The Odyssey Review

Cast – Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, John Leguizamo, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel and others
Director – Christopher Nolan
Producers – Emma Thomas & Christopher Nolan
Banners – Universal Pictures & Syncopy Inc.
Music – Ludwig Göransson
Genere – Action Fantasy Adventure
Runtime – 02 Hrs 53 Mins

Following(1998) – A neo-noir crime thriller, Memento(2000) – A neo-noir psychological thriller, Insomnia(2002) – A neo-noir psychological thriller, Batman trilogy(2005, 2008 & 2012) – A superhero action drama, The Prestige(2006) – A science fantasy psychological thriller, Inception(2010) – A sci-fi action drama, Interstellar(2014) – A sci-fi drama, Dunkirk(2017) – A historical war drama, Tenet(2020) – A sci-fi action thriller, Oppenheimer(2023) – A biographical thriller drama, a director who directed all these films require any introduction? Certainly not. His name on the film poster is more than enough to blindly put your trust in it and buy a ticket to watch the film on the biggest possible screen around you. The Odyssey, is the latest directorial work of Christopher Nolan. It as adoption of Homer’s ancient Greek epic, the Odyssey. The Odyssey is the first feature film to be entirely shot using IMAX film cameras. Nolan roped in many notable actors to play the crucial roles and shot the film mostly in real locations. Did the Odyssey, live up to the expectations? Did Christopher Nolan, come up with a stunning film yet again? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

After participating in and winning the ten-year-long Trojan War, what happens when Odysseus(Matt Damon) and his men, start their journey to return home? Why did they stop at multiple places on their journey back home through the sea? What challenges do they face whenever they reach an island and how do they overcome those challenges? How many days or weeks or months or years did it take for Odysseus and his team(?) to reach home? What happened to the kingdom of Ithaca, during the absence of Odysseus? Did he eventually reach Ithaca and meet his beloved wife(Anne Hathaway) and his loving son(Tom Holland)? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

When a film has actors like, Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and Robert Pattinson, do we really need to talk about performances in particular? As expected, all of them not just acted but lived in their characters. Especially, Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway, delivered outstanding performances. In the roles of a Greek king and a queen, they both looked majestic and mesmerised the audience through their brilliant portrayal.

Tom Holland in a limited role did very well and so did Zendaya. Charlize Theron in the role of Calypso, looked like a million bucks and performed well too. Samantha Morton in the role of a witch is superb. She literally terrified the audience in a sequence. Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Himesh Patel and almost all other actors played their roles well.

Technicalities:

Technical brilliance was written all over the Odyssey. Every department gave their best output and helped Nolan to bring his vision in a spectacular way. The film in all probability is going to win a lot of awards across the globe in the coming days. Nolan and his team deserve every applause for putting in the effort to shoot the film in real locations as much as possible. All their hard work was to be seen on the screen. Kudos to everyone involved for giving a superior quality film that looked like a dream on an IMAX screen.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Third Act
2.⁠ ⁠Technical Brilliance
3.⁠ ⁠Performances
4.⁠ ⁠Stunning Visuals
5.⁠ ⁠Philosophical Tone
6.⁠ ⁠Dialogue Writing

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Drama During Acts One & Two
2.⁠ ⁠Leisurely Pace
3.⁠ ⁠Not So Gripping Screenplay
4.⁠ ⁠Déjà vu Feel

Analysis:

‘You need to watch a Christopher Nolan’s film at least twice to understand it’, ‘You may need to use your brain throughout while watching the film’, ‘You should watch it with utmost focus and attention’, ‘You should be smart and intelligent to understand the film’, ‘It is very confusing’, ‘Non-linear storytelling is very intriguing’, are a few of the phrases people use while talking about or describing a film directed by Christopher Nolan. The good news with the Odyssey is that it does not test your intelligence. Nolan used a non-linear screenplay in The Odyssey as well but it is not as complicated as most of his other films. The storytelling is as simple as it can get in a Nolan’s film and even if you do have no idea or have never read about Greek mythology, you can easily understand the film and relate to the characters and their journey. Nolan took the storyline for the film from Homer’s Greek epic and blended it with technical brilliance to give us a visually stunning film. The breathtaking visuals along with excellent sound design, made the film a beautiful visual poetry.

