Jake

Oh boy. Lots to unpack with this one. Full disclosure: I haven't read The Odyssey, so I can't tell you whether this elevates the source material. What I can tell you is what happens on screen, and why it left me the way most Nolan films leave me. Talking about Nolan is always funny to me. Newbie film-bros will swear he's the greatest director to ever walk the planet. Hardcore cinephiles will tell you he's trash. Funnily enough, the tug-of-war between those two extremes is exactly what makes him, in my opinion, perfectly rated. The Odyssey might be the clearest film yet in why both camps have a point. Normally with a film like this I'd get into the writing and deeper themes. But (1) I’m sure there will be plenty of discussion there, and (2) the writing isn't the problem here. Nolan's scripts catch a lot of flak, and while I'd never call him a great writer, I actually think this is some of his best work on the page (I will say that nobody in this film is particularly likable, but that's more Homer's fault than Nolan's). So instead I want to dig into the technical side, because that's where the real question lives: how does one director keep putting out either absolute bangers or absolute mid, with almost nothing in between? My answer is admittedly intangible: Nolan is missing the sauce. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean. This movie is full of great moments that add up to something strangely uninspiring. Go rewatch The Dark Knight trilogy, then put on Matt Reeves's The Batman. The difference is night and day. Reeves builds a Gotham that swallows you. With Nolan, I can see the world and even admire it (it’s literally just Chicago), but there's a barrier I can never quite break through. It's not a question of ability, either. Oppenheimer had the sauce. That film felt textured, tactile, larger than life. The Odyssey just feels... bland. Watch it back to back with The Northman. Two mythic worlds that should feel like cousins, and Eggers is capturing something Nolan isn't even reaching for. Part of this is a broader modern blockbuster problem: everything is too clean. I want grit and texture. I want lighting that's dramatized to evoke emotion, not lighting that merely justifies itself. Every interior scene in this movie is lit the exact same way, the same fire flickering behind the characters. Is that realistic? Sure. But realism isn't the assignment. This is myth. As Andrew Lesnie, cinematographer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, answered when asked where the light was coming from: "The same place as the music." Denis Villeneuve understands this too. The sheer scale of his films feels insane in the best way. The invasion of Troy, by comparison, felt like a theater set. Credit where it's due, though, because there's plenty to like. The acting is phenomenal across the board. I was hesitant when Tom Holland was cast, but he keeps pace with everyone around him. No single standout performance, just uniform excellence. Ludwig Göransson delivers another fantastic score, and at this point he is up there alongside Daniel Pemberton and Hans Zimmer as the best Western composers working. The sound design might be the film's most underrated aspect. You’ll know what scene I’m talking about. The pacing surprised me as well. The first thirty minutes move at breakneck speed, then the film settles into a cadence that feels natural and engaging once the prologue ends. Lastly, the costume design, historically accurate or not, is awesome. You cannot tell me Agamemnon didn't have insane aura every time he was on screen. So where does that leave The Odyssey? Impressed and unmoved. It's a well-acted, immaculately built epic that never once made me feel like I was standing somewhere ancient and dangerous. This story survived three thousand years for good reason. Nolan just projects it in IMAX, pristine and enormous, from behind glass. The machine runs beautifully. The sauce never shows up.

You know what? I’m gonna say it. White-people-comedy-family-slop is enjoyable cinema and im tired of people saying it’s not.

Minions Manslaughter Yaoi ✋Cinema✋

Two gay lovers fight ICE in giant mech suits, it really doesn’t get more peak than this.