The Odyssey

too tired to do a full review rn, will do tmrw. sadly wasn’t able to see in 70mm imax, just normal imax. highlight of the movie was anne hathaway imo. okay so there is a lot to say about this as always with nolan. going into this my expectations were obviously sky high, and while i did enjoy the movie, it really did not hit those expectations. it was never going to be perfect to film a movie fully in imax, and i prob missed out on part of the appeal by not seeing it in 70mm imax, but there were a lot of issues with it. during more intimate scenes that imax would never be used in it just didnt work. there were serious issues with racking focus, or even just keeping the subject in focus. one scene where anne hathaway was talking to someone, everytime she moved her head she went out of focus and it rly took you out of it. the imax looked amazing during many scenes where it would be traditionally used and the way the landscapes were filmed, and also the ships and especially the trojan war were amazing, but it's clear to see why imax prob shouldnt be used for a whole movie. another thing that kinda got to me was the sound design. it was rly great at times, during the siren scene obv, but also during some scenes on boats, but in too many scenes it was exceedingly overwhelming to the point that it was just noise. the sound design is intentionally overwhelming at times, but there were a few moments where it really took away from the film. i also was pretty hyped for the score, and while it was pretty unique and more subtle than i thought it would be, with some clear highlights, i think it didn't get the chance to fully shine through because of the rest of the sound. the acting i was pretty happy with for the most part, anne hathaway being far and away the best imo, but rpat and damon both doing well, and most of the smaller roles were able to shine through with limited screentime. this movie kinda had an issue with its characters tho. the focus was so spread and the pace was so quick, trying to jam so much into a sub 3 hour movie sacrificed letting us feel the characters more. i wish we got more time with odysseus in the first two acts, it felt like everything was hitched upon the scene where he explained troy to penelope, which was great, but kinda came too late. my favorite part of the film apart from anne hathaway was prob the narrative style which ive heard they stuck true to the original story with (i havent read the odyssey). i thought it was definitely a strength having troy only as flashbacks, and odysseus struggling to remember the man he was. i think this is a rare movie of nearly 3 hours of length that did need to be a bit longer. this is definitely a movie to see in theaters, as all nolan movies are, and im glad i did (even if not in the format i wanted to). a very important movie to modern cinema because of the risks it took, and hopefully nolan keeps taking risks, pushing the boundaries of what cinema can be.