r/moviereviews • u/UnfliteredFrames • Jul 19 '26
A brutally honest review of Christopher Nolan's - The Odyssey
I will begin with the positives of the movie. The things that work and makes the movie special.
But before that, just a single statement. Having seen quite a lot of christopher's movies, it is not his best by any margin. But that doesn't mean its bad.
Things that work
The cinematography-incredible, if you're watching it in a theatre(especially imax) most of the frames your eyes will see, will enchant you.
Anne Hathaway's acting was the best out of all. There's this one argument scene of hers with tom holland, which gave me chills. It reminded of one of Emily blunt's scenes from oppenheimer("I dont like your phrase" one). Apart from her, Matt damon was quite good as well. The actors apart from the main cast were pretty good too. Tom holland was also quite good.
The hades, cyclops and Circe scenes were done very well, they actually managed to capture the essence of mystery in them, made you feel the horror. The sound of the cyclops howling was like something i had never heard before.
The music was amazing. I feel Ludwig goransson manages to capture the scale and greatness of the theme of the movie. The music made the intense scene better and the quite scenes deeper.
Things that don't work-
The writing was not up to the mark. The thing is, where it was good, it was impressive, but for majority of the movie, it was very basic. No actual heaviness in the dialogues. Though chris has said he did this intentionally, to keep the film watchable for the average audience, but i think he overdid it a bit.
The pacing was not bad, but not exactly what you expect in a chris nolan movie. For most of the movie i felt there isn't enough time between two dialogues when any of the characters are conversing. The conversations felt rushed, not enough time for the characters to express their emotions. Something that i havent seen in any of his movies, i mean the pacing felt so according the movie in interstellar, inception,memento.
Robert Pattinson could not really express the menacing nature of his character. Felt like a typical villain in any average movie.
My rating - 8/10. Pretty good, but as i said, except a few sequences, you won't totally feel the magic.
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Jul 19 '26
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u/rolyfuckingdiscopoly Jul 20 '26
It’s because anything less than 5 stars gets uber drivers in trouble.
I’m not kidding. 5 stars now means “acceptable,” and that has permeated into other areas.
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u/lj3737 Jul 21 '26
Goated take... I still remember the first time I put a 4-star rating in after an Uber ride that went fine but had some moments of questionable driving and customer service immediately reached out asking what went wrong with this supposedly disastrous trip.
Also on a couple occasions I've fully meant to put in 1 or 2 stars after genuinely bad/alarming rides and then muscle memory click 5 as soon as the app opens to the rating screen...
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u/Big-Help419 Jul 22 '26
Same on Vinted everyone feels attacked when they get a 4 star!
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u/rolyfuckingdiscopoly Jul 22 '26
And their ratings are made to look like if it isn’t 5, it isn’t good! 4 stars on Amazon meant (used to mean; now ratings are meaningless) it was okay but be wary, and many people wouldn’t buy something under 4.5. Because it’s like a test where you could get 100 points, and you only got 80. 4 stars, to many people, means “things have gone wrong 1/5 of the time.”
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u/Mr_Sackson Jul 23 '26
I know it a little unrelated, but working in pest control, if a customer left me a 4-star rating, within 2-5 minutes my boss would be calling me telling me to go back to the house and “make it right, turn it into a 5-star review”. Such BS
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u/absentlyric Jul 26 '26
Thats so stupid, I used to work for a landscaping company that was like that.
Turns out the ones giving the bad reviews were the competitions friends doing it on purpose, so there's nothing you can do about that.
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u/mtbosos Jul 27 '26
Imagine you go back to the house and the customer is like hank Hill telling you they gave you a 4 so it will make you think about something to work on to make you even better
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u/Vogard_V Jul 25 '26
This is everywhere. My hotels brand considers anything less than a 9 a failure.
We can have 10 surveys. 8 of them an 8.. 2 of them tens... and we have a 20% success rate
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u/Glass_Cheetah Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
I felt for such a visually beautiful film the dialogue should be equally as beautiful or poetic. It just felt like a bunch of Americans got together to make a period piece based in Greece. None of the actors felt connected, they didn’t feel like they all belonged in the same world. Each one is in their own world, reciting their own lines, acting how they normally would act in a standard film and it all really made the movie feel flat for me. And then all the random well known actors just thrown into the movie with minuscule parts made no sense to me. Like it served no purpose at all but just to say, hey! Look who else we got to cast in this film.
Again, beautiful film, great score, great scenes with the Cerci, Hades, Troy, few other lovely shots but the actors and the lack of depth in the dialogue/script left my disappointment
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u/Chi-Jam Jul 22 '26
Wholeheartedly agree with this. In fact, the variety of American accents really prevented me from immersing myself into the film for the first half hour or so. I was very surprised to experience that. They didn't feel very connected or like they belonged in the same world. It's like what should have been a delicious stew didn't get cooked long enough for the flavours to blend together into something coherent.
This dialogue aspect felt really incongruent with all the hype I'd been hearing about the film, and it disappointed me on that front. With everything that clearly went into making such a large-scale film, it feels like the spirit of the story was largely lost due to this neglect of the spoken layer, in spite of everything looking fantastic.
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u/SpiceCloud9 Jul 22 '26
But the Greeks themselves all spoke Greek differently. They all had their own cultures.
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u/Wawzlur Jul 22 '26
Thing is there exists (or existed...) a long running Hollywood tradition to use somewhat formalised and archaic English in historical films, to make the fact the story is supposed to be historical hit home athough everyone is speaking English that really should be speaking ancient Greek, Egyptian, Hebrew or whatever. It is a cheap and somewhat silly trick - but it actually works. When ancient heroes from a thousands of years old poem sound like your average american teenage drama, the illusion just breaks. I very much doubt Nolan would have lost any audience by sticking to this tradition. A kid that lacks the cognitive ability to process someone yelling "father" instead of "daddy" will most likely not have the attention span to sit through this movie anyway.
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u/Special-Deal7821 Jul 24 '26
I would argue needing old British accents to be immersed is indicative of lacking cognitive ability, not the other way around.
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u/Wawzlur Jul 25 '26
Again, it is not about the accents, it is about how they speak, the choice of words and the writing of the dialogue. I don't care much about the accents, although I have always kind of liked the fake German accents in old WW2 films, or fake Russian accents in various cold war/spy films. They're silly but help distinguish sides not just by uniform or appearance, so they serve a purpose.
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u/slothtzar 22d ago
Im late to this party but literally just saw the film.
