Meet Mewada

**Full of courage and might, but sometimes loses its sight.** Visually great, and emotionally engaging for the most part, though some moments fell short. The look, feel and sound are impressive throughout, and it kept me intrigued and engrossed for its entire 3-hour runtime. Never a dull frame. Coming in with zero knowledge of what Homer originally wrote, I found the stories mostly interesting. The production quality is consistently impressive, the outdoor scenes feel genuinely immersive, and the CGI is subtle and clean. The music is great too. The performances are great and powerful overall. Anne Hathaway is almost perfect in her expressions, with some slight restrictions due to her heavily botoxed face limiting certain muscle movements. Matt Damon is fantastic, showing beautiful courage and rage throughout. Nolan succeeds in making you feel the hope, fear and courage of Odysseus, which is a win. The narration works well too, as we get visuals of what is being narrated rather than just words. Props to the realism, which is consistent throughout, with no over-the-top action set pieces. On the downside, the film as a whole feels more like a bunch of sequences stitched together, almost like a slideshow of events. The edit during one-on-one conversation scenes is really jarring, cutting away before even holding a frame for long, almost like a TikTok edit. Some scenes and dialogues also stretch into territory of all words and no real meaning, just jargon. And if you are calling this a modern take on the story, that modern theme needs to be consistent across every aspect. You cannot modernize the language but keep the way of talking stuck in the past. Tom Holland tries his best but does not make you feel much, and also has very little to do activity-wise. There are too many characters to give enough time to build real human connections. And on that note, can we please stop with the marketing gimmick of Nolan not using CGI? It is clearly there, and it is done phenomenally, so why deny it every time? I enjoyed it, no doubt. Will I watch it again? Yes. For the story and screenplay? No. Clearly enjoyable, hopeful, exciting and powerful overall, but with hasty screenplay and narrative structure issues, a lack of human connection in places and an underwhelming edit during conversations. This did not feel like a Nolan film. If you replaced his director credit at the end with someone else's name, it would not make a difference. Nolan can do more than this, and this is not his best.

**Great, but could have been peak.** Loved it as a fan of the character. Beautiful cinematography that almost felt like a video game, especially with the slow motion and POV shots, which are so well done and feel incredibly realistic. The sound design is great, the CGI looks fantastic, and some of the music pieces used are really enjoyable. The action set pieces are nicely conceptualized and combined with the great cinematography they almost turn into a video game on the theatre screen. Lots of fun. Performances are amazing from everyone. However, the story and screenplay are where the film stumbles. The pacing pulls the story down rather than lifting it. The edit also feels jarring when transitioning between funny and serious sequences. The film tries to mask this with music, but it is clearly visible in the edit. A more natural scene-to-scene transition would have solved most of this. The story follows a very predictable pattern too, and coming from someone who does not watch all Marvel films, it felt very formulaic, almost like characters were set up purely to execute a predetermined structure. The dialogues also get a bit repetitive after a point, and some gags go on for too long or are repeated one too many times. I understand that Brand New Day means starting fresh, but that does not justify such a weak screenplay. Spider-Man was my first ever superhero as a child, so this character holds a very special place for me. I did enjoy it, but I wish it had been better. I wanted to love it more.

**Fun and crazy.** Great action and horror set pieces that are beautifully designed. Loved the long one-take shot during the climax. The performances are great all around, and the prosthetic and blood work is detailed and precise. The VFX is great too, barring one janky shot. The pacing is good in most parts, the edit is tight, and the sound design is fantastic, getting even better on a Dolby 7.1 screen. The title card game is still strong, just like Evil Dead Rise. Also loved the use of Chekhov's gun concept here. Great mid-credit scene, and the post-credit scene was even better. The writing is where the film stumbles. Very convenient in some parts, almost as if they deliberately held back certain things just to save them for later, rather than addressing them naturally in the beginning or middle. Some usual horror tropes also make it feel a bit lazy in places. The climax in particular gets messy, with multiple characters struggling for screen time and too much information being crammed in at the end because so much was saved for last. The edit looks tight, but the writing makes it feel messy. It is not bad at all. But it could have been so much better if the writing had been given the same attention and care as the action and horror sequences. The potential was clearly there. Had fun still, but left wanting more from what this could have been.

**Manoj Bajpayee, the GOAT.** What a phenomenal actor. The way he pulls you in purely through his performance and dialogue delivery is so beautiful. He fully immerses himself into the character, nailing the voice, mannerisms and energy of a 64-year-old senior citizen to perfection. One of the finest. A master. I am so mesmerized by his performance here that I can barely think clearly about anything else. Rajkummar Rao almost matches him, which is saying a lot. He perfectly captures the traits and energetic vibe of a young guy, and together, both leads depict the age gap between their characters so convincingly. Ashish Vidyarthi is great as the lawyer in his limited appearance, and it was lovely to spot Ishwak Singh here too. The story is so warm and heartwarming. Hansal Mehta smartly chooses a calm and quiet approach that allows the strong themes of the film to marinate in silence, making you feel each emotion to its fullest depth. Love Hansal Mehta as a director always. The story never complicates things to push any personal narrative and stays focused on the life of the person it is based on. The vibe and atmosphere of the city seeps through the houses and streets beautifully. The only valid criticism is that some scenes could have been trimmed or removed entirely, as they do not add much to the story. But that is a minor complaint in an otherwise deeply moving film.