I saw The Odyssey
...in 70mm IMAX!
I kind of regret it. I saw it at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood - like, real downtown Hollywood, the part of Hollywood with the stars on the sidewalk and the smelly guys in Spiderman outfits. The picture in the theater was massive but the audio in that theater is pretty crazy, and the movie is full of deep, rumbly sounds which swallowed the entire mix and made it impossible to hear what anyone was saying clearly.
That rumbling is sometimes supposed to be thunder, and it's often relevant to the conversation or to the decisions the characters make, because they take it as a sign from Zeus that he approves or disapproves of things happening in the scene. I didn't realize this until halfway through the movie because I could not tell that it was thunder! It was just boneshaking growling to me.
Anyway, that's my first big complaint out of the way - I think I need to see this movie again in non-IMAX, because I think I'd enjoy it more if I could hear what everyone was saying. I did enjoy it! I had a great time. I think it's a great movie.
There's been a lot of hay made about adaptation and the Odyssey's choices in adaptation. I actually think it's good for the movie to be so 2026 in its choices. There's no point in pretending like your adaptation says nothing, or in pretending like you aren't present inside it. The movie embraces being an adaptation and it embraces the attempt to wedge a modern thematic arc into an ancient story. This work is essential, I think, if you're going to make big budget shit. Adaptation which takes the present moment into account is why we still know and care about ancient myth.
The movie seems aware of the burden and opportunity associated with making a massive-budget summer blockbuster out of it. It feels like Nolan is aware that he was making the most 2026 Odyssey ever, and that if he did a good job, this could stand a good chance of becoming one of the things we point to in the future when we want to talk about what the mid-2020s were like. It's Trauma Odysseus. Why not? Making Trauma Odysseus says something about who we are today.
I thought Damon was a great choice in the end. I struggled with Jon Bernthal Menelaus, partially because he seems like he's just playing the same guy he always does, but I bought him in the end, too. Anne Hathaway is great. Robert Pattinson is doing his Goblin Man deal again after Mickey 17, and this is also great. John Leguizamo is a ton of fun. They really juice the big important moments, and everyone is acting their butts off, and it's very inspiring and fun to think about how this story has affected all the storytelling I've ever known. All the movie shit that feels like Movie Shit is actually just from the Odyssey. Coming out of the theater, my friends and I were going over how all the moments which feel Hollywood in this story - the reunions, the twists, the fuckin dog - are just original to the story. Storytelling is so cool!!!
One thing I did not enjoy about the story was the fact, however, that all the characters keep discussing the Bronze Age collapse and the Sea Peoples. I admire and again think it's important to try wedging a modern thematic arc into your adaptations, but this one felt like a miss to me. Odysseus is Odysseus. He is not a 20th century scholar. He should not be discussing the Sea Peoples using the phrase "the sea people."
You can keep that shit if you rephrase it! He could say, "Wow, it feels like the world is getting more violent and dangerous. We constantly hear stories about people coming to pillage and kill from the ocean. That's so crazy. Can those people even read? Ever since the Trojan War it feels like society is falling apart." But saying "the sea peoples" in a movie like this feels like hitting me in the head with a frying pan. I don't like it!
Anyway, strong recommend. Watch the movie! It's fun! I think I might see it a second time!! I might even read the Odyssey. I read the Illiad in 6th grade, I read all the boat chapters because nobody told me it was okay to skip them, but I've never read a translation of the Odyssey. I took Latin for six years in middle school and high school but all of that is slipping out of my soup brain now that I'm old. I should know about this shit! It's fun to know about!