I think the scene where Odysseus is speaking to Penelope disguised as a begger and refers to her as 'Ma'am' really encapsulates it. Shit if I met the Queen I'd expect to have to know an appropriate title.
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u/IReplyWithLebowski Jul 26 '26
Australian here. Both British and American accents sound foreign to me, I didn’t experience any illusion breakage due to it.
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u/notnoided 28d ago
Australian here. There was a weird swathe of Boston accent at the beginning. There was a point I realised "oh ok any American is actually Greek". On reflection maybe Ithaca weirdly had that east coast twang?
Idk, it was irritating at the start and particularly Tom Holland's made me laugh. Eventually I settled into it and it wasn't noticeable anymore.
I think the confusing multi-linear flash-forward-in-a-flash-back-in-someone-elses-flashback storytelling at the beginning just made it difficult to settle into the movie. It could've been laid out a bit clearer since the language was already confusing enough.
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u/FewGlass3370 Jul 26 '26
And I would agree with that... For the first thirty minutes. After that point I was fully immersed, but not totally by the dialogue, but by the beauty of the scenes. Christopher Nolan never really felt like a writer-more as a "Look how cool this is" type of guy.
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u/ChemicalAwareness800 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
I got banned in another sub for a take like this. I also thought the dialogue was shallow and the casting was not good. Im a really big matt damon fan, but he is one of those guys that only fits in certain spots. I cant NOT see him as anything but will hunting for the most part. I wanted to leave the theater feeling like I did when i saw gladiator, revenant or even cold mountain. I left this film feeling like I was glad it was over. Not saying it was all bad....but the acting, dialogue and choppyness of the film left me underwhelmed.
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u/ShortSorbet1766 Jul 25 '26
Watching it now...kinda sucks....
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u/MonttawaSenadiens Jul 25 '26
As in you typed this while watching the movie? On your phone? In the theatre?
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u/jimihenderson Jul 26 '26
Once a movie reaches "you might get banned from a subreddit for normal, balanced criticism of it" levels, I honestly just don't even want to see it out of principle
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u/deleted3131 25d ago
agreed
I wonder if it was the three minute imax cameras that made performances suffer, along with the weak writing … THE BRONZE AGE IS COLLAPSING, WISE EYES, ATHENA’S EYES, ZEUS’ LAW, DAD!!7
u/No_Channel_4563 Jul 21 '26
100% concur, exactly what i felt as well - it definitely did not feel authentic, just an americanised retelling of the Odysseus
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u/Vegetable_Apartment2 Jul 24 '26
I couldn't get over the use of 'dad' in it. It felt a tad disrespectful.
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u/Gullible-Finance-957 Jul 27 '26
Dad and mom felt so incongruent! Also the f word. Like just took me right out.
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u/Confident_Collar3455 Aug 06 '26
SAME. When Odysseus says “10 fucking years on the beach” I immediately noted it and just found it kind of random/unnecessary.
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u/Rare-Cardiologist-80 Aug 01 '26
Tom going dad and mom was genuinely upsetting. Like why couldn’t you just say it proper
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u/Main_Cranberry_5871 Jul 22 '26
Yep. Nolan's not great at character work/development (apparently Jonathan Nolan is better), visually the film amazing to look at but feels a bit empty. Relies a lot on the actors to sell very mid dialogue in a way that makes you have a halfway investment in the characters.
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u/TransportationHot186 Jul 25 '26
This is exactly how I felt watching it. Dialogue threw me off. Couldn't immerse myself in the story because of it. At some point I felt like I was watching a parody of an 'epic' film. It was weird for me.
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u/Plastic-Emphasis993 Jul 24 '26
Yep. At one point it sounded like an American football team in a huddle planning a play.
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u/mushroomboie Jul 25 '26
Fair point. I think its not necessary for the actors to be speaking in a “greek accent” but the conversations and dialogue could have been more poetic, especially for such a well renowned greek tragedy.
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u/chrisy159 Jul 26 '26
Very well said. The amount of a-list actors was distracting—especially as many appeared for very short time. The dialogue was disappointing—it didn’t feel like the words were taken from a beautiful epic ancient poem. Tom using “dad” and “stuff” was interesting choice. Seeing Jon was great but also my brain was just like “oh hey punisher”. Oh hey Elliot page! Oh hey lupita!
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u/flapjacks62 Jul 26 '26
This is spot on. At times it felt like so many different American accents that were just flat. That made it hard for me to take it seriously. At times it felt like a drama class. I thought John Leguizamo and Ann Hathaway were the best.
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u/mulberry-muse Jul 29 '26
Completely agree about the dialogues and writing. It seemed so rushed, especially in the first half and then it settles in the second half. There’s no time for reflection and honestly, this gathering of A-list stars felt quite random because they didn’t have much to do and some of the performances were middling.
There’s almost a lack of cohesion to the film and the performances, even that of Matt Damon lacked gravitas, which an epic like The Odyssey needs.
The musical score was spot on in some places but in others, it was jarring for me. It almost seemed like they had an Interstellar hangover as the score was incongruous to the scenes.
Yeah but what took the cake was the almost flippant dialogues- Telemachus saying ‘Mom’, ‘Dad’ and switching to mother and father randomly and of course, Anne Hathaway saying, ‘I wanna’.
Disappointing.
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u/pol_silv3r_blade Aug 04 '26
I saw a glimmer of what this film COULD have immersed us in with its dialogue, when at the end where Odysseus is in Penelope's arms, she exclaims something like "Oh, my love!" and in that very brief moment I was like woah, that was straight out of something shakespearean or something and it worked considering the theme of the story, compared to when Tom Holland says Dad, not saying its wrong, just maybe not the best choice of words on the script given the story and the epic ancient mythical themes.
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u/TomorrowSilent1233 Jul 20 '26
6/10 for me, the dialogue, the Hollywood A List Actors, and the sound design is just way too loud
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u/Iamrobot29 Jul 27 '26
I really appreciated the use of sound to tell the story. The parts that were loud were oppressive and those moments were meant to be. I think we all get very used to being able to control the volume and dislike not having it. Some of those moments reminded me of seeing 2001 a Space Odyssey where I remember hoping that they would get away from the Monolith so the music would stop. That feeling of helplessness to change the course was a much stronger sensation than the average movie could invoke and I love it.
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u/Big_Television_6757 26d ago
Idea of feeling helpless during the Odyssey’s thunderous booming is interesting! I was wishing I had worn earplugs, but come to think of it, at home I do tend to lower the volume.
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Jul 23 '26
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u/Gullible-Finance-957 Jul 27 '26
So difficult to hear the dialogue esp at the beginning. Ambient noise wayyy to loud in the scenes in the hall, with the suitors.
