The Odyssey

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⭐8/10

I feel a little like a stick in the mud. I haven't really been big on any of the recent blockbusters, even the ones that everyone else loves. That's especially true of Nolan's most recent movies, Oppenheimer being the one I truly can't understand anyone liking.

That's not really true of The Odyessey. I can see why people liked this movie, but I'm still having a hard time understanding the universal love of it. To me it was a fun spectacle but really little more. The music is grand, and one can appreciate the work to create these epic moments, but I was certainly never moved by anything I was seeing on the screen, and was especially unmoved by any of the story elements. 

I've never read the story so I had little context or appreciation for how this was being adapted. None of this would ever really fly in a modern movie otherwise and lots of these run-ins with mythical creatures felt rushed and under baked. Why are these big guys killing the good guys? Who are these big guys? They are on screen for two minutes and never seen nor mentioned again. Again, it's probably more rewarding if you understand the significance of this tale, but all of these random events seemed just that. Random, no build up, no pay off, just things that happen. 

I didn't really mind the choices to have modern-sounding language or American accents, but i will say that it took me out of it a bit. It really has the sheek, modern aesthetic of Nolan's which I find to kinda be bland and boring, and I think an attempt to better integrate Greek culture may have given this movie a better sense of place or belonging in history. For all the grand spectacle, I never found myself interested in the images in front of me, and found the cinematography to be just fine. 

That's a ton of negatives for a 8/10, so I will still say I enjoyed myself. It's 3 hours, but didn't feel like it dragged. The last half was pretty compelling, but I kept thinking that for a build up this significant, the payoff kinda fell flat for me. The stuff with the dog, the son, the suitors. It's been 20 years! I feel I was ripe to shed some tears, and while I admit this was the only portion of the movie I felt something, I still certainly didn't feel a lot. I thought the moments where he shared about his regrets and trauma were effective, but also laughably modern. I haven't read the tale, but I know that's certainly not an ancient attitude to carry. I was with Homer upon seeing all these deaths: who cares about these people! 

That's kinda all I got. I was really hoping to be blown away but I wasn't. It kinda made me rethink my relationship to Nolan. I think this movie was like Interstellar, flaws and all, but the music and visuals are a clear downgrade. Do I even like this guy? Was Dark Knight even good? 

I wanted to love this movie, but I merely liked it. 

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