The odyssey review
The Odyssey is the newest film from cinematic director Christopher Nolan. It follows the journey of Odysseus during the Trojan War from the Greek mythology and the book from Homer's poem.
The pacing of the film is one of its downfalls for me. The opening act drags a little bit from the first act of the film because it sets up character, story, and lore. By doing that it just feels like a big exposition dump.
After that the second act starts to pick up as Odysseus is on his journey, which is Matt Damon's character. He starts to meet different nightmaric creatures sent by the god Poseidon because he angered the god by going on this certain journey. He meets a Cyclops, which is Poseidon's son. He meets gigantic soldiers from some type of water world. There are huge soldiers in a forest sequence, we don't know where they come from but they're gigantic and silver. They look quite cool and he meets other unearthly creatures throughout this entire journey of 10 years.
The characters are a huge standout. Some breakthrough performances from Matt Damon, the way he completely captivates you and imports you into his struggle as leader as king and completes you. Anne Hathaway is an Oscar-winning actress and performer throughout this entire film. Seeing her portray Penelope, Matt Damon's wife, you could feel the longing. She bleeds the hurt, the pain, the anguish, the love, the joy, the hopefulness. She is just a phenomenal actress, round and round.
Tom Holland plays Odysseus son, Telemachus, in the film, and while not being one of the stronger performances throughout, he stands his own against some juggernauts in this industry. Robert Pattinson is the goat for a reason. The man can do no wrong. He completely annihilates the screen every time he's on. He completely takes every moment, every second. His presence radiates throughout.
Elliot Page plays a character with very small screen time but, does everything he could to grab you and he never lets go. This performance completely sits you down and lingers well after the credits roll.
Zendaya is another standout. She plays Athena and her portrayal of the character is heartbreaking but stern and focused. We have Helena Troy, played by Lupita Nyong'o. You've seen her in US and other films before. The reason she's an Oscar-winning actress is because she lays everything out on the table soul included.
There's a scene in the film that takes place with Hades, the god of hell that stands out. Beautiful, it is visually articulated with perfection. The whole sequence gave me chills. The way Christopher Nolan crafted this scene with the visual context of black dirt, that's all I'm going to say on the subject. When you see the film, you will understand.
Overall I believe the movie is a good movie. I don't love it. I don't hate it but it's a good film. The things that Christopher Nolan has done with pushing IMAX forward, with this being the first cinematic film being shot 100% with IMAX cameras, do so much for immersion while keeping you frozen in this fantastical world that's been created.
With small nitpicks of some character decisions not being fully realized and the run time, you feel the length of this movie being close to almost three hours. I feel some stuff should have been cut out. Some pacing would have flowed better if some scenes were removed or shortened. In my personal opinion I believe no movie should be three hours long to tell a story but again that's just me.
Should you watch this movie? Absolutely.
Would you enjoy this movie? That depends.
Do you like long drawn-out sequences that are a slow burn or do you want the action and story to go from A to B without any detours to get to B?
I give this movie an 8 out of 10.