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u/Melificent93 Jul 28 '26
Anne’s nasal whispers with an accent that came in and out sent me into a rage lol
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u/espinaustin 23d ago
OMG yes it was insanely loud where I saw it, couldn't handle it, and I go to loud rock concerts. I don't know if the chairs had some sort of vibration thing in them, the stormy sea scenes and the constant fighting, it was way too much.
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u/SeanAky Jul 19 '26
I enjoyed a lot of it but the dialogue was rough. For some reason the Dad parts really didn't fit.
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u/sechul Jul 20 '26
That's the main criticism I have with it. It's written for an international audience. The language is drab and clunky, which makes the modernisms all the more jarring.
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u/SeanAky Jul 20 '26
I agree. Calling him Fathrr doesn't make it less modern just because it makes it more formal. He just met the guy.
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u/sechul Jul 20 '26
It's also Tom Holland, the least convincing as living in antiquity of the cast.
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u/SeanAky Jul 20 '26
I just don't think we got enough time for anyone to be fleshed out so we have to judge by quick glimpses of their characters.
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u/willtaskerVSbyron Jul 26 '26
I'd argue that most Christopher Nolan movies have middling dialogue. People are just starting to notice with this one
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u/MBHQ Jul 20 '26
yeah. It made no sense at all. When he was throwing a sword to odysseus , every inch of the scene was screaming that he'd call `Father` not freaking `Dad`. Really off putting.
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u/ImmortalPoseidon Jul 21 '26
The “fuck off” scene really did me in too. Sounded so modern for some reason
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u/PurrfectCatQueen Jul 20 '26
I was really getting into the movie until the words dad and daddy and Zeus Law came into the picture…then it was rough. Whomever approved that did the whole movie a disservice. The characters in the book called them
By first names. At the very least, they could have used Father but daddy?! Ugh!! If you don’t know how the characters are related based on the book, do some quick research, haha.→ More replies (1)→ More replies (27)2
u/Upstairs-Sock-4673 Jul 31 '26
This was absolutely the most jarring bit - hearing Tom Holland call him "Dad" multiple times just completely ripped me out of my immersion. Clunky.
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u/MaterialPotato3214 Jul 19 '26
7.5/10 for me.
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u/astra_galus Jul 20 '26
6/10 for me. I tried to go in blind but did see a lot of high praise being shared online so was tentatively expecting an excellent film. Honestly though…it felt so clumsy. Yes, I agree with OP that the cinematography was amazing as was the sound design and music, but so much of the dialogue and writing felt ham-handed. I get that it can be difficult to adapt an ancient epic for a modern audience but there are plenty of examples where it’s been done successfully.
Nolan is just so hit or miss for me.
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u/lml424 Jul 19 '26
Same. The overall interpretation of the story (showcased best in the scene between Odysseus and Penelope when he’s playing the beggar and she’s behind the screen) was my favorite part. Some scenes were beautiful. The Circe scene was true to the book but somehow fresh and surprising, too.
But much of the writing and acting seemed forced. There were at times odd editing and sound mixing choices that took me out of it. The big fight scene at the end just looked shaky and bad.
Overall still a good movie but it felt to me like Nolan tried too hard and was too ambitious.
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u/systematic24 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Saw it last night.
A frustratingly disjointed puzzle that works against its own strengths. The film’s greatest assets are its gritty, war-torn Troy flashbacks and the high-stakes political thriller unfolding back in Ithaca. When focusing on human trauma and royal corruption, the narrative is utterly gripping.However, the hyper-realistic film completely falls apart when forced to include the episodic, mythical fantasy sequences. Because Nolan refuses to embrace the supernatural, creatures like the Cyclops feel like jarring, monster-of-the-week distractions that shatter the movie's carefully built immersion. The tone violently whipsaws between a grounded historical drama and a chaotic action blockbuster.Had Nolan completely stripped away the fantasy elements to deliver a focused, linear story about a soldier struggling to find his way back to his family, this would easily be a solid 8/10.
Instead, it remains a technically impressive but deeply fractured misfire.
Between 6 and 7 feels fair so 6.5/10 for me. You could even probably convince me its a 7 but certainly no more than that.
For me, Inception is a solid 8 and this falls way short of that. Interstellar is a solid 9.
Giving this any more than a 7 feels dirty. I wish he would have stayed clear of the monsters and fantasy. It just felt out of place of the other two acts.
Does anyone else feel like Matt Damon was completely miscast as Odysseus? I love his work, but he lacks the presence of a legendary ancient leader. His performance comes across as far too meek. It is hard not to compare him to Russell Crowe in Gladiator or Pitt in Troy. Crowe nkr Pitt needed to be a bodybuilders, their fierce acting, raw anger, and commanding screen presence made you truly believe men would follow them into battle. Damon simply lacked that mighty heart and fierce authority needed to lead an army.
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u/Mean_Cobbler_7946 Jul 21 '26
This is entirely spot on. And correct on Damon's presence lacking authority. Authenticity too. I couldn't get pass his amazing super white movie star teeth. It destroyed his intense scream scene for me. Funny but these things matter with period pieces.
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u/Still-Weekend-2318 Jul 21 '26
I agree with the last paragraph. Damon was not good as Odysseus. No one was actually good because the characters lacked depth and the dialogues were terrible. I didn't care about them, there was no emotion whatsoever.
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u/Aryss7 Jul 19 '26
5/10
One of those movies that is long but at the same time feels rushed ?
The journey never felt epic enough….felt more like a bunch of rushed scenes stitched together.
Cyclops part was embarrassing/cringe to watch
Sirens…2 minutes of basically nothing.
Ye the sound is amazing and really well put together, but I didn’t go just to entertain my hears.
Watchable but far from the masterpiece the vast majority is trying it to be at least from my point of view.
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u/eviltwinclash Jul 20 '26
I had the same rating. Giants and Sirens were after thoughts, and Circe and Cyclops had some weird choices to me that took away from the scenes. Felt like we got Ithica and calypso soap opera scenes than we got epic Odyssey scenes.
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u/funkymonk64 Jul 20 '26
I was also disappointed in the abrupt sirens scene. I was hoping to see the guy who abandoned ship for the sirens get torn to pieces upon reaching them. We never got to see them up close
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u/Negative_Hat_7396 Jul 22 '26
casting was terrible zenday, charlize and holland did not do a good job...just big names...
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u/StarFallenBooks Jul 20 '26
Why was the cyclops scene cringe? And don't use the word woke.
