scottie (yuri warrior)

I feel that, looking at this film on its own merits, it's a good movie. The cinematography is great, the acting is convincing (Lupita Nyong'o is great as Helen), and they actually touched on the epic's themes of Xenia. I also liked how they brought in real-world tensions, like the sea-peoples and the bronze age collapse. That was a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. Nolan is also very good at making you feel the stress and disorientation of the principal character. I do find the color palette to be a bit dull, but that's personal preference. As its own entity, the film is enjoyable.

The thing is, you can't really look at an adaptation on its own merits. An adaptation will always exist in relation to its source material, and changes will be inevitably critiqued. Changes can work in adaptations, so long as they don't distort the core of the original work. Nolan's Odyssey, however, does have a lot of changes which altar the core of Homer's Odyssey:

The decision to have Menelaus brutalize Helen was incredibly strange and has no basis in ancient sources, and especially not in The Odyssey. It might have worked if there were more discussion surrounding the objectification of Helen, but there were only a few lines alluding to it

There weren't many gods in this film, despite the fact that they were a core part of the original epic. As well as this, the magical elements of the story are pretty toned-town. Nolan is trying to ground a story which was never meant to be grounded.

The explanations of Xenia were very focused on the duties of the host. Of course, that is an important part of Xenia, but the duties of the guest are equally as important as Nolan just doesn't explore that much

All the armor is really inaccurate to real bronze age armor. This grievance is kind of petty, but it did take me out of the movie a little bit. (especially Agamemnon's armor)

THE OLIVE TREE. This one is the worst change. The symbol of Penelope's loyalty is just completely cut. I believe Nolan's rationale was "Odysseus has no need to doubt Penelope, so there's no need to test her" (as is stated by Telemachus). But the point of that is that Odysseus has been at sea for so long, lying for so many years, that he is stuck in a constant state of distrust.

Nolan cut the women from the underworld (even Odysseus' mother). This was probably to save time, but if he truly wanted to highlight the female characters of The Odyssey, cutting that section was a big missed opportunity

The entire ending was changed; Telemachus becomes king while Odysseus and Penelope sail off to some unknown place

This list, of course, doesn't encompass all of the alterations made in Nolan's Odyssey. It's just the ones which most caught my attention. These changes aren't bad, necessarily. Nolan had a theme he wanted to communicate, and his changes serve to further that goal. But these changes do distort the original story's messaging.