The Phantom Tumblog

First, the positives:

Overall, I really liked it, but mainly because it did one of my favorite things, which is Making A Point About War. I was very impacted by Achilles in Vietnam back in high school, so when I realized the film was about the destructive and destabilizing effects of war, I was all in.

I liked that there was a plausible explanation for Odysseus's delay. In the original there's really no good reason for his constant dalliances and delays, other than "it was just like that back then." Since I'm not here for strict accuracy, making his long journey a manifestation of his PTSD worked for me.

I liked how bleak it was. The original Odyssey never quite hit me in the gut like the Iliad, but this sure did. The scene inside the Trojan Horse, the relentless hopelessness of death after death, the sack of Troy, that was good for me.

Many of the scenes were visually striking and exciting.

They kept a bunch of small things that I love, including Argus (Argus!!!) and THE CHEESE. Of all the minor details, I couldn't believe THE CHEESE made it in. I nearly stood up in delight when that scene happened.

John Leguizamo was kind of great as Eumaeus? As was Himesh Patel, he had next to nothing to work with and by god he still pulled it off. R Pat did an incredible job as a slimy little weirdo, too.

I liked how horrific and disgusting the transformation into pigs was. Just some good old-fashioned body horror, why not?

While I wasn't a fan of what they did with Circe, count on Samantha Morton to almost make me like it.

The portrayal of Agamemnon as an almost Vader-like inhuman presence was weird, but it did look very cool

The negative:

Although I liked the film, that was due to it hitting my own very specific buttons. I don't think it was objectively very fun to watch. The obligation to fit in all of the famous scenes from the Odyssey made it feel like a long, disconnected bunch of vignettes, and Nolan didn't help matters by expanding Telemachus' role for no reason.

Why was every powerful woman reduced to a sort of pathetic wretch? Circe went from a powerful and impressive magical queen to a witch in a hut, Calypso became some sort of fantasy castaway, and Helen a miserable captive. Maybe Nolan wanted more contrast with Penelope, but it bugged me.

On that note, I get why they changed Helen and Menelaus's dynamic, it wouldn't fit with modern audiences' expectations, but damn do I wish they had done Helen differently. She had none of the wit and wryness from the original.

What's more, Penelope lost a lot of her characterization too. She's so delightfully clever in the Odyssey, a true equal to Odysseus, and it's just not there in the movie.

Many of the scenes were visually bland and uninteresting.

Why'd they get rid of the marriage bed riddle, I loved that part :(

Also, making Polyphemus mostly mute meant we lost the iconic "Nobody" joke :(

I thought the constant references to "Zeus's Law" were dumb. I know the concept of xenia is big, but there had to be a less clumsy way to show that than constantly repeating "You can have food, cause Zeus's Law," "Don't be rude, cause Zeus's Law."

The Worst:

Good god that "our world is ending before our eyes" bit was on the nose. Shut the fuck up!