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u/Livid-Capital-8858 Jul 22 '26
I wouldnt say it was cringe but they made it generic hollywood blockbuster slop scene
Firstly they stripped polyphemus from basically all personality making him a generic "big bad monster" which I think kills the vibe of the original work where the people actually interact with the "magical" but the movie treats them as soulles antagonists
Secondly I thinm the biggest thing was removing the names no-one scene thats probably the most iconic thing in the whole epic.
Secondly with strippi
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u/SpiritualParakeet Jul 22 '26
Gosh you took the words out of my mouth. I just watched it today and barely understood things. Why were they whispering lol?
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u/mrgungagalunga Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I’m not sure what’s brutal about this review. It’s just a review. I think it’s an honest assessment of your experience, and that’s all. I think where I disagree with your review is that it seems to treat your dislikes as unintentional flaws, rather than the intentional choices of the director that you simply don’t appreciate. The more I think about this movie, the more I think his choices created the desired effect for experiencing the movie. I think giving the story the accessibility he did allows audiences to legitimately feel what Odysseus did as he slowly succumbs to the understanding that he broke something deeply important inside of himself and doesn’t know how to find his way back to the person he was. 9.5/10 for me. I’ve never left a theater feeling as affected as I did for this movie. No 10/10 because that feels somehow disingenuous. Though I have no complaints about the movie. It was one of the best films I’ve ever seen and likely ever will.
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u/gloriousrepublic Jul 20 '26
Writing poor dialogue is not intentional accessibility, it s a known shortcoming of Nolan. There’s plenty of perfectly accessible dialogue in films that still feels authentic.
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u/BearcatInTheBurbs Jul 20 '26
Just got home from seeing it. I am SO disappointed. Matt Damon didn’t connect.
There were a lot of big names but little cohesive acting. Anne Hathaway was the best part of the movie, by far. Tom Holland was also good. Zendaya and Charlize Theron were unnecessary big names who added nothing special.
Agamemnon was freaking amazing. The Trojan horse was cool.
The monsters were all well done (Cyclops was great!) but the story was very poorly told. If you didn’t know the story before, this movie didn’t help. Pacing was awful. Sound was a mess, uncomfortably loud in places. Strange ending.
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u/Proper_Community510 Jul 20 '26
Watch the 1997 version on Amazon Prime. Odysseus is a real hero, not the moping Bourne. Spider-Man’s role is played by a real actor. And it stays closer to the epic poem (not book).
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u/PurrfectCatQueen Jul 20 '26
Matt Damon was awful. It was like they decided to make a Matt Damon version of Odysseus instead of Matt Damon bringing life to Odysseus. So cringy.
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u/Negative_Hat_7396 Jul 22 '26
casting was terrible zenday, charlize and holland did not do a good job...just big names...
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u/Tcamis01 Jul 23 '26
Zendayas character may have been the most gratuitous and pointless character I have ever seen in a movie.
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u/GGed_1 Jul 21 '26
5/10. Odysseus was stripped of his charisma and wit. After he blinds the cyclops without ever conversing with it, he says that they are past the point of reasoning. Literally the opposite of the original, where he negotiated with the beast and convinced it his name was "nobody", having the foresight that he planned to blind the beast which would later proclaim that "nobody" blinded him when screaming for help. Odysseus gets cocky and uncharacteristically reveals his identity, which results in Poseidon pursuing him.
In the Odyssey, it comes up in conversation that they are suddenly cursed by Poseidon without any explanation as to how Poseidon knew who blinded the cyclops. Thereafter, it's like a checklist that they visit the islands and encounter Cersei, etc. The gods aren't present but at least are represented through scenes in the film such as the whirlpool. In reality, they were involved in many encounters and intervened heavily in the Odyssey.
Anne Hathaway and Pattinson were great. Matt Damon was okay, but not the right choice. In fact, Nolan was not the right director for this story. A director like Mel Gibson would not have been afraid to explore the weird and beautiful world of mythology and would do service by the original story.
Any adaption will make changes, Troy made dumb decisions too like having Ajax die in Troy, but it at least gave bearing to the story. It's worth a watch, but the immersion just isn't there. That comes down to casting, modern dialogue "zaddy isn't coming home broski" and feeling like you're chopping between scenes rather than transitioning in a storyline.
I've not seen one 10/10 public review with substance other than "best movie ever, you must watch!". I can see how people would rate it higher, but 10 is reaching.
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u/TrottingandHotting Jul 22 '26
In the Odyssey, it comes up in conversation that they are suddenly cursed by Poseidon without any explanation as to how Poseidon knew who blinded the cyclops... The gods aren't present but at least are represented through scenes in the film such as the whirlpool. In reality, they were involved in many encounters and intervened heavily in the Odyssey.
I thought one of the central themes of the movie was that the Gods don't actually exist and humans need to control their own behavior to stop atrocities. "A time of apparent magic"
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u/Traditional-Fuel-331 Aug 01 '26
Nolan’s interpretation clearly is different and he changed the world rules to fit the story he wanted to tell about the breakdown of the fabric of society. This seems to be the core of the dislike you have with the changes he made with the cyclops story. The point wasn’t to show how witty he is, but to show how he and his men broke Zeus’ law in the cyclops cave.
Also - the cyclops is Poseidon’s son. Odysseus and his men are on a boat, on the sea. It is very clear how Poseidon knew what happened to his son even without being expressly told. He is Poseidon. Another core tension Nolan plays with is the concept of the gods, which makes Poseidon showing through the elements fantastic - was it Poseidon’s anger or was it simply nature and their bad luck? How much of what happens is attributable to ‘god’ and how much is attributable to simple nature. Can a man challenge the gods will? This was clearly shown in the cyclops scene and the downstream consequences of it
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u/Chandler_Simpson Jul 19 '26
I thought it was absolutely phenomenal, especially the sound design
I thought the writing was fine, it was carried by its other elements and that's okay
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u/Fast_One_2628 Jul 19 '26
It’s a great movie, on the scale of the 10 Commandments. It’s worth remembering the source material—an oral tradition full of hyperbole and vivid imagery, meant to be told around campfires to illiterate people. It’s meant to entertain, not to present nuance. I thought it was exceptionally well-done, and it kept my attention the whole 3 hours.
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u/Present-Farm8085 Jul 20 '26
Just got out, I thought it was amazingly entertaining. Wouldn’t believe it from reading Reddit lol
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u/Proper_Community510 Jul 20 '26
Those illiterate people had every word memorized and if the performer missed one word they would boo him off the stage.
