatever that technique was though that he used in the Dark Knight to kill Michael J. White. He did that a lot in this movie where you didn't ever fully see stuff, it was more implied or slightly off camera. And I don't know if it if that was a thing to save time and money cuz he came in under budget. He came in under schedule. Like he he they hit a 100 day schedule and they shot in 91 days. He came in under budget. I don't know if that's a thing that Nolan does to save money and time, but I I noticed it quite a bit in the movie where there were instances where you didn't properly see the the violent thing, which I'm fine with. Um, it's just I couldn't help but notice it, so I thought I'd mention it. The important part of the action, you feel the sense of urgency, peril, perhaps claustrophobia, danger. You definitely feel all those things when watching the film. That sequence with the giants, the giant soldiers who are armored up. Amazing.

[00:31:27]And then when like the trees are moving around, I'm like, what the [ __ ] is happening? This movie is insane. Like I I really enjoyed that sequence so much.

[00:31:34]It's like, you know, one of the cool things with the Nolan film is when you can find the thing that you want to go back and watch again. Um, like in in Inception for instance, my scene is obviously, you know, when when JGL is is fighting the dude in in the rotating hotel that what? Like there's always a sequence that no one will do. Like he has multiple of them in the Dark Knight where it's like you just have to see that again cuz they're so epic. And I feel like for me the the Cyclops bit and the the giant soldiers bit, like those are my two scenes where I'm like, I need to watch this again just for those scenes alone. Um I'm happy to watch the movie on the whole again because like it's just a beautifully epic journey.

[00:32:14]All my complaints aside, like it's a very very enjoyable film. Now, where do I rank this? Let's that's a great way to finish this video. How where do I rank this this movie amongst other Nolan movies? I'm not putting it above Inception. I'm not putting it above Interstellar. I'm not putting it above The Dark Knight. I would rather go back and watch those movies again before this one. Uh, what else we got? We got Momento. I would say it's not my favorite Nolan film, but it's definitely cool and epic. It's definitely like it what you're expecting when you see a trailer for this, which I honestly I don't remember what trailer I saw for this cuz I avoid trailers now. What you expect upon the title alone and the poster is you're getting something extremely epic. And it was. And it definitely communicated its message effectively. I think I would put this like below all the other movies I mentioned. I would put it below Momento, Dark Knight, uh, Inception, Interstellar, but it's definitely above Tenant. It's definitely above Batman Begins for me in The Dark Knight Rises.

[00:33:06]Uh, as much as I enjoy those films, at the bottom of the list, I would say, is the following cuz I haven't seen it yet.

[00:33:11]And just above the following, I would put Tenant and then I would put um the Insomnia. So, it's above Insomnia and it's above Tenant and below everything else.

[00:33:22]but he makes so many good films. So, it's like, you know, it's not like that's a bad thing that it's below these other movies because all those movies are freaking dope. Anyway, that's it.

[00:33:31]I've talked for too long. I hope you guys enjoyed this random directionless review. I'm Jabby Kuay.

[00:33:37]Peace out.