The Odyssey - Review

An “odyssey” is my favourite way to describe a story, it evokes such grandeur and spectacle. It comes with expectation of scale and a sprawling adventure spanning years, or even an entire lifetime. Obviously there is no story more fitting to the word than the actual origin of it. Homer’s Odyssey defined the word and has been the benchmark of the category, that is until The Lord of the Rings came around and redefined what an adventure can be. Tolkien held that title for a long time, right up until Kubrick then refined it once more with an ambitious and technically bewildering film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Since then, many have tried to take that crown away from Kubrick, and not until 2005, when a film so revolutionary in its presentation hit our screens. It not only delighted audiences and critics alike, but evolved the medium, bringing it definitively into the 21st century. That film is, of course, Barbie: Fairytopia. That takes us to 2026, when all those years of storytelling and technical marvel have come full circle, with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

The story? Pretty simple really, a man named Odysseus (Matt Damon) leaves home, in hopes to end the ten year long Trojan War. His genius plan to hide his army inside of a giant wooden horse gave the men access to the impenetrable city of Troy, where they slaughtered every Trojan, ending their reign in one night. The trip to Troy was slow, boating and walking most of the way, which of course meant that was the way back. However, the Gods’ obstacles throw the men off course, giving them a bit more of a detoured route back. Meanwhile, Odysseus’ wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway) patiently waits for her husband’s return, while a litany of suitors chomp at the bit in order to gain her approval and become king of Ithaca. Odysseus’ son, Telemachus (Tom Holland) is determined to find out for sure what happened to his father before any big decisions are made, where he would potentially lose his place on the throne.

Nolan is pretty synonymous with a non-linear storytelling style, jumping from time, to person, to place, to thing. His approach to The Odyssey is no different, giving us vignettes of Odysseus’ journey while building the tension of Ithaca’s growing turbulence. He does such a good job of balancing these two stories in the time dedicated to each, you don’t forget Odysseus’ path is going on while watching Penelope and Telemachus defend their homeland, and can feel the escalation of both simultaneously. Odysseus island hops his way home, encountering a variety of mythological creatures that have every intention of completely throwing him and his men off course. Thankfully he is able to make the smart decision to quite often just run away, knowing where his strengths lie, and that it is not in the fighting of a 60 foot shepherd Cyclops.

It feels redundant to say that this film is a technical masterpiece, and just in case you have somehow dodged every film bro so far, I will retract into one to snobbishly tell you that “did you know that this is the first full feature film shot entirely on IMAX cameras. Did you know that? IMAX is basically a format developed in order to have a big screen. Yeah it's pretty technical so I don’t think you’d really get it. I do though. Also are you seeing it in 70mm IMAX? No? You can’t really say you’ve seen the film until you’ve watched it how Nolan intended it to be seen”. Alright I’m back, sorry. The IMAX thing is of course impressive, but the reliance on that being the only way to watch a film is a little elitist to me. It's fine to have a preferred way of seeing a film, but if your film only works when you see 1 of 40 something versions in the world, it is relying on a format that is inaccessible to most of the audience, and that’s bad.

I haven’t seen it in 70mm IMAX yet, but I would like to, and probably will. However, the film is still incredible when you watch it like a dumb stupid loser in a standard 1.85 aspect ratio, chill out.

The Odyssey benefits from its technical achievements, where I think you can forgive some of the story pitfalls. At times it feels like characters are in different movies, with the likes of Anne Hathaway being firmly in the world, and Robert Pattinson’s slimy Antinous. I felt that Tom Holland had less articulate dialogue and not in a way that just felt like that is how his character would speak. Like I said, this didn’t bother me at all really, because I was too busy jamming out to Ludwig Göransson’s insane score and ogling at Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography. The scale of the visuals married to the score feels like it was fate, the Gods decreed that this pairing should be so. All this to then be pieced together by Jennifer Lame in the edit, who does an impossible task of making this odyssey be coherent and tonally right at every moment. In every aspect of the film, the most talented people are just all doing the best work they have done, and I think that’s pretty cool.

I don’t believe that this film is entirely just worth a viewing for the spectacle, I think it has a lot to say too. It feels like Nolan’s most emotionally resonant film since Interstellar for me. Themes of guilt and imperial hubris permeate throughout the film, where you see the consequences of actions not only play out through fantastical scenarios but in more reflective and emotional scenes between characters. While I don’t think there is a direct correlation to today’s world, I think there is a good portion of Nolan’s feelings reflected in the story here. Seeing how he feels we may have lost the run of ourselves a little bit. We’ve abandoned Zeus’ Law in pursuit of our own selfish personal gains. The imperial hubris is pretty evident in today’s climate though, a world where some leaders have a slightly inflated sense of self, letting ego get in the way of “why”. The confidence of an empire dictating how others will live and die to serve their singular and unwavering opinion. This is best articulated with the “People of the Sea” in the film, a faceless cohort of evil that becomes quite close to home as the film concludes.

The emotion not only comes from Nolan’s script, but from the blinding list of stars in the cast. I have named a few, but additionally, Zendaya’s stoic portrayal of Athena elevates Odysseus’ journey to something more than just a long road home. His encounter with Samantha Morton is too good to talk about beyond the fact that she steals the show while on screen. A surprising win for me was John Leguizamo. I have seen some people share their dislike for his character but I for one thought he was great, so there. Robert Pattinson is maybe my favourite actor working right now, he’s a weird guy who puts everything into his films, and I like that. I would struggle to criticise the casting in this film, even the ones that feel like they would be out of place, worked for me.

Someone said that Nolan is the Taylor Swift of films, which I think is absolutely correct. He is the definitive director nowadays, with the ability to sell his films on his name and the expectation he has created for himself. Like Taylor Swift, he has many detractors, hailing him as overrated and uninteresting as a filmmaker. While I don’t think he makes perfect films, his ability to create films at the scale he does, and tie them together in the way he does is unmatched right now. He is someone that was put on the planet to do what he does, and he has surrounded himself with people who are just like him, giving them all the ability to produce the highest quality of cinematic excellence I feel we will see in a long time.

The Odyssey is in theatres now