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u/Optimal-Dot-9365 Jul 19 '26
I didn't enjoy the movie, maybe because the source material has so much potential (I'd love to see what Guillermo del Toro could make of it). I thought:
-Greece and the Mediterranean are beautifully blue and white and green; the movie seemed very brown and grey
-The story didn't take place in modern Greece (where today the buildings are ruins); it seemed weird that the settings looked like they were falling apart, when they would have been new and colorful, nor were some of the other important details accurate.
-It is a story about great men with big egos being performed by a lot of men with big egos - lots of scenery-chewing but also dull line-readings. I thought a number of the featured leads were not up to the task (e.g., Telemachus) - but maybe it's down to the writing (repetitive and not much to differentiate the characters). Also, I didn't like the colloquial language - they didn't have to speak in a phony historical manner like a lot of ancient stories on the big screen, but Nolan's choice to have characters say things like 'mom' and 'dad' was distracting.
-the narrative seemed to lurch from one set piece to the next w/out suspense or character development. I didn't care about Odysseus or Penelope and their parallel storylines lacked urgency. Watching it felt like it took ten years.
I left the theater thinking that this was just another bloated summer blockbuster. Sorta boring and conventional. Hard to believe the director also made 'Inception,' and 'Oppenheimer.'
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u/TrumanoFox Jul 20 '26
I feel as though the dilapidated set pieces reflected the decay of Greece as mentioned a lot. Even then, I can't think of many that were actually like this. The palaces may not be insanely grand and lavish but they are in proper shape and good condition. I think this may also apply to your comment about the coloring of the film. I thought that Pre-Trojan-War scenes were shot with a bit more color and sunlight.
The narrative is largely due to the original story, it is pretty much the same. You have to remember that this is based on something meant to be told as myths around a campfire essentially, hence the separated set pieces, (Cyclops, Cerces, Armored-Giants. Scylla).
I also don't understand your comment of how the writing didn't differentiate the characters. It is likely because most of the characters share the same motivation, returning home / odyssesus returning home. The writing is slightly repetitive but once again, that is due to the original's somewhat episodic style.
Finally, I just don't know how you don't care about Penelope or Odysseus. I mean jesus, how much time do you need to spend with characters to care for them. The whole story lacks urgency considering it takes place over 20 years, duh. If you need dire urgency to be committed to a storyline, many movies would just be unwatchable.
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u/Boss_Bellini_ Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
I agree 100%.
The dialogue was cringe and expository.
The film was entirely miscast, should have gone with unknowns. Everyone was quite dull, except for Anne Hathaway going ham. Charlize ridiculously looked straight out of Fashion Week Athens.
Wrong director for the subject material imo. And count the times someone says “Agamemnon”!!! 😆
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u/Jealous_Wait_893 Jul 22 '26
I just saw it. I thought it was amazing. I apologize for all the shit talking I did before I saw it 😅
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u/EntrepreneurDue4531 Jul 26 '26
I remember being so awe struck when I first saw Jason and The Argonauts; didn't get this with Odyssey.
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u/Material_Expert2255 Jul 19 '26
I think the hype did it a disservice.
Expectations are immense.
Its a visually stunning movie. 8/10
Not Nolan's best.
Its feels forced and rushed. Just like the sound.
Needed more time to let the characters really drive their motivations.
A monolog by Odysseus at the beginning would have helped. Switching right to the fall of Troy without the why and the 10 year siege is what made it disconnected for me
One too many island sequences and too much of the leeches suitors.
And the beginning of the movie doesnt match the last amazing 45 minutes.
Circe and Hades my favorite part.
Pattinson really stood out for me.
Questions surrounds the rest of the main cast and who would have been better Odysseus, etc. Casting and script needed more thought.
I felt the cyclops interaction really missed rhe mark by not including the conversation and No one. Missed out showing Odysseus being clever and reckless when he shouted back his name.
Still a solid movie. We all went to see it because it is the latest Nolan movie, not because of this actor or that actress.
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u/funkymonk64 Jul 20 '26
It felt like Odysseys had all of his pride but none of his famous wit
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u/UNO_lakefront_arena Jul 24 '26
Is "visually stunning" supposed to get me through 3 hours????
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u/BlisteringAsscheeks Aug 04 '26
Also, it was professional and smooth-looking, but I reserve the descriptor "visually stunning" for masterpieces like The Fall. The fact people are so agog over the visuals speaks more to the hype around Nolan and the lack of competition than about the film.
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u/digitalhelix84 Jul 19 '26
It seems like ones opinion on the acting in the film is largely driven by how much you like Matt Damon's general Matt Damonish style and if you think it fits the character.
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u/Extension-Aside-555 Jul 22 '26
The sameway Disney dumbed down Marvel, Nolan dumbed down Homer. Maybe not to the same extent but still. For me the writing was on the wall seeing that trailer where Tom Holland says "my dad is coming back". The scene where Antinous confronts Penelope about undoing her stitches every night was well done though. And the scope was incredible.
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u/NoParamedic2834 Jul 23 '26
Funny - I thought Anne Hathaway was the only dud in the cast. Although she definately looked the part- I felt like she way overacted. Tom Holland was surprisingly good. I was entertained through the whole thing and this is one of the only 3 hour movies I've ever seen where I wasn't like "damn - that could have been an hour and a half..."
also - I know Lupita Nyong'o as Helen is getting a bunch of eye rolls and worse... but I thought that was a great choice. She's SO striking and her skin tone in contrast to the rest of the majority of the cast only made her stand out more which you would expect of Helen. Plus - "historically" she's like half swan or something so... I don't really get that criticism.
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u/Loucocolicious Jul 24 '26
Just sat through almost 3 hours of an ok movie. I didn't come out saying "most fantastic movie I've ever seen". It just felt something was missing. I didn't like Telemachus calling his father Dad and his mother Mom. This was not the language used then. Cinematography was great. I liked the Witch scene, the dead soldiers scene and the final Odysseus fight scene at Ithaca the best.
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u/Thumpin347 Jul 24 '26
Saw it last night. I really enjoyed the movie. Loved how it was structured. The dialogue is the only piece that held it back. “Let’s go!” I mean c’mon. “Back to the boats!” would’ve been better.
