So… I had a notion to boycott this film, for at least a couple of weeks, just curious to see how the box office would do. Never mind the fact that there’s, apparently, only 41 cinemas in the world that can show The Odyssey in IMAX, as Nolan intended, which some could argue is elitist; although, if that’s how Nolan chooses to make his art, then I can’t complain. And I was actually quick to defend Lupita Nyong’o through the backlash at first; she’s an actress well past proving her merit, and she is beautiful; cause enough to play the “face to launch a thousand ships” in a new Christopher Nolan interpretation. But character description is different to character depiction, and I started to lean more in favour of the naysayers that said, “Helen of Troy is traditionally Greek. And Lupita Nyong’o is not passable as Greek.” Throw in the idea of Elliot Page with their noodle arms as a Greek soldier, and I begin to have doubts; I scrunch up my nose is skepticism. I saw Hat Guy, from The Escape Pod, as one prominent voice, suggest that people are boycotting this movie for one or two casting choices that are only relevant for about 5 minutes of a 3-hour movie, and how stupid is that. Yeah, well, would you eat a bowl of soup if I told you there was rat poison in only 1 or 2 spoonfuls? This line of reasoning dismisses the issue; it doesn’t address it. If you can defend the diverse casting decisions, then, by all means, defend them – but in 2026, I think we’re beyond making this issue a question of how much you can tolerate. Alongside my unease, is a feeling of how I got sucked into the hype only last year – the Leo factor, the critic’s applause – for One Battle After Another, that sickened me to my stomach in cinemas, by the level of stodgy thinking that people were willing to accept as good. The bitter taste lives on. But, on the weigh-up, I’ve decided I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to see a Christopher Nolan movie on the big screen. I see everyone else having their say on every sinewy element of The Odyssey, and I want mine. I went into Oppenheimer questioning whether Nolan had even been replaced as the world’s premier director, by Denis Villeneuve, and was sorely mistaken. How can I know how big these issues are that I foresee, unless I look at the movie and determine them for myself? More and more commonly now, the marketing and conversation around a movie is so divisive, while the product yearns to speak for itself.
But I think, if given the choice between making something that is period accurate, and something that’s only period accurate if you squint, then I think I’d aim to be period accurate. If they were to make a movie set in ancient China, I wouldn’t expect to be included. There’s a possible hubris in thinking otherwise, if you go down that rabbit hole. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that by seeing contrasting times on the big screen, going back to when we were more divided by our cultural ethnic groups, it strengthens the value in the multicultural spaces we share today. There should be a wisdom in looking back towards the old ways, but I pride in how far we’ve come, as a melting pot, as a tolerant and empathetic meld. I don’t care what a racist take would be on this; this is my take. But also, don’t get me wrong, you can do it – you can take a modern inclusive look at history, but you sacrifice an element of reality, or an ethereal quality. I mean, there’s a movie called Abraham Licoln: Vampire Hunter for goodness’ sake! And there’s also Hamilton, which is rightly applauded, that is an interpretation of history from a portion of the community otherwise overlooked at that point, celebrating passionately their shared benefit in those historic events regardless 👏 The only thing that boils my butter about The Odyssey, and the slew of movies that are coming out with only one-way diversity casting, is the understanding that the Academy, and other influential institutions, have set guidelines on art that elevate diversity above all else. Thereby, a film like Bros can outwardly celebrate their entire cast as LGBT+, and Nolan could’ve chosen to have an all-white cast here, but one movie would be more eligible in institutional spaces purely based on that casting, and not the validity of the product. That’s limiting. That’s not very diverse, in the pursuit of diversity. Personally, I don’t give a shit who Nolan wants to cast in his films, but I’d hope he still gets to make the film he wants to make, and isn’t wilting to mob pressures because it’s easier, or the only avenue. And since this is the product we got, I can only choose to judge it accordingly. I wondered, after all this hullabaloo on The Odyssey’s casting, would it even be outrightly jarring once we’re in the throws of the movie; but seeing a black guy deliver the songs in the opening scene, and an Asian guy sitting at the table among the Greek feast, it’s noticeable. It feels inauthentic more than congruent. Yet, at the end of the day, having now seen the film, I can say, Nolan’s decision to diversify the movie doesn’t hurt the intended desire of the overall story; but it doesn’t help it either.
