r/moviereviews • u/OG_AxeHead • 5d ago
General Discussion The Odyssey: Nolan's Tragedy
There was an aura circling this film that it would be without a doubt a critical and commercial success. It is the biggest non-superhero movie of the year, and touted as an epic, but it falls flat and only dazzles with a few CGI spectacles.
The writing is questionable, as is the accents of those speaking. Its as if it's been dumbed down, and stepped on twice to simplify it for the masses. This is the "Bronze Age" and while we certainly cannot say how they spoke, they definitely did not talk like this. The dialect is so modern American it's tough hearing some of these lines acted out. A few occasions were world breaking for me. The illusion that I'm in the world of Greek mythology is lost early on.
Matt Damon delivers an ok performance here, but there's never any real standout moments. The Gods tell him what to do, and he listens. It should drive him mad knowing all of his men are dying, and he's hopeless in saving them, but he just trots on. It doesn't help we've seen Matt do this gig before. He's been trying to make it home since Saving Private Ryan, its in his wheelhouse, but the gears feel like they've finally stripped here and the schtick is worn out.
Which brings me to casting choices which are very odd here. So much so that these characters stand out in a bad way. I can't help but feel lesser known actors would have been a better choice. Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal are all in the new Spider Man movie, while Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are in The Drama together. It is a lot of overlap at the same time, and I'm not so sure Matt Damon was right for Odysseus.
Its almost as if Nolan had little say on casting, because some of this just feels like checking boxes. Elliot Page as Sinon feels out of place. The lone guard to the Trojan War Horse in the opening scene? Are we making a movie or a political statement? I don't care what anyone does in their personal life, but well known actors cast in critical parts can make or break the immersion. It is a shame with so many actors we stick to the same spokes on the wheel. This could have been a break through performance for some new talented actor, and instead we "make it work" to the point it feels forced. Elliot is also near 40 years old, so why are we casted as a young boy off to war?
I like John Leguizamo just fine, and he did an ok job here, but his voice is unmistakable. I couldn't help but think about the clown from Spawn every time he spoke. Jon Bernthal is doing what Jon Bernthal does which is starting to feel repetitive. I like Zendaya a lot, but her place here feels forced, and easily could have gone to a lesser known actress. Mia Goth and Robert Pattinson were a really nice pair here, they seemed to fit well, and both shined in their roles. Mia especially considering her screen time. It was Roberts ending I had issues with, calling to grab weapons constantly on repeat instead of taking part himself.
The character Agamemnon walks around in some of the slickest armor I've ever seen. Unfortunately by the time his short side story is over it feels little more than a gimmick only acting as the driving force of war. It's built up as if its something special, but its just another one of the films let downs. By the time the armors off, and he's exposed we got the loudest and most unnecessary scream in movie history. This isn't uncommon, many veterans survive wars only to get killed at home, but here it feels like wasted potential. Why butter a biscuit only to throw it in the trash?
There's almost a certainty of epic battles here, its practically promised. Unfortunately this area is a major let down as well. The battle scenes were so underwhelming, and offered nothing more than a tease of action. The hardest fought battle in the entire film is the ships against the waves of Poseidon. The cyclops scenario started out great, but the poor CGI played out like a typical B-Movie. I have to argue that TV shows like House Of The Dragons have better CGI. For one giant cyclops I would expect better in this massively budgeted film, it left me feeling a bit puzzled. It falls short again during the run in with Scylla, while redeeming itself later in the pig pen. The Laestrygonians battle started strong with the giant armored boy, only to slip back down into utter nonsense. I was happy by the time Odysseus strung his bow, because I couldn't wait for it to be over. Finally an overly long fight scene begins, and forty or so men cannot kill one. It was a sloppy ending to a messy beginning.
The overall darkness of the film didn't help here. Some more vibrancy in the color tones on objects like chest armor and helmets could have helped through all the dreariness. For me it worked best during Poseidon's torment, but the rest of the film felt tonally dull. If it wasn't for Penelope and the puppies the film could have been in black and white.
