Editor’s Note: Freeline Media critic Mike Fried is getting positively Olympic in his review of the new cinematic adventure The Odyssey. Why does he think it offers Herculean pleasures? Read on!
By MIKE FRIED
The Odyssey
5/5
“O muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story / Of that man skilled in all the ways of contending/A wanderer, harried for years on end”
The Trojan War is over. The legendary King of Ithaca, Odysseus, leads his men on a 10-year journey back home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. However, along the way, he has some pretty epic adventures involving some pretty interesting creatures while skullduggery is afoot at home, courtesy of the wily Antinous.
Christopher Nolan’s follow up to his multiple Oscar winning film Oppenheimer has a lot in common with his nuclear classic. Whereas Oppenheimer dealt with a man having to live with the fallout (pun intended) of his creation — “I have become death, destroyer of worlds” — Odysseus has the similar regrets because of the dangers with which he imperils his men. And that’s one of the great motivations in film: overcoming or living with regret.
And to all of those people who have criticized the movie before it opens because of casting decisions and historical inaccuracies: SHUT UP! The epic poem upon which this film is based is a work of fiction, so Nolan is free to do as he wishes. Helen of Troy is fictitious!!!!
Not only does Nolan feature his trademark non-linear storytelling, he does so through several narrators who provide their recollections of events. One of those narrators is Odysseus himself; but by the time we first meet him through his own narrative, he is with Calypso on the island of Ogygia and doesn’t remember what happened to him before and Calypso coaxes the truth out of him. This is why the other narratives are so important, especially Menelaus telling Telemachus about the Trojan Horse — complete with all of the bodily waste that previous tellings of the story omitted.
I personally appreciated the fact that Nolan wanted to direct this because he had been enamored with the films of Ray Harryhausen and this movie does have a Jason and the Argonauts feel, although on a much more epic and modern scale.
And it is an epic in every sense of the word. But most of the film uses practical effects. The longboat that sets out to sea is a real modern Viking ship. The Cyclops is a huge animatronic. The massive Troy night sequence was not lit by fire but with thousands of LED boards that mimicked fire. More than 4,000+ costumes were created. The cast playing Odysseus’ crew had to learn rowing and sailing skills. The terrific Ludwig Göransson score is performed on traditional Greek instruments like the gong, the lyre, lutes and the like. In addition, Nolan uses a lot of location shooting rather than green-screening the backgrounds and this gives the film a look of grandeur and massive scope. Nolan will be nominated for best director and the film will be nominated for best picture, but can he repeat both back to back? That’s a big question.
And the entire film was shot in an IMAX format, the first such feature to do so because previously the sound of the cameras was too loud for dialogue. But IMAX created a 600 pound box called The Blimp that dampened the sound to allowed recorded dialogue. Remarkably, the IMAX cameras only hold a three minute canister of film so in the middle of scenes the film needed to be changed, leaving the actors to stand around until the camera was reloaded. It is an incredible achievement — and even more so when one considers the fact that principal photography took only 91 days. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is breathtaking.
As an aside, I did not see this on an IMAX screen. But I did see it in the Premium Format RPX because of a) distance to IMAX and b) I found out that the (older) IMAX screen closest to me is about the same size as my (newer) RPX screen. Do try and see this in a premium format if you have that available.
With its colossal cast, filled with a lot of A-listers, this movie is a throwback to the epics of Old Hollywood.
And what a cast it is.
Anne Hathaway as Penelope, spinning her loom and weaving a shroud that she undoes at night (because when she is done, she will need to pick a new husband from the many suitors who have ingratiated themselves in her castle), taking advantage of Zeus’ law (don’t turn away a guest because it might be a god in disguise) and chief among these suitors is Robert Pattinson’s Antinous. She is strong and brave for both herself and her son and fervently believes that her husband is alive. Pattinson is terrific as a snake in the grass and, worse, a coward, unfit to have Penelope’s hand in marriage. Tom Holland is Telemachus and also believes that his father is alive absent proof to the contrary, which he sets out to find from Jon Bernthal, playing Menelaus, whose rousing rendition of the conquest of Troy is mesmerizing.
Zendaya plays the goddess Athena who appears to Odysseus as an apparition. James Remar plays the Tiresias, the blind prophet of Hades, the Greek underworld. Samantha Morton wows as Circe, the witch and goddess who is given some redemption by Nolan. Charlize Theron plays Calypso who has forced Odysseus to eat Lotus blossoms so that he sleeps so long he has been on her island for 7 years. Lupita Nyong’o catches double duty as Helen of Troy and her twin sister Clytemnestra. Himesh Patel amazes as Odysseus’ second in command as does Elliot Page who plays Sinon, Odysseus’ cousin who joins him in battle.
But the best supporting player in the piece was John Leguizamo, who amazes as Eumaeus, Odysseus’ faithful servant from when he was young and now a servant to Telemachus. He is blind and yet he sees all and provides sage advice to both father and son. I would be very surprised if he was not nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar.
But this movie belongs heart and soul to Matt Damon who I believe will be fighting it out with Ryan Gosling at the next Oscar ceremony for best actor. He brings it all to his portrayal of Odysseus. He is physically fit – more so than some of those Marvel guys – and he looks very much like the man of constant sorrow that is portrayed in Homer’s poem. Not only did he work out for the role, Nolan made Damon grow out his beard knowing that fake hair really cannot be replicated in the conditions that Nolan recreated. And Damon sells the role – he is road weary, sad, lost – the very qualities that one would not believe that a king should possess. He is a man of many faults. But he is also a man of experience who knows the pain of having to sacrifice a few men rather than lose all of them. This is a career best performance from Damon.
So far, it is the best picture of the year, tied with or possibly edging out Project Hail Mary. Sure, it is a sword and sandal picture but it is so much more. It is a BIG picture but also, as it shines its focus on Odysseus it remains a character study which sets it apart from the big epics of yesteryear.
I still wish the Cyclops joke made it into the film. It was one of the earliest things that my dad taught me. You would have loved this film, Pop.
Still, it is GREAT.
WATCH IT!
Next up: O Brother, Where Art Thou? and a rewatch of Oppenheimer.
Michael Fried has no formal training in movies, except having watched over 26,000+ movies — if not more — in his 60-plus years on this planet, starting with Goldfinger as his first cinema experience. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn’t like, and it’s quite often different from the conventional wisdom. He knows that the best franchise is Godzilla and he loves action movies and comedies. He has not been nominated for any awards except some boring insurance awards which has no applicability to movies (with the possible exceptions of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and John Cassavettes’ Big Trouble). He is part of a team that won the 1980 SUNY Albany Trivia content by correctly guessing the question, “Who played the president of Klopstockia in Million Dollar Legs?” So he has that going for him, which is nice.
Contact Mike at moviemike3@yahoo.com and mike.fried@yahoo.com.
