Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Review (Spoilers)

Last night I went to my local Imax theater to experience the latest Nolan masterpiece everyone had been clamoring for.: The Odyssey. I went in prepared not to really like it, prejudiced by several Youtubers. I came out pleasantly surprised. The almost three hour movie had exceeded my expectations by far. I didn’t entirely understand why some things happened the way they did but my boyfriend offered several reasons backed up by internet analysis and now that the movie makes more sense I liked it even more. Here are some things I liked about Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey:

The performances:

• Elliot Page. I know there was alot of controversy surrounding this casting choice for the sole reason Elliot Page used to be Ellen Page. Actually, fun fact, I used to have a crush on Ellen Page after I saw her in Hard Candy. But anyway Elliot Page isn’t exactly a hulking, intimidating figure. But that’s one of the reasons I think he works so well in this casting choice as Sinon, who is instrumental in getting the Trojan horse behind enemy lines.

• Robert Pattinson as Antinous, perhaps Queen Penelope’s cruelest suitor. Pattinson has come a long way since Twilight. I look forward to seeing him in movies and this was one of them. He plots to kill Odysessus’s son (played by Tom Holland) so he can marry Penelope and take Ithaca for himself. He is a despicable character dedicated to hiding it well.

• Anne Hathaway played Queen Penelope, wife of Odysseus. The longer her king is away the more suitors fill up her palace, vying for a position as her new husband and king of Ithaca. I have long known Anne’s capacity as an actress but even I was impressed yesterday at the way Penelope grieved her husband (someone she didn’t even know was alive or not) and put on a brave face to a dining room of opportunists.

• Zendaya as Athena follows Odysseus from Troy on his journey home. She is there in his own palace when he realizes why his men have died: he has broken the sacred Zeus’s law, a moral law of hospitality, when he deceived the people of Troy with the wooden horse.

• I heard Matt Damon’s performance described as stoic and I do agree with that. Maybe he felt that was the way to play a warrior/ king. It also was good juxtaposition for when he did show more emotion. You could tell he desperately cared about his men and he also cared about his family. He was horrified when he discovered he had been kept away by the lotus flower for years.

Favorite Scenes:

• The Cyclops scene. The Odyssey isn’t a horror movie. But the misshapen cyclops is creepy as hell. When Odysseus and his men enter the Cyclops cave they have no idea what they are getting into. A huge one eyed monster who feeds on sheep. Eventually the men blind the cyclops by sticking a hot stick into his eye while he sleeps and sneaking out amongst the sheep by tying straw around them. However (oops) the Cyclops is the son of the sea god Poseidon. Not who you want to piss off when you are embarking on a sea voyage.

• Penelope spends most of her time weaving. The elders have ruled that when she is finished her project she must remarry. Only Antinous (Robert Pattinson) seems to realize that she is unraveling her work at night. Antinous strokes her cheek and it seems like he wants to seduce her. But after he leaves the room he embraces her servant. Whether he actually likes the servant or she is just a wealth of information (she is betraying Penelope, her mistress), nothing would surprise me.

• Circe turns Odysseus’s men into swine. In her defense she found a man standing in her hut and he chases after her. I’d be scared too. But when you see they pose no threat I would  give them some food and bade them on their way. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t protect your own safety. But somehow I have a feeling Circe is more than capable of doing this. When Odysseus catches up to her, he is wise enough to realize what has happened and through powers of persuasion convinces her to change them back. 

• As Odysseus (in the guise of a beggar) talks to his wife Penelope, he sees Athena and realizes what a mistake he has made by orchestrating the Trojan horse allowing his men to sack the city and kill (metaphorically or literally, I  believe that is up to the viewer)  the goddess Athena who was mistaken for just another nobody. Then he realizes what he must do.

So yeah there was alot to like about this movie and a lot to digest. Not everything was perfect and maybe they could have taken some scenes out to make it a little shorter. But unlike many long movies this one didn’t even drag (which honestly I felt like was a problem with Oppenheimer). You can’t deny it. Christopher Nolan knows what he’s doing.