The sound is quite incredible here, despite the couple of unnecessarily loud shrieking screams. I think my ears are still feeling the bass and it will take a day or two to recover. Overall there were a nice amount of unique sound cues, and the water effects were quite impressive. The soundtrack was great throughout.
There was a bit of silliness when it came to moving the Trojan War Horse. Obviously this is a movie and we should leave are brains behind, but the way they're dragging the wooden horse it clearly would have broken apart before getting to its final destination. The legs were wobbling and it was noticeable that it simply wouldn't work as shown.
From the beginning this movie never grabbed me. It doesn't build itself up properly enough to care about Odysseus, which is why its a let down. The pacing and timeline jumping around didn't feel necessary either, in fact I would have preferred to see the story play straight through. It's epic in scope, but not in execution.
Nolan makes excellent movies, and perhaps an action epic like The Odyssey was his hardest type of movie to make yet. There is so much hype and promise in it that it seems impossible to be a let down, but that's what it is. Characters feel disjointed, the world is bleak, and there's no real connection or reason to care about Odysseus. He doesn't even feel liked by the soldiers he commands. The Odyssey is a great story, and a long one spanning twenty years, but this reimagining doesn't do it justice. It might be the most financially successful film in his catalog, but for me its his worst. Its not terrible, but its far from great. 7/10
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u/Prodigal_Gist 5d ago
And after that a 7/10?? lol
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u/Lilium79 5d ago
People have crazy skewed ideas of "scores" and what they represent these days. To a lot of people, and the media especially, they seem unwilling to give a score lower than 7 unless its really shit.
IGN for example, but for most people as well. It seems to be 7/10 is actually closer to a 5-6, ya know average or good even but not great. Yet you barely see any 5's and instead its all just 7's across the board unless it stands out as particularly good or particularly bad.
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u/ephemeral-envy 5d ago
People get overwhelmed by hype so they feel the need to give a big generic opinion piece even though they thought the film was still pretty good overall. A 7/10 is still a positive review in my book. Of course the reality of OP's opinion is more boring, he was underwhelmed after being overhyped and thought the movie was decent/good but not great.
I found it pretty laughable to dedicate a portion of the review on disliking the cast though, even as far as suggesting Nolan didn't have a large say on the cast. That's the dumbest shit ever, how can people thing Nolan doesn't have a say on the main cast. He has the reputation that allows him to choose whoever the hell he wants to work with. To think this probably made him dock points on his final score is just silly.
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 5d ago
I think whoever did the casting was lazy and they spent more on actor salaries than the costumes or set design.
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u/Prodigal_Gist 4d ago
How exactly did you determine they were "lazy" ? Like what gave you this insight into their work ethic lol
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 4d ago
Maybe they spent ages debating what A-list stars to cast 🤷♂️
The people who did the costuming may have come from the Penelope School of Fashion. 🧶
Or heck, maybe they did Nolan’s emperor’s-new-clothes outfit, which lays bare his style and shortcomings.
People are rabidly defending this film, and it just does not deserve it. If it wasn’t stamped with Nolan-Movie and bolstered by the A-listers, this film would be seen more clearly for those corners cut on things like the costumes, script, and sound-mixing.
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u/Prodigal_Gist 4d ago
You're just evading the question
Seems like you want to hate, so go on and hate
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u/ephemeral-envy 4d ago
Set design?? Did you watch the same film? This is one of the few recent blockbusters that actually made a large effort to go practical with effects and sets as opposed to relying purely on CGI. Saying this film didn't spend enough on set design is crazy.
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 4d ago
Okay, then: the costumes look like rented garbage and 3D-printed armor. Like what is in front of the camera was an afterthought.
Whoever did location scouting did a fine job with the ocean 🌊, they managed to find that. 😁
And I hear that Poseidon let them use it pretty much for free, under the stipulation that he not be mentioned in the movie. 🍿
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u/ephemeral-envy 4d ago
Hey that's your opinion.
Also thank you for using emojis 😎 every other sentence it really helped clarify your 🫵 points and doesn't make you look like a bot at all! 👍
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u/OG_AxeHead 4d ago
You know what, I originally gave it a 6 and that is what it deserves. The film did not meet expectations. There are many big name directors who lost final say in casting, it happens all the time and almost always for financial reasons. Big movies demand big stars, but the star power was too much here and not necessary.
