Odyssey Overhyped

This summer, several movies were released that have the potential to be great, as Caleb Park ‘29 discussed in his September article. Obsession, an indie horror film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and finally, The Odyssey. I had very high hopes for the Odyssey when I went to see it. The cast, consisting of big names like Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway, had the potential to be great. Furthermore, Christopher Nolan, in my opinion, is one of the best directors of this generation. So, with a great cast, a great director, and one of the best story plots ever, this movie was set to be amazing. (Note, there are spoilers ahead!)

Unfortunately, it fell far short of the mark. I am not saying the movie is bad (I would give it a 7.5/10), but the claim that it is one of the best films is a lie and reflects recency bias. 

From the opening scene, the first person the audience sees is Travis Scott. I was completely thrown off by this. This was the first hint that the movie was overhyped. I understand that a bard is a poet and singer, but I would rather have a different singer than Travis Scott. Moreover, Tom Holland, who portrayed Telemachus, was terrible. I think Tom Holland is a good actor, especially in his role as Spider-Man. But his portrayal of Telemachus felt super flat, and his bond with Odysseus was very superficial. The rest of the cast did their jobs well, especially Robert Pattinson as Antinous. 

Moving towards the plot, it is very difficult to compress a twenty-year story into a three-hour movie, and choosing which events to show on screen is hard, so this wasn’t my biggest issue with the film. However, there was a better way to arrange the scenes. For instance, when Odysseus and his men travel to the underworld, they should have spent more time there. There were important people Odysseus spoke to in the epic poem, but they were cut from the movie. I would rather see Odysseus talk to Achilles than Sinon, for example. To make this work, Odysseus’ encounter with the Laestrygones—the giant, cannibalistic men—could be told as a flashback with Calypso. This could have saved time for other scenes. 

Truly, my major issue with this film is that it is nowhere near Christopher Nolan’s best work. Even with IMAX 70mm and minimal CGI, this movie still does not reach the level of Memento, The Dark Knight, or even Oppenheimer. Maybe I’m being overly critical because this is such a well-known story, but it was still hyped a lot.  The Odyssey falls on the same low tier as Dunkirk. 

Nonetheless, there were some moments of The Odyssey that deserve praise.  The Sirens, the Underworld (even if it was too short), and Calypso were all very good, but some of the other moments of the film felt like filler scenes. My hands-down favorite moment was when the gates of Troy fell, and Agamemnon just stood there. The movie was not bad by any means, but I heard so much hype about it beforehand. It didn’t live up to my expectations.