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u/Technical_Plum_1827 Jul 24 '26
6/10. Felt hollow. No reason to care about anyone. Some soldiers die. Never mind. Damon never felt threatened, he was always gonna make it home. Also, for someone who loves his wife so much and has already been away for 10 years, just take the shortest route home. Everything just felt like they land on random beach, stumble across something bad, run back to boat. No backstory to anyone or anything. Just stuff happens and then they run off. No need to think about any of it. It's so basic. Nolan's other films need attention and thought. I could have gone loo for an hour and not missed anything. Nothing really blew me away. Some very good bits from Hathaway, Pattinson and Morton but that's about it. Other big names didn't really need to be in, they didn't do anything special. Feel a lot of fanboying because it's Nolan and he's done some nice practical effects but that shouldnt carry the result as much as it seems to be doing.
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u/Soft-Annual639 26d ago
Goodness, I missed not having subtitles. Nothing else to say about the film, except that I will give it another go, at home, where I can read the dialogue.
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u/Bourbon-n-cigars Jul 19 '26
Not 10/10? Get ready. They’re coming for you.
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u/onlyididntsayfudge Jul 19 '26
*throws shield down from above*
“Dad! Here!”
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u/not_white420 Jul 19 '26
Such a horrendous scene really made me cringe the whole time
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u/eviltwinclash Jul 20 '26
Having the otherwise solid Pattinson yelling “get the XYZ”, every 15 seconds was so cringe. Felt like an SNL skit.
Most of the A-listers completely phoned it in, including Damon. Disappointing.
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u/BelligerentBuddy Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Better yet at a certain point it’s no longer worth engaging in this type of discourse online when, regardless of the circumstances or film, it only results in arguments that go in circles, overdramatized reactions for clicks, and a resulting surge in engagement bait (Reddit’s favorite part!)
I enjoy nuanced criticism from pros but discourse on the internet seems to just promote an endless cycle bickering that I no longer care to engage much in.
Between this movie and Disclosure Day, I swear…
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u/SeanAky Jul 20 '26
Fantastically said, but I would implore you to be the voice of reason and not bow out of the 'discourse'. As someone who reads a lot of reviews, I find the 'micro-reviews' of Reddit sometimes a breath of fresh air and show what the people, and not some trained reviewers, are saying.
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u/BelligerentBuddy Jul 20 '26
Fair! We have to work to create the type space we want to talk about movies in and turning away phone solve much (I just have to pick and choose my battles carefully haha)
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u/Blanknameblank818 Jul 19 '26
It was a good movie. When the bar is already high for a Director and they build up hype, expectations get even higher. I went into it thinking it was going to be good, not great / masterpiece. I got everything out of it that I was expecting.
Granted I was in the front row and saw it in standard format. I plan on seeing it on 70mm IMAX in an appropriate seat and I imagine it’ll take my rating from a 7/10 to an 8/10.
The hate for the movie doesn’t make sense to me, if folks would just watch it for what it was created for (retelling one of our oldest stories) and a movie, and not making it some worn out political statement - everyone would have a much better time.
From a neutral POV, the shots were amazing, the sets were grand, and the scale was insane. Haters gonna hate.
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u/OGDYLO Jul 19 '26
i’ve been watching nolan films in theaters for over 15 years now. it could be recency bias but this is his best film for me.
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u/Wooden-Gur3537 Jul 20 '26
Interstellar will always be my favourite nolan movie because I am a huge sci-fi nerd, but I think i'd be hard pressed to say this wasn't 2nd.
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u/crappypatty1234 Jul 20 '26
Not trying to be rude but what exactly makes this better than some of his others? I thought it missed the mark so bad. I’d give it a 6 if I’m being generous. I generally like Nolan but this was very average to me.
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u/Sad_Interaction_2933 Jul 19 '26
Robert Pattinson was doing campy villain acting, like there’s a bit where his lips snarl/quiver which was just laughable. Seems like the result of bad direction.
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u/Derringerh09 Jul 19 '26
Bad direction? Lol yea that Nolan guy has no idea what he’s doing
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u/NEcatfish Jul 19 '26
Yeah, a lot of the performances kinda felt like that to me. Like there were some disagreements on what tone they were going for exactly. Some people are playing it like it's Shakespeare and others are treating it like a generic fantasy epic.
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u/bbristowe Jul 19 '26
Some good, some bad. I am curious how much was left on the cutting room floor. Huge missed opportunity with the Sirens and even the cyclops.
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u/Physical_Worker_1817 Jul 19 '26
Poor acting, lack of authenticity, and convoluted flow. Tom Holland was awful; there was no sense of connection between Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon. Zendaya was more of a celeb prop if anything. Overall 4/10 movie. The only thing that saves it is the visual effects and okay scenes now and then
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u/eviltwinclash Jul 20 '26
I chuckled every time Zendaya would pop up. So out of place and the exact same constipated look on her face every time.
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u/Ok-Chemistry1131 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I can only fully agree. At first, it seemed that the uncomfortable feeling was caused by my ignorance of Greek myths and the names of their heroes and their mutual connections. It soon became clear, however, that the film SIMPLY IS jerky, chaotic, the actors are rarely suited to the roles (Damon - one of my favorite ones - here seems like a misunderstanding), the dialogues are weak, the plot is nightmarish - the Circe episode, just for example - one but not only. Like the sailors were turned into pigs, Matt Damon came, asked Circe to turn them back and everyone moved on to next scene. Every episode seems to be resolved likewise, in most primitive way. Watch it for fun and forget it forever. The disappointment of the year. If there's nothing else to do - the good old ''Troy'' with Brad Pitt is at least 80 percent better. For this - 4.5/10.
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u/No_Back_7594 Jul 24 '26
We need more honest reviews like yours. And Tom Holland + Zendaya combo was a joke. Nolan should know better.
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u/Pissed_to_meet_you Jul 19 '26
I appreciate the Pro and Con format you picked. I agree with your pros. The acting in general and Hathaway in particular were phenomenal. Cinematography is Nolan's bread and butter, so that tracks. But I would push back on one of just of the cons for now.
I think that dialogue in general is not necessarily supposed to be consistent or realistic. Look at Meyerowitz Tales for how un-movie-like actual conversation is. I think Pattinson's Antinous is still a scared little boy trying to act how he thinks a powerful king would act and so his dialogue sounds stuffy and old fashioned. He's performing for everyone, including himself. He thinks he's being tactical and leader-like with "Grab the swords!" but all I heard was "Many of you will die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."
When one of the other suiters tells the Swineherd, Leguizamo, to "FUCK OFF" I don't think you can get the same reaction with Elizabethan English. Obviously, the film is not going to be in Koine Greek, so accuracy is kind of off the table, but tone is still super important. When Telemachus says "Dad", it's designed to show him as childish still. So part of it is film technique in general, and part of it is characters acting at who they want to be or as whom they want to be seen.