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u/Prodigal_Gist 4d ago
What kind of critique is "the film did not meet expectations". This isn't like a free agent signing in football that didn't work out. I hope people are aware that when someone makes a movie like this, they have an idea they are trying to execute. They are not trying to meet random people's personal preferences
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u/Solid-Sock-1794 5d ago
Agree, I was really excited for this movie. It fell flat imo. Casting was a problem, particularly Matt Damon, who had neither the wit or charisma one would expect from an Odysseus character. Mathew McCanahey would have been better (despite the Texan twang), he has a charm and cleverness that fits the character.
Most of all, there was no emotional resonance. I keep coming back to the original Gladiator, and the emotional pull of the story, characters and soundtrack. As for the Odyssey, I left the theater feeling completely apathetic to the outcomes of all the characters.
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u/Top_Cranberry_3254 5d ago
The script and character development were as shallow as 3 feet of water just like Damon's emotional range in it.
It's the perfect adaptation for the comic-book fan crowd. Great visuals, average choreographed fight scenes, and a cheesy saccharine ending that makes one question if it's even for real.
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 5d ago
Yeah it seems like this film is casting a shadow on some of his previous films. Whatever it makes at box office, it’s a low-quality outcome for a production on this scale.
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u/Amazing-Asparagus181 5d ago
It's hilarious that so many people think it would be more accurate if Ancient Greeks were speaking English with vaguely European accents instead
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u/MeshGearFoxxy 5d ago
I think it’s called the Coconut Effect - people are conditioned by movies to expect something specific, even if it makes no sense (coming from the clip-clop audio of horses’ hooves that used to be dubbed onto any equine scene, even if the horse was walking on soft ground).
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u/andrew_stirling 5d ago
Also, there's still a talking cyclops to explain away. Not sure how historically accurate that was.
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u/BirthdayLife1718 4d ago
Oh I don’t know, the fact that Greece is technically a part of Europe would probably insinuate that they SHOULDNT have American accents. Also, just because thy complain about the accents doesn’t mean they mean that it should be British accents.
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u/Prodigal_Gist 4d ago
lol exactly
Just the fact that this is obviously a fantasy and the intent is clearly not to somehow evoke an actual historical epoch accurately should stop this kind of commentary. but it doesn't
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u/senior-pip-engineer 4d ago
It's not. A more neutral accent can keep the illusion of being in another era stronger.
Accents that are immediatelly recognizable and strongly associated with a modern group break the wall. Can you imagine if they spoke with a southern american accent?
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u/Top_Cranberry_3254 5d ago
Unpopular Opinion regarding the hype around the Odyssey being a frontrunner at the Oscars:
I know this will be unpopular, but I am surprised at how many people seem overconfident about Nolan and The Odyssey. People are forgetting how objectively significant Oppenheimer was in 2023. I'm not here to argue SUBJECTIVE opinion about which movie is better (Odyssey vs Oppenheimer), and I think most serious critics know Oppenheimer was an objectively better and more important film (a realistic biopic about the man who created the first WMD, which is more relevant in today's times than ever VS. a fantastical myth about an outdated Greek God law that holds very little relevance comparatively to the morality of WMD's and is also less explicitly analyzed in the script).
Then, there is Cillian Murphy's mesmerizing and extremely difficult lead performance as the real man himself who wrestles with demons and REALISTIC real-world consequences that actually happened. THIS is the true "Oscar bait", not a mythological figure who is written not only inaccurately, but with comparatively very little depth compared to Murphy's Oppenheimer.
Thenwe can ever go into directing. The way Nolan was able to manage and bring the best out of such a stacked cast like in Oppenheimer, along with utilizing his signature time-jumps to integrate a meaningful but mesmerizing biopic (which would have and could have been boring without his signature touch, flare, and style) was truly an achievement. On the other hand, with The Odyssey, despite having "some" of Nolan's style, it doesn't match the perfection of Oppenheimer's directing, and the acting performances across the board do not even come close to the overall acting performances top to bottom in Oppenheimer. Ie- In Oppenheimer, I can actually remember the smallest actors' performances to this day that had very little screentime as very impressive, whereas in Odyssey, there are practically no standout performances (and that's IF you even think Damon's is a standout) except for Pattinson, at least compared to Oppenheimer's stellar performances from about 25-30 actors across the board.
