Since we live in a world of lists not literature, here’s three reasons Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY floored me. We’ll get to the serious, with a capital “S,” aspect in a sec but first the fun factor.
1). THE OLD SCHOOL ALL-STAR CAST of yore today brings chuckles (Tony Curtis in SPARTACUS?). Here they rarely falter and I’ll mention a few.
As Odysseus, Greek king of Ithaca, Matt Damon taps his superpower of rugged relatability and, as in THE MARTIAN, down but not out, common-sense pragmatism. John Leguizamo as his blind mentor cracks wise, Elliot Page’s Sinon seeps earned empathy and punch able face Robert Pattinson oozes oily as the supercilious villain. Also took a shine to Jon Berthal’s king of Sparta in the key of Ving Rhames without coming off like Harvey Keitel’s Bronx mook Judas in THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. (Screenwriter Nolan uses modern language vs. stilted pentameter and pulls it off.)
Nolan is getting shin kicked on the socials on the threadbare women characters. To me, Anne Hathaway as Odysseus’ patient, pining wife Penelope holds her own in what could be the thankless Jean Simmons role. Usually magnetic Zendaya is vague as goddess Athena and Charlize Theron doesn’t register as Odysseus’ rescuer who manipulates him by getting him hooked on lotus flowers. HOWEVER, Samantha Morton’s witch is so harrowing she’ll probably clinch a Best Supporting Actress win. Her sequence is one of the scariest in a summer of several tremendous horror movies.
2). THE SPECTACLE: What we came for. It’s the first movie entirely shot in IMAX by Nolan’s go-to cinematographer Hoyt van Hoytema who could only shoot three-minutes at a time before switching reels. Still, out of neighborhood loyalty, we settled for booming 70mm at the Vista. This paid dividends due to the trailer for JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS the 1963 matinee movie of my dreams which a shrewd teacher showed us in elementary school to sell us on Greek mythology. Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion Cyclops, winged harpies and army of sword swinging skeletons wow audiences to this day. Nolan honors Harryhausen with a lumbering, morose but cannibalistic Cyclops in a Guillermo del Toro mode, ups GAME OF THRONES with large scale, sword clanging battle scenes and elicits awwws with a gigantic whirlpool. We rocked back and forth amidst pounding waves thanks to a peeved off-screen Poseidon.
3). DEPTH. Unlike say the rousing GLADIATOR, Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY has layers of thematic power. Early on, we marveled at the half submerged Trojan horse, which we always associate with sneaky military strategy. Instead, Odysseus eventually learns this fake gift of peace violated Zeus’ law (basically the Golden Rule in the Bronze Age) and led to slaughter. Odysseus shares DNA with Nolan’s Oppenheimer who came to rue the powers he unleashed. Cannily camouflaged by the force of its imagery, THE ODYSSEY has a grim timeliness right now as we wait, as Oppenheimer did with his bomb, for AI to potentially destroy us while we shrug it off as a fait accompli.
Thomas Wolfe famously wrote you can’t come home again a lesson not lost on Nolan. Odysseus’ long journey back to Ithica is a different sort of road movie with a muted but stirring culmination. There’s real meat on the bone to chew on here once the sparkle fades.
THE ODYSSEY is packing them in and has grossed $286.4 million in North America and $639.6 million globally in just two weeks. While there’s much justified handwringing over the viability of the Hollywood theatrical experience, I feel lucky Nolan has a blank check to create as the only brand name director other than Tarantino who will draw throngs just out of sheer respect and anticipation based on past work like OPPENHEIMER, DUNKIRK and at least the first two thirds of his DARK KNIGHT trilogy (the finale flopped for me). I usually check out of most Hollywood fare in the summer but THE DRAMA. THE INVITE, OBSESSION. BACKROOMS and now this Nolan stunner have made the cine-sun blindingly bright.
Eric Lindbom is a hardcore horror buff with a strong stomach, weaned on the Universal classics from the ’30s and ’40s. He’s written film and/or music reviews for City Pages, Twin Cities Reader, LA WEEKLY, Request magazine and Netflix. He co-edits triggerwarningshortfiction.com, a site specializing in horror, fantasy and crime short stories with illustrations by co-editor John Skewes. He lives in Los Angeles.
