God that movie was boring, and no not because it had black people.
It felt like they wanted to tell a primarily ‘drama’ type movie; I would say I don’t like that there was so much focus on Telemachus and the suitors, but they cast famous actors, no way were they going to just have them appear in short segments; also Odysseus’ segments wasn’t as fantastical as I would’ve liked so I didn’t feel like I was being kept away from anything interesting. And again, it felt like they wanted to tell a primarily drama type movie; Odysseus felt like a broken man most of the time, and yes, by the end of the movie they reveal why he was so broken the whole time but it doesn’t make having to watch him be like this the entire run a fun journey. Was Christopher Nolan depressed or something and wanted to make a movie to reflect that mood?
Was there ANY good parts to the movie? Few and far between, but my favorite scene was Circe practicing her magic on Odysseus’ men, absolutely fantastic job on the practical effects (cause that’s the other thing; apparently Nolan had a strict ‘no CGI’ rule on effects like this); the Cyclops, while his segment was unimpressive, had a scream that was genuinely monstrous. The acting was amazing but of course it was; they cast accomplished actors who knew how to act.
Ironically though I think casting such famous actors was a mistake; basically you’re looking at this movie and thinking ‘Hey, spider-man! Hey, Edward! Hey, Punisher! Hey, familiar guy who acts in lots of side roles (the blind farmer)!’
Also the locations were dreadfully dull to look at; most of the lands they go to are just forest sections, beaches or deserts. Places were always important to me a in a movie (also games), and I need good, fun environments to really make a movie memorable and exciting, and to make it stand out.
I will say though that perhaps the movie just wasn’t for me, as tons of people enjoyed it and even by the end of the movie people were literally clapping; when Odysseus strings his bow and shoots his arrow, the guy next to me even instinctively just began clapping in excitement. I’m a horror movie fan who also likes heavy fantasy; I’m fine with sword and sandal fantasy, but where the fantasy is more pronounced, like in the older Odyssey movie. This movie just really wasn’t for me, but clearly everyone else in the cinema had a blast.
I held off on seeing it because I got a similar feeling from the trailers: like, where’s the magic? Not just the literal gods and monsters, but the sense that it’s a heroic adventure rather than a gritty drama. By the sounds of it it’s because it’s a gritty drama rather than a heroic adventure.
Honestly he should’ve just made a historical movie instead; he was clearly trying to show the trauma that war leaves on soldiers, and a realistic historical movie would’ve accomplished that better
spoiler
There was a scene with Circe where she changes Odysseus’ men back to normal and she’s like ‘wear the costume once more’, and like we get it, they’re pigs, you really didn’t need to push the point this hard; this line was entirely unnecessary, but instead they had her say it to each person she removed her magic from