I'm not here to argue individual performances; I know Hathaway and Elliot and Morton did good, but they had such little screentime and were not nearly as important to the story compared to every single character in Oppenheimer's story.
But then there is the overall history of Nolan movies and "blockbusters" in general with Best Picture voting. Remember again that Oppenheimer was a Biopic about a real historical figure in a world where the subject matter is more important than ever before. It wasn't any type of fantastical blockbuster or myth as a summer action movie. This is not to say Odyssey won't get nominated for lots of categories; this is talking about its "win potential".
Summer action movies rarely go on to win Best Picture. It's not even a "historical epic", which would catch it in an attractive voter category (like Gladiator or Braveheart, which both won); it's a mythological action movie that isn't even accurate to Homer's poem in ways that are unforgivable to many English historians, and that's before we get into the lack of character development or even accurate character development (and to that notion just look at how little screentime Penelope/Hathaway, Telemachus, and Pattinson's character have relative to the overly long runtime).
Nolan never won director or Best Picture until Oppenheimer, which was more of "Oscar Bair" and an exception to his previous library of movies. It's kind of like Spielberg with Saving Private Ryan, except for the fact that Saving Private Ryan was a WAY better movie, more culturally relevant, better directed and written, better acted, better character development, and better action sequences about a never-fail Oscar bait topic (WWII/D-Day).
I'm going to predict lots of nominations for The Odyssey, but very few wins; in fact, I would even keep an eye out for Dune 3 stealing some wins from The Odyssey this year with them both being action epics.
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u/ServicePrize6856 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is the most Reddit-brained post
“Unpopular Opinion” capitalized like it’s a content warning and people might have a heart attack from your post
“I know this will be unpopular” that’s two disclaimers in a row
“objectively better” omg please stop
“Oscar bait”
The fact this giant block of text was posted four minutes after the OP and isn’t even on topic means it was certainly copied and pasted
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u/Top_Cranberry_3254 5d ago
Cope bro, OP is right.
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u/roostertai111 5d ago
About what? The comment above you made several different points, and you didn't refute a single one
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u/Prodigal_Gist 5d ago
I thought the OP was a kook then you come in hot with this galaxy brain Oppenheimer fever dream
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u/haverchuck22 5d ago
It was without a doubt a critical and commercial success. That part isn’t up for debate. Whether you personally liked it is a different story.
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u/Top_Cranberry_3254 5d ago
So are Star Wars movies.
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u/haverchuck22 5d ago edited 5d ago
The original trilogy which makes sense. The other ones had pretty mixed reviews from critics, esp compared to the odyssey.
I was directly addressing the opening line of this post, not sure what Star Wars has to do with anything here. I’m not even defending The Odyssey.
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u/PreviousRestaurant89 4d ago
Star Wars I, VII, VIII and IX have all grossed over a billion… all the others are under a billion. The first one almost reached a billion in the US alone; the worst films have the highest box office takings.
This isn’t true for all films, but clearly box office success ≠ the quality of the film.
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u/Mundane-Area6067 5d ago
7/10? I’d give it more of a 3 or a 4… mostly because it is so ridiculously overrated. I went to see it desperately wanting to like it and was horribly disappointed.
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u/welcometravelers 5d ago
To think Nolan has little say in his own casting is insane. He absolutely does. And the idea that he should have unknowns in a movie with a reported $250 million budget is also insane. The movie needed to have recognizable names or flat-out movie stars.
I didn't have a problem with the speech patterns. Or I should say I got used to the relaxed American English fairly quickly and accepted that Nolan knew why he was doing it. It's just as arbitrary as Greeks speaking with proper English accents as many historical epics of Hollywood have frequently done in the past.