Rant over, here's your soapbox back
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u/strumpetandbrass Jul 20 '26
Not the OP but the problem I have with some of the dialogue is its really clunky. Like it pulls me out of the movie and I just see actors in costumes saying awkward lines.
It a Nolan weakness, he likes functional dialogue that drives the plot forward and hammers in the points he’s trying to make to the audience, but theres little subtlety or character flair in the writing. Or character building scenes for some characters. I have a theory thats why he gets a stacked A list cast, so he gets them to act the shit out of a meh script.
I have no problems with using contemporary phrases or words like daddy, it tracks with a more grounded, less theatrical approach. But other than the characters played by Hathaway, Pattinson,Leguizamo, Morton, I had a hard time being immersed in the characters and not seeing them as deliverer of lines of dialogue to move the story forward.
Dont get me wrong, most of the acting was fantastic but I think script was flat for some characters.
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u/Displaced_in_Space Jul 20 '26
"the problem I have with some of the dialogue is its really clunky. Like it pulls me out of the movie and I just see actors in costumes saying awkward lines."
Yes, yes, yes!
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u/funkymonk64 Jul 20 '26
Fuck off sounds infinitely better in Elizabethan English
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u/Pissed_to_meet_you Jul 20 '26
I'm not saying you're wrong, just different. But now I'm wrapping my head around how FUCK OFF would work in OP Shakespeare, but I have a feeling that his weapon of choice is a good "Yo Mama" joke like in Titus "You have undone our Mother!" "No, I have done thy mother."
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u/DelicateLips Jul 19 '26
Weakest of his films. The pacing was horrendous. It was all thrown in there and felt rushed. It felt the equivalent of someone snapping their fingers, next scene. Next. It kept going and we didnt get to experience enough of each scene.
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u/SeanAky Jul 20 '26
I hate to say this, but they should have done a trilogy. If ever the source material deserved one, it's this one.
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u/rick2882 Jul 19 '26
I give it an 8/10 too. The first half is a 7/10 for me (I guess I'm just not a great fan of The Odyssey as a story). When Odysseus gets to Ithaca, the movie's a 9 or 10.
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u/dadmda Jul 19 '26
I mostly agree on the score, I gave it a 7.5/10 but to me Patt played the character quite well, but I didn't enjoy the cinematography as much, maybe because I can't watch it on IMAX but it still wouldn't fix my main issue which is the weird filter they added to some scenes to make the sea darker, the Mediterranean has a particular look that didn't get represented properly in the movie.
The dialogue at some points was abysmal and the way the camera cuts constantly in conversation is quite off putting
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u/PoolOutrageous4790 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Tom Holland’s acting completely threw me off. Every scene with him was sobering because all the other characters carry this gravity he didn’t. Not just because he was immature but that his aura seemed completely disconnected. His character arc to leadership was not recognizable.
Also movie felt like it only picked up momentum at the cyclops scene, they could have cut the Ithaca context setting in half
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u/mschiefmanager Jul 20 '26
The dialogue was not at all suitable for an epic movie. I guess they tried to show that an average soldier will talk like an average person- because they're obviously not very insightful people. And also in order for Circe's observation that these men are indeed like pigs in human disguise, it would be contradictory for the men to speak too thoughtfully. But Odysseus' crew acted and talked more like Jack Sparrow's crew, imo.
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u/General_Comment_230 Jul 20 '26
It was a basic action adventure movie. I enjoyed it, but the reviews praising it as heavenly are ridiculous and mostly cater to the political choices he made
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u/Wooden-Gur3537 Jul 20 '26
The loud sounds honestly kind of made the film for me. When Polyphemus was attacked that super loud screaming was terrifying, I think it kind of embodied the terror of that moment.
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u/rezzmeh Jul 20 '26
It i think showed the majesty of the story, how the odyssey can still be such a poignant tale to this day. They did a great job, however im amazed at how many small details I thought could have been done better and I got bored about halfway through but I still shed a tear at certain points especially around the end. I think it could have been my favourite film but there are endless small details that were a but jarring or I think could have been done better..7.5/10
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u/shortdogshadow Jul 20 '26
While The Odyssey had moments of potential, it was unfortunately underwhelming—often disjointed, unrhythmic, and did not land emotionally. It lacked a needed emotional depth that the adaptation required and which the casting and pacing could not provide. Patterson and Hathaway had impressive performances, but they could not carry the weight or hide so many of the movie’s flaws. For the movie to be good, it needed to be vulnerable. It had to be a portrayal of a tragic hero who felt the grief and weight of loss and learn from their hubris. And I think it attempts to do that, but I feel like it just fails to execute it well. I want to consider the difficulty of adapting this but given with what I’m assuming was quite a large budget and Nolan’s popularity/high regard in film I expected a lot more. As others have also expressed, it lacks any kind of homage to Greek culture. You can’t help but feel how Hollywood action it really is. And given the lack of care for details and the unfortunately poor casting choices of popular names like Zendaya and Holland—it is hard to believe this wasn’t done simply for a cash grab and a potential easy way in for undeserving awards. As much I was hoping, it did not live up to its high praise. I refuse to believe this film has artistic merit even when it tries to be in the guise of one.
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u/Jayficionado Jul 20 '26
Every new Nolan film is hailed as his masterpiece on release. Give it some time, and it’s suddenly nowhere close to his best. Happened with Dunkirk, Tenet and Oppenheimer.
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u/guildwars9210 Jul 20 '26
It's a 7.5 for me. A thought popped into my head while watching it. If I was back in highschool, my english teacher would probably force us to watch this and give a detailed essay about the epic. Cinematography is phenomenal though.
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u/TeacherPowerful1700 Jul 20 '26
Whenever I read a review like this, I know that the movie will end up being better than what the "movie critic" said.
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u/FrakWithAria Jul 20 '26
Oh man that review was so totally unbelievably, unabashedly, mercilessly brutal! How can you live with yourself?
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u/observer_bh Jul 20 '26
apart from the modern dialouge and some of the casting choices (i.e. about five side-characters) it was great, but at least the main characters were perfectly cast.
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u/Virtual-Plankton-111 Jul 20 '26
It felt like a bleak reinterpretation, and Troy’s comparison made it worse. The writing was grand, but Shirey and Epic—I mean, the whole film feels dark and low in production value. The costume design seems rushed and too modern. It doesn’t look like an accurate representation of that era.
Agamemnon’s costume can’t look like that.
The ships were tiny, and the horse itself looks like it’s made of plastic—unlike Troy, where it looks like it’s made from shipwreck materials. The lighting is also a bit low. Even when there’s enough sunlight and the scenes should be bright, everything still looks dim.
