The Odyssey
- Aug 1
- 5 min read
For me, Christopher Nolan films are events, something to be anticipated and savored on the big screen. He's given me some of the biggest IMAX thrills of all time with "Inception", "The Dark Knight Rises", "Oppenheimer"and "Dunkirk". His smaller scale 2006 "The Prestige" is an all-time favorite film.
THE ODYSSEY never gets within a mile of those best Nolan films for me. I admire the sheer scale and grandeur of the filmmaking, absolutely. There's real presence and tangible thrills in seeing a full size Trojan Horse or the City of Troy crumbling on the big screen, sans CGI.
But I only had one emotional connection to any of these characters. Without the ability to invest in this massive list of people being portrayed, I found myself waiting for the next big action sequence to arrive so I could stop looking at my watch.
Important to note that I am a huge fan of long films if they keep me engaged. David Lean's "Bridge of the River Kwai" and "Lawrence of Arabia" have massive running times longer than Nolan's latest, but they feel dramatically shorter. Nolan's "Oppenheimer" kept me held in its grasp for its entire running time.
So why does THE ODYSSEY feel empty, despite all of its incredibly detailed and carefully crafted pieces?
The film feels more like David Lean's 1970 film "Ryan's Daughter", a big budget simple love story blown up into a "Doctor Zhivago" scale production that was all spectacle, no heart.
The one character that I connected with was Odysseus, beautifully played by Matt Damon as a very flawed hero whose journey seems mostly to be to find himself. Nolan, as usual, cleverly plays with timelines, popping back and forth within the story as we hear the songs and tales of Odysseus, his conquering of Troy and his long journey home. But its been over a decade and he has not returned to his homeland. His wife, Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son, Prince Telemachus (Tom Holland) still hope and pray for his return, but their lands are unsettled and their castle is filled with endless suitors, a literal rowdy gang of them.
The standout among them and the other actor besides Damon to carry the film away on his back, is Robert Pattinson as Antinous. He's conniving, he's sniveling, he's political and only has eyes for the throne. Pattinson is terrific.
Rounding out my standout three cast members in the sprawling ensemble is John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, the aging advisor to Odysseus who keeps a close eye on the Queen & Prince. Leguizamo has never been better and he's a sure bet as Best Supporting Actor when Oscar season roles around.
The rest of the cast never quite lands for me, some are very good, like Lupita Nyong'o as Helen and her twin sister, Samantha Morton as Circe, who's bed and breakfast you definitely do NOT want to visit as a day trip and Charlize Theron as Calypso, who keeps Odysseus in her beautiful clutches for many years on his way home.
Zendaya is fine in a role that only delivers powerful meaning in the film's finale.
Others in the cast are an ill fit. I'm a huge Jon Bernthal fan, but he seems to have wondered in from another film as Menelaus. His attitude, his dialogue and delivery feel out of tone for the rest of the film. Elliot Page is badly miscast, looking like a tiny tot on the battlefield next to the surrounding warrior class.
The road to that finale is powerful, interesting and monotonous, in nearly equal measure.
Several sequences stand out.
Odysseus and his men land on an island and venture into a cave that turns out to be inhabited by a giant Cyclops. The entire scene is taut, scary and flat out wild. A combination of puppetry and effects create one hell of a monster, who really is just a shepherd watching his flock. The escape from that cave is a jaw dropper.
Several scenes of Odysseus and his crew trying to escape the wrath of Poseidon at sea are stunningly shot by longtime Nolan partner Hoyte van Hoytema (Nope, Dunkirk, Ad Astra). The combination of full size stunt work and brilliant camera work put you right into the action, especially on the IMAX screen.
This was famously the first film shot entirely with IMAX cameras. It's visually brilliant, but as a good friend pointed out to me: "If you shoot an entire film with IMAX cameras, why does the color palette have to be so dull and gray?"
Great point. The vistas are high, wide and brilliantly focused, but very washed out.
Still, kudos for the level of immersion in these scenes on the IMAX screen.
Composer Ludwig Goransson's score is as split personality as the film's pace. Sometimes it is immersive, authentic and draws you in, but occasionally it blends into a cacophony of noise, special effects and lost dialogue that pounds your ears within an inch of submission. It uses only authentic Greek instruments.
Nolan is one of our greatest filmmakers, but once again, I cannot decipher some of his sound design, with dialogue completely lost within a wall of noise that makes it indecipherable. Ever since I couldn't understand 90% of what Tom Hardy said on screen as Bane in "Dark Knight", I'm convinced Nolan has decided to add mystery to his films by burying large pieces of dialogue. The fact that I love most of his films anyway speaks to the level of his craft.
There are moments within the film that delivered true spectacle of the highest order. The Trojan Horse sequence, the attack on Troy, the final showdown come to mind. The forest set battle against the giant armored Laestrygonian warriors is a taut thrill.
But there is no emotional connection formed to these characters, its a spectacular history lesson with no personal weight.
It's a massive hit, so audiences definitely all agree that it is an event film that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. That I agree with.
But did the entire, carefully constructed vessel have to be this soulless at its center?
It reminds me of the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton vehicle, "Cleopatra", one of the biggest film spectacles ever shot. Jaw dropping in its sheer scale, there wasn't a lot of heart and soul to be found beyond its incredible veneer. That film nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox.
No such worries this time out, Nolan's opus has already grossed over $720 million on its sure path to $1 billion+ at the box office.
As spectacle, its a grand success.
As a story that resonates in your heart, reaching beyond the visuals, the Trojan Horse has shown up empty on the beachhead.
THE ODYSSEY gets a B-.
Comments