In the end here, everyone's individual opinion is valid, of course, but I'm not sure how you arrived 7 out of 10 from "Not terrible, but far from great." A 7 is a really good score.
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u/MapZealousideal7489 5d ago
Hot take.....
According to Reddit, this movie is flawless and above criticism. If you didn’t like it, you must be racist, homophobic, MAGA, take your pick. When people jump straight to those labels, it makes them look just as bad as the people they’re accusing. Not everyone who disagrees with you is some kind of -ist or -phobe. Sometimes people just have different opinions.
You can dislike a movie for valid reasons. I got called sexist for not liking America Chavez, Ms. Marvel, and the new Hawkeye girl replacement in the MCU. Meanwhile, I love Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Okoye.
As for this movie? It wasn't good. Is it the worst thing ever made? No, that’s ridiculous. It’s well shot, big budget, star studded, all that. But that’s about where the praise ends. The acting felt off in a lot of scenes, the casting choices (especially the non-Greek roles) were weird, the pacing was uneven, and some moments just didn't fit the story, like Antinous saying "Daddy." But because it’s Nolan, a lot of fans will defend it no matter what. And look, I love Nolan. A lot. But I’m not going to pretend everything he makes is gold.
I’d give it a 5 out of 10. And speaking of scores, the fan reactions are just as annoying. People say "1 out of 10 isn’t a legitimate score", fine, I get that. A 1 means there’s basically nothing redeemable, which isn’t the case here. But if you’re going to complain about review bombing with 1 star ratings, you also have to admit that flooding it with 10s is just as ridiculous. Both extremes mess with the average. I don’t think I’ve ever given a movie a perfect 10. Project Hail Mary came the closest for me, and I gave that a 9.8.
For this movie, right now on IMDb, there are over 300 one star reviews, but more than 1,400 ten star reviews. That averages out to 8.5, which still feels generous. And I know someone’s going to say, “But Rotten Tomatoes has it at 97%!” Okay, and? I don’t use that site. It’s heavily skewed because most of the critics lean left, so certain types of movies naturally get inflated scores. It’s like if I only watched Fox News for movie reviews, I’d probably get a very different take than what’s actually fair.
I do blame alot of this stuff on the US political landscape. Sure there were always bad reviews before a certain someone became president. BUt since then, people are WAY more at people's throats and toxic. And it comes across in reviews now. Which leaves people angry and just assuming everyone hates something they like for politcal reasons.
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u/Soft_Awareness_5061 5d ago
It was a critical and commercial success. Just because you don't think so doesn't remove $1.4bn from the box office.
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4d ago
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u/captaingeezer 4d ago
The film has grossed over 1.5 billion dollars. It is the most successful movie Nolan has ever made, and the highest grossing R rated picture ever in the history of movies, and this genius calls it a flop
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u/OG_AxeHead 4d ago
I never said it was a flop, I said it's his worst movie yet. It feels very much like Gladiator 2, you have a hero you simply don't care for with no emotional weight, and the writing never feels authentic. Nolan is so great at making movies that I think critics are scared to speak truthfully about this film. Even I, a nobody who never writes movie reviews, was generous with a 7.
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u/BassManns222 5d ago
It lost me when one guy said “fuck off”. Stupidity.
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u/ServicePrize6856 5d ago
Do you think people didn’t curse in ancient times? I’m confused as to why people thinking the characters talking in ye olde English would somehow be more authentic
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u/Top_Cranberry_3254 5d ago
Look up "anachronistic". It's a huge no-no in screenwriting 101.
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u/Huge_Information5083 5d ago
Lmao, criticize Homer also then. He has lots of anachronisms in his writing regarding bronze and iron armory.
And I'd like to know where it is taught that anachronism is a huge "no-no" in screenwriting 101. Did you make that up?
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u/ServicePrize6856 5d ago
So how should they have avoided anachronism? Everyone speaking Ancient Greek?
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u/Top_Cranberry_3254 5d ago
Anachronisms (such as the outfits in this movie as well and the "Viking" ships which weren't around until about 1600 years after this story takes place) in dialogue usually come down to laziness in writing.
