Review: The Odyssey

The Odyssey debuted in theaters this weekend. I went to see it yesterday in the afternoon. At my local cineplex, the movie played in six of the twenty theaters. I saw it in the afternoon and it was sold out. When I was leaving, the movie theater was packed. This is definitely the blockbuster of the summer. Was it worth the hype?

I was an English teacher for many years and taught The Odyssey several times. The movie did not match the epic, but that’s Hollywood. They take ancient writings, books, plays, myths, poems, and whatever else and then make it their own. With that in mind, I never expected the movie to be one hundred percent true to Homer. But the movie followed the myth close enough to enjoy the 8th BCE poem. Odysseus’s famous adventures came to life in a mesmerizing way.

My favorite adventure that Odysseus and his army encounter is with Circe the witch. The transformation from man to pig was astounding. The Cyclops adventure was also amazing. The acting was top-notch. Matt Damon deserves an award. He played a level-headed, warrior leader who thought before he acted in every dilemma he and his men came upon. I also thought Anne Hathaway was convincing as a grieving widow, Penelope, forced to take a new husband or lose her kingdom. The way she stalled, hoping that Odysseus would still be alive was believable. She can get her eyes to well up in tears on command. Lastly, I was really impressed with Robert Pattinson who plays an evil suitor. You can actually feel him breathing down Hathaway’s neck as he sees an opportunity to take her as his wife and ultimately take the kingdom.

I saw Christopher Nolan plugging his movie on a few talk shows. He claims all the shots were filmed with real actors in real places. The movie was shot in Greece, Italy, Morocco, Iceland, Scotland, and the USA. Some of the scenes had hundreds of real people, not AI, in them. He used an IMAX camera which are said to have the clearest perspective and resolution in film that are ideal for the IMAX screen. There are disadvantages to using this camera, mainly time and money. The cameras need to be reloaded every 3 minutes which require the actors have to constantly stop and then restart the scene. They are also the most expensive to use.

Christopher Nolan has made several noteworthy films including the Batman series with Batman Begins, Dark Knight, and Dark Knight Rises, some of my personal favorites. He also deserves an award.

                            Favignana, Sicily

This is one of those movies that will go down as a classic. Some Facebook posts are going around that the movie in an abomination of Homer’s Odyssey-not true. Some claim the movie is “woke” because there is a trans actor who has a few lines. I wouldn’t have even known had there not been posts. This actor did not make or break the movie or make it political in anyway. I had an enjoyable afternoon being highly entertained through this Greek epic. High schoolers will not complain when they are required to read the poem. I hope the teacher plays the movie after the test.  Great escape into another world! 5/5 Stars

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