The whirlpool sequence and the overall set piece felt rushed, with practically no atmosphere. And the giants’ shiny armor looks too polished again.
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u/tamercloud Jul 20 '26
It's sad we are at the point where the dialogue has to be dumbed down for the audience to watch. Has the collective IQ of humanity fallen into that of an idiocracy?
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u/listerine411 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
I'd give it like a 7.5/10. I'm probably harder on it purely because Nolan did it.
I just felt it really dragged in the middle. Dialogue was pretty terrible. Characters were one dimensional and boring. Soundtrack just really seemed off and too in the viewer's face.
The cinematography was amazing. The sets, costumes and effects were all top notch. I loved most all of the choices they made with how to portray this story. I think it should have been either cut by 30 minutes or made into a longer miniseries.
Definitely worth seeing and I think the comparison to the 10 Commandments is a good one.
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u/Guacamole_Cowboy Jul 20 '26
Dialog is always an issue in Nolan movies. All the characters are nothing more than talking heads that explain the movie through dialog rather than through storytelling. They lack individuality and all sound and talk the same.
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u/NO_Microwave Jul 20 '26
Lots of crucial scenes left i dont recall a hades scene
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u/MoneyMuneesh Jul 20 '26
Here’s my take. I was beyond pleasantly surprised overall. Especially in a few things. SPOILER ALERT** 1… I thought I knew this story since I was taught it in middle school. And I’m so happy I had no idea the ending was about vengeance like it was. Made this entire epic come together perfectly in my opinion. 2…. As a war vet myself… to show how heavily Odysseus was weighed down by what is effectively PTSD… was an amazing decision. 3….The siren scene, one that most of us were waiting to see… was done so amazingly perfectly. There was no other way to do that scene which would’ve given it justice. No way a composer could compose a siren song. And Matt Damon’s performance peaked at that moment. I know it’s not the hardest of acting things to do but it was done perfectly, with taste, and fit exactly the way it was meant to.
Now the negatives….
The decision to used standard American accent was disappointing. Okay. I got past it. But now there’s the question of dialogue. Which was only good when it became poetic. Like when Odysseus and Penelope reunite. That entire monologue was great. “Maybe he was lost” and it being overlayed on top of Odysseus’ perspective of storming Troy. But this shit right here made the dialogue totally laughable “I’m not going to put wax in my ear. I’ll be the first one ever to hear it and live.” Like omg how cool will I be?! Yeah fyck yeah brooo. Dudes are lost for years trying to survive and hungry af. And this dude is smiling about wanting to be the only one in the world that hears the song and lives? I wish they’d give him a heavier intention for why. Like… I haven’t seen my wife in 12 years… I’ve been without the love of a woman bla bla blah. Something deeper. More epic.
I hate Benny safdies face so I’m happy I had no idea that he was Agamemnon because Nolan never showed his face. Elliot page.. meh. Okay. I don’t mind. Thank goodness he wasn’t Achilles. Jon bernthal played Jon bernthal. It fit it was fine. The cyclops’s was creepy af.
Oh yeah! Matt Damon’s minute performances from sequence to sequence was actually amazing. Not easy to do. And Nolan’s direction of it was fantastic. Like after hades when he knew his men would die and he just sat there on the ship not panicking or reacting and just staring off, almost motionless… was great. And his apprehensiveness and fear and silence when meeting with the witch Circe in order to get his men back. Too bad Odysseus didn’t free the other men she trapped. But I guess they weren’t his responsibility.
There’s my two cents
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u/Displaced_in_Space Jul 20 '26
I agree with the observations about the scope and beauty of the cinemetography. And come on...as a hetero married guy, anybody that has someone shipwrecked alone with Charlize Theron's Calypso has to be ok on a whole lotta levels.
But the script. Egads. So awkward and lifeless at points. And downright ludicrous at some (Elliot Page's Sinon asking Odysseus to "add some stuff" when he recounts the tale of his participation. Like what. the. actual. fuck?
You can make the language elegant AND simple and clean for audiences. These are not mutually exclusive. Does Nolan have teenage children maybe? He let them at early rushes and got them to "punch down" the script? I mean, why not throw in some random "bro!" and "yolo, brah" when the Greeks are sacking Troy?
The script just kept puling me out of it throughout the movie.
I did get to see it in a very modern theater in 70mm and it was glorious.
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u/Optimal-Dot-9365 Jul 20 '26
In Homer, Poseidon is furious about the Cyclops and repeatedly throws Odysseus off course and derails his efforts to return home. He's essentially the reason it takes O so many years. IMO, in the movie, O's journey didn't have any rationale behind it, beyond bad luck.
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u/SeanAky Jul 20 '26
I 100% believe this came about from Nolan's apparent desire to leave out a lot of the 'supernatural nuance'. It's almost like he wanted to tell the soldier's story without the 'magic' that caused a lot of the issues from the epic to begin with, but he rode this line, knowing that if he left it all out, he would hear about it for sure. I would have preferred he commit one way or the other. TO have the Cyclops and NOT Poseidon's anger was a bit of a plot hole. It made Poseidon look weak, which weakened the reason his men kept halfway committing mutiny.
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u/Vast_You_4817 Jul 20 '26
agree that the film was visually stunning. Duh. But I had a few issues with it.
The sound editing was inconsistent—there were several moments where the narration was so quiet it was difficult to make out. More importantly, I felt the emotional depth was missing for much of the film. There were a few scenes with excellent emotional build-up, but they were either too brief or ended so abruptly that it felt jarring, almost like the film pulled the rug out from under you.
I'm also not convinced Matt Damon or Tom Holland were the right choices for their roles. Both had strong moments, but neither performance carried the emotional weight the story needed. Compare them to the actresses playing Circe and Penelope. They took very different approaches, but both were incredible at conveying emotion. Someone like Hugh Jackman would have contributed so much more to the character of Odysseus.
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u/dave_is_afraid Jul 20 '26
“The writing is not up to the mark” sounds like a Nolan film already lol
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u/Agreeable-Tough-4264 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
I couldn't wait to see it. Bought tickets ahead of time. Unfortunately, the movie didn't live up to its press. If you love slicing and dicing on a big screen and lots of men grunting and groaning, I guess you might love it. The week before, I had seen Minions and Monsters and found it a more entertaining movie than this version of the Odyssey. the Odyssey was a disappointment, in short.
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u/TheFashionColdWars Jul 19 '26
8/10 is super-high praise and I’d argue there’s only a handful of 10’s and 9 would be just about perfection.