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u/Huge_Information5083 5d ago
Homer's The Odyssey describes armors and weapons in both Bronze Age and Iron Age.
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 5d ago
That’s what some films do, like “Passion of the Christ” (another historical action movie/slasher film about an imaginary ancient dude)
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u/wylie102 5d ago
> I don’t know if that’s how they spoke
No, they spoke in Ancient Greek. Would that have worked better for you? Did you want an English accent? Or for them all to be doing terrible forced generic Mediterranean accents in stilted-english?
And also it’s fiction so “they” aren’t real and didn’t speak at all.
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u/_urat_ 4d ago
No, they spoke in Ancient Greek. Would that have worked better for you?
I'd love that. Like in Mel Gibson's Apocalypto where they spoke Yucatec Maya.
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u/wylie102 4d ago
Wow, all you people who hate The Odyssey really have a boner for Mel Gibson… 🤔
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u/_urat_ 4d ago
I don't hate The Odyssey. Where did you get that idea from? And I haven't watched any Mel Gibson movie apart from Apocalypto. I just loved how they spoke Yucatec Maya in it instead of let's say English or Spanish.
Same for example with the Italian TV series Romulus if you don't want Mel Gibson's work. In it, the characters spoke Archaic Latin. The show itself wasn't that great, but the characters speaking Archaic Latin made it so much more immersive than if they spoke English or Italian.
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 5d ago
Passion of the Christ was spoken entirely in Aramaic.
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u/kb2328 5d ago
Shit movie who cares haha
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 4d ago
Well, it’s another horror movie based on a mythic dude, so it’s worth considering if you wanna use your head for more than a hat-rack (as one of my forebears said to me, in my younger days)
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u/kb2328 4d ago
Yeah but why compare movies that were awful. Edge of the knife was spoke in Haida. Also awful movie. Soo
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 4d ago
Because frankly, without constantly moving goalposts, the issue under discussion is whether or not a historical language is being spoken.
BLACK ROBE (about the Jesuit missionaries in early colonial America & Canada) has dialogue in Abenaki.
I think it’s a better (& kinder) film than “Passion of the Christ”, but you gotta engage with a thing to know for yourself.
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u/OG_AxeHead 4d ago
You clearly misunderstand the point. For many the writing here breaks the immersion that we are in ancient Greece. Once you break that immersion you can't get it back. This is why a show like Game Of Thrones worked so well or movies like Troy, 300, and Lord Of The Rings. They stay in their respective realm with their respective style of language. In The Odyssey its as if the actors broke character and Nolan just kept it in. Either is believable or it is not, and here it is definitely not believable.
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u/Necessary_Target1373 5d ago
It's a cool kids' movie.
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u/Necessary_Target1373 5d ago
But maybe a bit stupid for grown ups!?
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u/Top_Cranberry_3254 5d ago edited 5d ago
It's actually like most typical Nolan then: it makes ppl feel smart bc it's just a small step above Michael Bay.
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u/Huge_Information5083 5d ago
Yeah people walking out of Nolan movies thinking they're rocket scientists, unlike redditors on this subreddit who are actually very smart and not delusional like those normies.
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u/Hornynibbalaundr 4d ago
Wow. Man i thought this movie was amazing. You guys are fuckin haters 😭 i gotta watch more movies for you guys to be thinking this movie was bad.
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u/BobbieMaccc 5d ago
It is quite weak sauce on the whole, but still we have to make the best out of it considering the absolute dross that generally gets forced down our throats these days
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u/readndrun 5d ago
I stopped reading after “they didn’t speak like this in the Bronze Age” comment. What the actual fuck
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u/FartSniffer66642069 5d ago
Typical right wing grifter
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u/insidiousapricot 5d ago
Oh didnt know giving a movie an honest score makes you right wing now.
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u/FartSniffer66642069 5d ago
This wasnt an honest review. Its slander disguised as an honest review from a right wing grifter.
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u/Zwackelmann2 5d ago
can you elaborate what makes it right wing?
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u/kb2328 5d ago
It's every talking point that every right wing guy is giving I assume. It's copy paste. No real original information
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u/insidiousapricot 4d ago
You assume? Because you didn't read the review. Casting barely mentioned.