Okay, I feel like we’ve taken but an odyssey just ourselves, just to get to a point where I’m ready to talk about the movie 🤩 And right now, I shall. There are large portions of The Odyssey that I found genuinely boring. The only highlights along the journey that I care to remember, are Circe (Samantha Morton), transforming men into pigs – an odd hobby, by the way, but each to their own – and the comments by Odysseus (Matt Damon) on the siren’s song; the latter being a short scene that’s over as quick as it’s begun. It’s only during the course of the men promising not to eat the cows and failing, do I feel the weighty impact of the fates of the Gods in these lands, whether they be truly influential or merely believed. But the Gods are a large part of this movie throughout, and it’s a disappointment that it’s only so late in the piece that their role in our characters trials and tribulations feel significant. Truthfully, now might be the best time to tell you that I am not familiar with this story – I’ve never read the book; I saw Troy back in the day, but what was that? 2004? And I shouldn’t have to do background reading, or view another franchise, to orientate myself in this either. It took me a while, contemplating if this genre of mysticism simply just isn’t for me, but I’ve decided that the reason for my disconnect to this story has to come through the characters. I think of Dune; a similar spray of humongous talents, beset into archetypal roles. But I believe them! Oscar Isaac, as the father, has an impact. Timothee Chalamet is so much more alluring as the young unready king, even in the early scenes, than Tom Holland could ever hope to be. Rebecca Ferguson is amazing and deliciously layered from the jump. It’s this revelation, and the movie’s scale that keep me adrift in The Odyssey. Ironically, this movie feels concise to me, choosing to tell this story in close, when every fiber of my being – be it prior fancy or reception of the scope – makes it feel like it should be epic. And although I couldn’t be sure, I feel like if I were to see this movie in the IMAX ratio, it would certainly make each picture more beautiful, more consuming, but it wouldn’t quell my quarrel with the scale. It’s in the simple things, like the trees moving against the giants – I understand they’re moving, I see them moving, but I don’t feel the grandness or impossibility of it 🤷♂️ Also, also ironically, the first time I noticed Nolan using a grander wide shot for nothing but tone, was in the intimate conversation in an almost empty room, between Odysseus and Penelope (Anne Hathaway) on Odysseus’s return 😄 That was beautiful, and felt grand – more of that, please.
I saw a post that suggested that it’s like these actors have been plugged into these roles to literally play themselves; and for the most part, I think I sadly have to agree. You don’t cast Jon Berenthal to eat slovenly unless you’re making a point about callousness, now, do you? 😄 For even after spending the entire movie with Odysseus, Matt Damon is swinging that double axe to retain his kingdom, and I just saw Matt Damon – I actually think he disappeared so much more into the General character of Oppenheimer. Tom Holland is an actor I’m really yet to be enthusiastic about; I accept him as Peter Parker, but even after 3+ outings as the wallcrawler, he is still #notmyspiderman, and I think that role in the MCU has gifted him a career that he otherwise might not have had. Too harsh? Sorry ☹️ Robert Pattinson is certainly someone I have more affinity for, but this performance also never registered with me, as the duplicitous and conniving suitor. Nowhere near as slimy and juvenile as, say, Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator, and I wonder if this is genuinely the worst place I’ve ever seen him. Mia Goff, and a few others, are too underutilised to judge. The only actors I would give a pass to here are Samantha Morton, absolutely. Himesh Patel, because he converts well into our eyes-and-ears throughout the journey, as Odysseus’s second-in-command. And John Leguizamo is very good, even though I doubt he would ever want to talk to me given his outbursts on social media 😄 Of course, Anne Hathaway is a professional actress, and through the heightened emotional moments that Penelope has, it would be folly to say I was never affected – so she gets a pass too. I will be very interested to see to whom the Academy nods their bow, if any, because I’d be amused to pinpoint anyone good enough for long enough to be worthy, in anything other than in a lean year.
As for the story, I see value in the homecoming. Odysseus’ struggle to return home. Penelope’s strength to hold out and hope her husband will return. The scenes with Odysseus as the beggar were the best part, for me. Obviously, as such a pivotal pillar of western storytelling, there is going to be some obvious echoes, and I noted some enjoyable similarities to Star Wars; and even The Lion King, through the mangy suitors stripping civility bare like the hyena crews that take over the pride lands 🦁 The story element of lamenting the war, not so much. Would there be shame in the deceitful acts of war that enabled the Greeks to infiltrate Troy, and thereafter? Yeah, I guess so… 😶 I guess there’s an angle to explore there, and this movie did it… But I don’t have enough detail to know where I stand or care about these issues. Didn’t Odysseus cite devastating trade restrictions and constrictions on the Greek way of life to justify the war efforts? That seems legitimate. And we don’t spend any time with the Trojans, so I can’t have both sides of the story; to decide for myself who was right and who was wrong 🤷♂️ But this angle does remind me of the movie Fury, which sort’ve explores similar themes of shame and social degradation, pitting Brad Pitt up against the second world war. It’s not all Fury does, admittedly, but through that movie’s world-building and my better knowledge of WWII, I think that movie is a better exercise down a same vein. Of course, war is hell, but sometimes it’s necessary or unavoidable. How long before Odysseus feels the same pangs of regret for the violence he inflicted upon the suitors in the food hall to get his home back?
I think this might be my least favourite Nolan ☹️ Controversies aside or included – it’s hard for me to tell at this early stage – but I found the pacing a drudge, and the filmic techniques rote across the Nolan landscape. I mean, we have the same “totem” imagery that comes to evolve and mean something greater by the movie’s end – Zendaya, and the statue; the horse and what it symbolizes. It’s the same thing Nolan did with the conversation between Oppenheimer and Einstein in Oppenheimer. And I believe there’s similar symbology in Dunkirk too. The final showdown of The Odyssey is epic, and the music continually builds the tension to its maximum crescendo. But since it’s just a fight between a bunch of men, it can’t compare to, say, a van falling off a bridge at a quarter milli-second a minute while we traverse through 4 or 5 dreamscape locations, can it? Can it?! Can it.
2.5
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