#this is mostly negative!!!!

Let me preface by saying I had pretty much no expectations going into this movie. I like Nolan's films and just guessed I would probably enjoy this one. I think I saw maybe one trailer for The Odyssey so I mean I seriously had no expectations outside of "oh, I love The Odyssey and most iterations of it I've seen."

We literally almost left in the first 45 minutes-1 hr. The editing between current events and flashbacks (which comprises the first section of the film) was noooot giving and it was done in such a way that it kept interrupting the flow of the story and some of the scenes, which are dialogue heavy as it is. And dialogue heavy things don't usually bother me, but the sound mixing on this movie is almost fucking unbearable. There are scenes where we're supposed to experience/hear the sound as though through a character's perspective; For example when the soldiers must stop their ears to avoid the Sirens. I think that would have been a really interesting idea if it were implemented well. However, the baseline audio mixing was so off that parts of the dialogue were garbled and indecipherable, and if I didn't already know the story of The Odyssey I think it would have been worse.

The pacing leaves much to be desired for me, the gods Nolan chose to show and not show isn't sitting right with me and I can't quite pinpoint exactly why, and some of the changes to the story actually left me feeling like it was just some fascist fanboy shit. Girl, what do you mean "our civilization will rise again" so long as your people go back to, what, respecting the laws of the gods, which was high-key pretty Jesus-y in this flick??? It doesn't help that there was a US Army recruitment advertisement DIRECTLY before the movie got started 🫤

Why are the only gods we physically see interact with Odysseus the women? Why are Poseidon and Zeus so obviously absent from this movie? I get he was going for a "we killed the gods and so they're absent" but if you're going to commit to that line of thinking, fucking commit??? I understand there's a pantheon and it's got a hierarchy to it, but Calypso and Athena ARE gods and it seems mad fucking weird to put them so deeply within the physical of this film while leaving out the other interactions between Odysseus and the gods. Are the women gods supposed to represent the Earth in this adaptation? I guess I could see that paralleled with Penelope having to sit on the throne for 20 years while Odysseus was gone. But if that's the intention, I think it's a pretty messy implementation and adds even more to my "why does this low-key give white nationalist fanboy shit" feelings. Odysseus comes back to Ithica, beats ass, then dips, leaving his only begotten son to rule. If this read of the story is the intention, are we meant to think that when the male gods come back they'll rescue our poor, pitiful society that the women have let fall to disrepair because the men were gone to war and society wouldn't let them properly rule in their place? Just gets messy and convoluted.

There were some parts of this movie that I really liked. Stabbing Polyphemus's eye— pretty cool. I saw that article talking about Nolan being unable to work in the "nobody" joke. The reason he couldn't work the nobody joke in is because the rest of the world outside feels pretty empty. No island of Cyclopses, a cyclopse.

Sorry sorry, this is supposed to be the part where I talk about what I liked. Pretty much everyone's acting was great. Looooved to see Robert Pattinson have fun being an unhinged, entitled, cowardly piece of shit. Loooove to see Elliott Page no matter what (he did great in this, too)— the Hades scene with him was really cool and actually one of my favourite sequences of the whole movie. The multi-limbed monster in the narrow passage to the underworld Hades was gross and pretty cool looking (and that's not a typo. They call the underworld "Hades"). There's a scene where Circe is transforming Odysseus's men into pigs which looked grosssss and leaned a little camp. Loved the effects for that scene. I have some.... concerns. about the progression of that scene. Low-key giving "not all men" when we very clearly see later on in the film that it was, in fact, all his men. I guess that's another point in "Odysseus's denial about the true nature of man" thing. (Actually, that's something I want to think about more deeply 🤔 damn, I love movie analysis. Anyway.) No complaints about Zendaya or Tom Holland'a acting, of course. I think the script was kind of weak and they did the best they could. I loved Anne Hathaway's "lock the doors and burn them all" moment. I love Penelope, my queen. And Mia Goth! What are you doing here!! (affectionate)

I think I have a lot more to say but I want to percolate on the movie a little more and tease out some of the themes. We just got out of the showing at like 3 and I've been trying to collect and type my thoughts for the last hour and a half before I go look for video essays and other reviews. I'm wondering if maybe I'm too familiar with the source material. I also keep having to remind myself that we're in the middle of a literacy crisis. It's totally possible that I just need to take a little more time, take a step back, and see what I can tease out of this piece of media. Maybe my opinion won't be as harsh after some more time and thought, but these are just my initial thoughts.