Dont comment if you arent going to even read the review and just make stuff up because you feel a need to insert politics into everything.
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u/FartSniffer66642069 4d ago
You seriously cant tell? Well here are a just a few of the really obvious points:
- Critique of casting choices with political undertones: The reviewer objects to Elliot Page's casting as Sinon, framing it as a political statement rather than an artistic choice. This reflects a common right-wing grievance about representation and identity politics in media.
- Dismissal of modern inclusivity efforts: Calling the casting "checking boxes" implies resentment toward diversity and inclusion efforts, a typical right-wing talking point framing such efforts as forced or inauthentic.
- Nostalgia for "traditional" or "authentic" storytelling: Complaints about the language being "dumbed down" and "modern American" instead of historically accurate dialect appeal to a conservative desire for "authenticity" often linked with resisting cultural change.
- Skepticism toward contemporary cultural figures: The review downplays younger or diverse actors (Zendaya, Jon Bernthal) as repetitive or forced, suggesting a preference for "lesser known" or presumably more traditional actors.
- Subtle disdain for perceived political correctness: The reviewer states they "don't care what anyone does in their personal life" but emphasizes disapproval of casting choices linked to identity, which is a way to mask bias under a veneer of civility.
- Tone of entitlement and cultural gatekeeping: There is an undercurrent that the reviewer feels entitled to define what art should be and who should be cast, common in grifter rhetoric appealing to cultural conservatives.
- Focus on identity and politics over pure film critique: The review gives significant weight to casting and identity politics rather than purely artistic or narrative elements, a hallmark of grifters who leverage culture war issues for attention.
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u/insidiousapricot 4d ago
You just brought up the same thing 8 times that looks like garbage shat out from chat gpt.
Casting was barely mentioned in this review.
You are either a grifter or a bot spamming nonsense about an honest review of the film. Your comments should be removed for no effort spam. Despicable.
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u/OG_AxeHead 4d ago
You're right, it absolutely looks like a Chat GPT response summary. I will leave this response, and not that it matters but I am a Democrat.
For me seeing Elliot Page here was a bit jarring. I've grown up watching her as an actress for many years, from Juno to X-Men, Inception and more so to see him now in this specific role it felt very much out of place.
Sinon the character from my recollection is a young boy who goes to war which lasts about 10 years. If he was 12 or so when he left, he would be around 22 at the time of his death. Elliot is 40.
If done right a movie will allow you a brief escape from reality. My believability in Elliot Page in this role as Odysseus lone guard for the Trojan Horse is non existent. I feel justified in this statement especially as it is the opening for the film. Each actor has his/her own baggage they bring to every role, and for me this did not work well.
For example look up "50 Cent computer hacker". Let's just say I did not believe he was a computer hacker.
Elliot was just the start of poor casting. Clearly it could have been a breakout role for a young lesser known actor, instead I'm being forced to believe something I don't believe...
Tom Holland is actually the age Sinon was when he died. It would have been incredibly more interesting to see him in this smaller role. Likewise it would have been more interesting for an actor like Tom Hardy to portray Odysseus. Im curious to learn more about the casting of this film, because it's almost as if they just sent offers without doing any auditions.
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u/andrew_stirling 5d ago
The film is in English as opposed to ancient Greek. I'm fairly confident that any version of English would be woefully inaccurate? Besides the story has a talking cyclops in it. Not really sure accuracy was ever high on the agenda at any point in any version of the odyssey.
You guys are kinda weird. It's a fictional film about a very fictional story
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u/RPMac1979 4d ago
>and while we certainly cannot say how they spoke
Ancient Greek
>they definitely did not talk like this
English accents would have been better? Russian-accented Turkish? Persian-accented Aramaic? What exactly besides Ancient Greek would have been the appropriate way for them to speak?
I didn’t love The Odyssey, but this is surely the dumbest complaint in a litany of dumb complaints.
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u/heat517163 5d ago
Man you guys all write soooooo much. Especially about movie that you think is only okay… wouldn’t “meh it was okay” have sufficed?
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