lost pages

Nolan’s take on an Epic Greek Fantasy, but is it a worthwhile journey?

Christopher Nolan is back again and this time taking on the very challenging material of adapting Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. Now I am not too familiar with the source material and knowing only bits and pieces of Greek Mythology and some plot points in regards to the original story of The Odyssey from YouTube videos, I had watched a couple of months back before the release of this film.

It just became a really interesting question to me: how shall Nolan tackle this Epic Greek Fantasy? And to answer that question, I would have to give a long answer. But the short answer is that The Odyssey for me is a technical marvel showcasing why Nolan is such a staunch advocator of filming on IMAX. He is really pushing for a cinematic experience worthy of not only seeing the film in 70MM IMAX (which I was fortunate to do), but really making a film worthy of watching within theatres.

The Odyssey is filled with a strong cast being very impressed by the lead in Matt Damon playing Odysseus, you see the pain and anguish of his character and Damon delivers a powerful performance of what the cost of war entails (the battle of Troy) and dealing with the consequences of his own actions. Another notable member of the cast was Samantha Morton, playing the powerful witch goddess Circe that is both haunting and tragic.

There is a lot to really like about this film in terms of its beautiful cinematography, visual effects and score. A big mention to how Nolan depicted Cyclops, where there was this level of scale and terror to witnessing such a creature on the big screen, where you can both empathise and be terrified of such a fictional being. However, my gripes with the film comes with a lack of personal attachment to these characters in that to some degree I wish the character development was more meaningful and to deliver that gut-wrenching emotional punch that you would desire from watching an Epic.

To me, I just felt like I barely knew the characters well enough even though the film is close to three hours long. The use of fast edits can sometimes not allow the scene to really breathe and coupled with my lack of intimate knowledge regarding Homer’s masterpiece, it just left me more puzzled. As an audience member, I was somewhat lost and the dialogue being very exposition heavy did not help in this instance. The audio mixing from my own personal experience was not too bad even if some dialogue I may not have properly heard. On top of that, the use of colour can somewhat be disappointing as you would perhaps hope, that the film incorporates more vibrant colours than be rather stark and muted in expression. The costume design also felt a bit tacky, where you would imagine the armour and helmets to have an unrefined look of being rough and bruised. The overly clean and polished Hollywood aesthetic in some way held back the film for me as it just felt like the magic and adventure was being sucked out.

I understand that the film tries to showcase its ideas through moral dilemmas in attempting to make the audience reflect on how The Trojan War was in fact the beginning of the end of the Bronze Age and that Odysseus was not noble in how he and his soldiers pillaged people of their resources exercising potential rape and violence to meet their goals.

All that being said, the emotional crux just did not land for me and the characters just felt too one note in execution with the big emotional catharsis that you would come to expect in the third act not really hitting the mark for me. The fight choreography was a bit choppy and with all the fast cuts not allowing you to fully digest what is going on.

To conclude, Christopher Nolan has made a film worthy of watching in the theatre. The Odyssey has this overarching ambition even though sometimes I get the feeling Nolan gets too lost in the sauce of technical wizardry, where the heart of the film can be rather cold than endearing.