The Odyssey

While I'm not always a big fan of Christopher Nolan, I really loved Oppenheimer, so this has been one of my most highly anticipated movies of the year. I saw it in IMAX on the day it came out. Despite all the discourse around The Odyssey prior to its release (with some making valid criticisms, and others just being stupid, racist, and/or transphobic), I'm happy to report that I thought it was fantastic! Driving through a lightning storm on the way home from the theater added to the experience lol. I've never read the epic poem by Homer, but I enjoyed this film so much that I decided to buy a copy. I'd highly recommend going to see it. While I don't know how faithful this film is to Homer's version, I really like the story Nolan tells here. It feels like a universal story that anyone could see aspects of their own life (or the human condition) in, and I can understand why The Odyssey has endured for centuries. Christopher Nolan's version is surprisingly similar to Oppenheimer in a lot of ways. Odysseus, like Oppenheimer, is haunted by the impact he's had on history. He knows that he can never return to the world that existed before the sacking of Troy. Both characters realize that what they thought would be their greatest achievement might actually be the moment they changed the world for the worse forever. In our current era, a lot of people are realizing that humanity has lost its way, and I think that's something Nolan has been reckoning with. Both movies also use nonlinear storytelling really successfully. The Cyclops scenes and the Circe scenes were highlights, and there were plenty of other great moments, too. The historical inaccuracies don't really bother me. My only issue with the casting is that I do get tired of seeing the same expensive, big-name actors all the time, and I wonder if lesser-known actors could have played the characters better. It was also a bit hard to understand the dialogue at times. Despite my small criticisms, I can't wait to revisit this once I've read the source material. 9/10