The Odyssey
After the strong reviews, I was surprised at how underwhelmed I was by Christopher Nolan’s latest film. The visuals were incredible, and on a technical level, I’m sure it will mop up, but so many things were lackluster about The Odyssey. The dialogue was horribly dull, the pacing was neck-breakingly fast and as a result, no scenes had any time to breath. Actors were never afforded the screentime to display any depth. It’s just one event to the next, trying to cram in as much as possible from the epic’s source material in the IMAX’s 3-hour film reel limit. If afforded a 4-hour cut of this movie, I think there could have really been something, but the poor dialogue makes me wonder if even that’s true. This is not a bad movie by any means, but by Nolan’s own standards, this is closer to the Tenet side of the spectrum than the rest of his filmography.
-Z
I went in expecting the best movie of the year, so I was initially a little disappointed that I don’t think this will be that for me, but it is undeniably a great film that needs to be seen in a theater. The visuals were outstanding. The story felt a little rushed in places, and I honestly wasn’t blown away by the acting (sorry Anne Hathaway, but you were just trying way too hard to be dramatic), but the entire (pretty long) run time was fully engaging and I’m so glad we got to see this in a huge, packed theater.
-E
The first thing I said after the film I think still holds; The scale alone of this movie makes it something special. They A-list actors, the practical effects, the sound design and locations, all great. Now in no way was it a perfect film and I do wish that some parts of the story went farther in depth, but a 3 hour movie I wanted more of is saying something. Nolan is the best director right now and I don’t think it is particularly close. I also have a feeling that this is already the Best Picture winner of the year, but I will agree with Z in the fact that I don’t think it has the wow factor that Oppenheimer had. Overall, I am very excited for another watch and I feel like I will like it more, not less.
-J