There are quite a few episodes of the film that deserve special mention and appreciation, but the episode inspired by Ramayana’s Seetha Swayamvaram stands out as the best among all other episodes. Nolan took the ‘Seetha Swayamvaram’, as inspiration and drew superbly drawn parallels between Rama & Seetha and Odysseus & Penelope. The way the entire bow and arrow sequence was shown when Odysseus & Penelope were young, the sound design used for the string and the way Nolan gave the payoff for the episode during pre-climax, is simply outstanding. We may have seen quite a few films which were inspired by the Ramayana but Nolan’s tribute to the Indian epic is inarguably the best among all. As an Indian audience, it felt so good to see one of th greatest & respected film directors in th world, getting inspired by Indian epics.

The film takes us on the journey of Odysseus on his way back home after participating in and winning the ten-year-long Trojan War. The first two hours of the film take us through the challenges Odysseus and his men faced while returning home, and the mystical creatures with which they had to fight to survive. Kudos to Nolan and his team for shooting all of these episodes in real locations as much as possible. The first episode in the sea and the sequence involving the Trojan horse were simply outstanding. The technical brilliance was there to be seen in almost every frame but the drama during the first two acts unfolds at a very leisurely pace and with a predictable note. The visual brilliance compensated to an extent for the not-so-engaging drama but after a point, the challenges Odysseus and his team face get a bit monotonous and repetitive. Out of the three challenges(i.e., Single-eyed demon, a witch and a tribe of Hulk-like men), only one episode(i.e. the episode involving the witch), came out very well and the other two episodes did not leave the desired impact.

After about two hours of slow-burn drama, the film picked up the pace very well in the third act. The drama, the dialogues, the emotions, the pay-offs, the action episode and the end, everything worked out in the third act and made us leave the theatre on a satisfying note. The dialogue writing during the third act is brilliant. ‘When is he coming back?… Soon..!…. With vengeance?…. With everything!!!!’, ‘Do you want me to surrender to those cowards and marry one of them to safeguard the throne?….. Do you have any other better plan?…. Yes. Put all them in a room, set the fire and burn them!!’, ‘Why do you want to marry an old woman like me?…. Because I love your loyalty towards Odysseus. That kind of loyalty is very attractive & addictive’, apart from the above mentioned dialogues, the film has quite a few very well-written lines for almost every character.

The way Nolan tried to instil philosophy through his characters and visuals in the Odyssey certainly deserves all the appreciation. When the Odysseus team lands on the island of Aeaea, they decide to reach out to Circe, a witch in the disguise of a human, for food. While they were walking towards Circe’s house, they came across multiple red flags and yet they chose to ignore all those red flags because they were starving for food. Nolan brilliantly used this entire sequence to convey how a hungry stomach makes the smartest of people do stupid things. Not just about hunger, Nolan talked a lot about philosophy through his characters in the film without getting preachy. It is not an attempt to say that Nolan was inspired consciously or unconsciously by the Baahubali series films. But, all the principal characters in the Odyssey and the last hour in the film, remind you of Baahubali. The so-called high moments in the film remind you of many indian action adventure films. It is because of this familiarity that the last hour of the film gives a feeling of Déjà vu.

Overall, is The Odyssey, a good film? Yes. If you are fine with action fantasy Drama films that unfold at a leisurely pace. Is The Odyssey, a great film? Certainly not. It is Nolan’s simplest movie when it comes to storytelling but technically, it is of very superior quality. The stunning visuals and the thumping and yet intriguing sound design on an IMAX screen are sure to give the audience an out-of-this-world experience. And, yes, if possible watch the film on an IMAX screen. It is a big-screen spectacle and it certainly needs an IMAX screen to experience the film in all its glory.

Bottomline – Slowburn Visual Poetry

Tags The Odyssey