The Odyssey (2026)

Got dragged to this yesterday, so I'll give my honest review:

Decent-to-maybe-good movie, but not worth rewatching ever. Enjoy in cinemas with good company, otherwise not. I'd rather rewatch Tenet in a cinema every five years before I rewatch The Oddyssey.


So, first, the DEI. The casting is filled with DEI; we all knew it; we expected it; and it did deliver.

Sinon is indeed a mix between the fan-fic Sinon - added two centures after the original - AND Achilles. Page gets three scenes (with a repeat), with one where Sinon replaces Achilles in Hades. People above have talked about how Sinon isn't portrayed as a "real warrior", and that's true. They still abuse camera angles to make it slightly believable "Sinon" wouldn't be washed out from the draft. Sinon is there to be used as a prop, and boy, "he" is pissed once dead.

Blacks. Blacks everywhere. Forget about Lupita - the main role that is race swapped is Odysseus's second in command. That's the person you see the most, and who is very, very jarring when called a greek name (which I'm already forgetting). Fun fact: you don't see him being turned into one of the pigs by Circe. There's a strong implication that it's the pig Odysseus is supposed to slaughter, but in pig form? Totally not black.

I found funny using a rap singer as a narrator of Odysseus exploits who doesn't even sing when doing so as entertainment for the suitors. Good representation of rap, man, good use.

The gods are absolutely absent. Save for Athena, because if you've paid for Zendaya, you'd better use her in multiple scenes. Shame the story is all about the gods. No cameo by Zeus or Poseidon...


Next, the general movie. It's a Nolan movie. "I hear you like flashbacks, so I put flashbacks into your flashbacks". That's not a joke, there are flashbacks in flashbacks. It's Nolan. The editing is therefore completely disjointed compared to the - well - classical structure of the story, although you could argue that flashbacks are appropriate when Odysseus is telling the audience about his trials.

The aesthetics are what makes everything jarring. It's a complete mixture of ancient Greece looks, and weird steel stuff. Agamemnon's armor is more anime-like than what's expected of a Greek King. And of course, everyone knows about the Giants of Sicily, who are portrayed as naked savages in the original, and wear plate steel armor in the movie. If you have no idea about the Odyssey, then it makes it very different from all of the other tribulations of Oysseus, but if you do, then it's a WTF moment.

Don't get me started on the whole vengeance on the suitors over-extended scene. I know why it's over-extended, with all the textbook reversals and stuff, but boy, it's so tiresome at times.


And that brings me to the main casting and acting. Pattinson, as usual, steals every scene he's in. Nolan loves him, and I understand: he's one of the best modern actors - and completely under-used by Hollywood. Fuck, instead of theee movies with Zendaya this year, give me three movies with Pattinson instead!

Matt Damon almost makes it. He's not quite the same Odysseus as portrayed in the poem, but he sells the "MC look" extremely well. Great actor, does deliver what's asked of him.

Tom Holland does Tom Holland. He's still playing the young, naive guy he's still doing in all of his movies, but he does it with a decent intensity. Proves to be a relatively reliable actor.

Lupita? She does Lupita things. Even the accent is jarring. We all know she's race swapped, but she could try to tone down the African-American overtones a bit. But that's probably asking too much. Spoiler for the people who haven't seen it "now, it's the face that might launch only 500 ships". What irritated me was that, after all of her scenes where she's histerical and resentful, they made one last scene where she manages to look nearly like the wife of a king.

Zendaya is mostly one-liners; she shows up, sighs at Odysseus, and vanishes.

Charlize Theron - as Calypso - is decent. Not great, not bad, decent.

Anne Hataway sells Penelope well. Of course, there are all kinds of feminist overtones in her role, but she does sell the woman in love that feminism is supposed to hate.


All in all, it's a well-executed movie, polished for the Oscars - you can see just from the casting that Nolan aims for it - but not a classic of all time or a masterpiece.


Final score: if you're a complete Odyssey noob, probably 3.5-4 stars. If you're a purist, 2 stars.


(Personal score, probably close to 3. I'd rather rewatch Paige in Inception than in this. From Nolan, I'd rewatch the Batman movies, Inception, Tenet and maybe Interstellar over this)

spronk said:

Dark Knight and TDKR did do more domestic opening weekend, without even factoring in inflation.

on track for $800m - 1b global over the next 3 months. VOD date is expected to be 120 days after release, or mid November.

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It's probably bringing back home the bacon - not the only from Circe's pigs - easily.

TBT-TheBigToe said:

I still want to see what the second week drop off is like, I am going to be Negative Nancy and say it will be over 70%.
Why?
Because, God Damn It, someone has to.

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Look out box office !!!!!

Gutterflesh said:

Yea I dismissed Pattinson as the Twilight guy up until I saw the Lighthouse. Oh wells I'll catch him in Dune 3.

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I think when I saw The Rover with Guy Pearce when he was playing a retarded man in the Apocalypse, and then The Lost City of Z is when I realized he really had some acting chops. Both of those being before The Lighthouse if I'm not mistaken, but that also is solidified the fact that he's damn good at his craft.

He managed to pull out of being I guess typecasted or known for what you would say a highly successful IP, and totally shift gears. I sometimes forget that he was in those Twilight movies which I don't think I ever watched but maybe the Riff Trax version of maybe the first.

I honestly hope that what somebody posted the other day in the Batman or DCU thread is true that they're shooting both of those two movies back to back, because I honestly enjoyed that first film and I'm excited to see the rest of it.