The Odyssey

 We took my son and his girlfriend to see THE ODYSSEY yesterday. Rochester is one of only twenty-something theaters in the U/S. equipped to show the film in Director Christopher Nolan's preferred format, 70 MM IMAX. Unfortunately, that means that people were coming from hundreds of miles away to see it here, so all of the shows for the next few weeks are sold out, unless you want to sit in the front row. (Been there for another Nolan film, THE DARK KNIGHT, and it is a miserable way to see a film, lol.) Our usual IMAX ticket price is, as of last summer when we saw FANTASTIC FOUR in 3-D, around seventeen bucks. For THE ODYSSEY, they jacked that up to twenty-five, which is just nuts to me. But I saw on the local news that people were scalping IMAX tickets for five hundred dollars apiece, so...film fans are REALLY susceptible to hype, I guess. (We saw it on a standard screen, but the standard screen at Tinseltown is gigantic, so, no complaints.)

 I'm hype susceptible too, since I always get hyped up for the newest Nolan film, and then, inevitably, feel disappointed. My wife, who had zero interest in the film, ended up loving it, as did my son and his girlfriend. 

 The film chronicles Odysseus as he attempts to return home after winning the Trojan War, while his wife tries to fend off potential suitors attempting to marry their way onto the throne back home in Ithaca. 

 A lot has been made about the casting of the film, with certain actors being singled out as being examples of "Woke" casting. Lupita Nyong'o, who plays Helen of Troy and her twin sister, Clytemnestra, and Elliot Page, who was believed to be cast as Achilles. (He wasn't Achilles, and he's barely in the film.) Nyong'o was kind of wasted, since she is also barely in the film. Her whole scene seemed kind of unnecessary, and probably could have been cut to shorten this three-hour beast. As to the controversy...Nyong'o is a great actress, and she ticks the "Face that launched a thousand ships" box. She certainly is a beauty. My cousin married a Professor who has written books about Greek and Roman culture and mythology, and he pointed out to me that Helen was HATCHED FROM AN EGG (!!!), so she could have looked like anything. Nyong'o and Page both made the most of their brief appearances. 

 Matt Damon did a decent job, Anne Hathaway will probably win an Oscar, Robert Pattinson killed as a douchebag suitor, and Tom Holland annoyed me as the whiny "Too old to act like this" son of Odysseus. There are a lot of great actors in bit parts...Himesh Patel and John Leguizamo were both excellent. Samantha Morton was amazing as Circe...she's going to get a lot of attention for her portrayal.

 The film LOOKED great, mainly because it was filmed in real locations. It's nice to see a film like this and not get that "Green screen" look. The effects worked well, especially during Circe's sequence. The monsters kind of got short shrift, with The Cyclops being the only one getting any real screen time. Scylla looked like a garbage bag flying around in the wind, and Charybdis is...just a whirlpool. The Sirens are totally wasted. There's a sequence with armored giants that works really well, though. 

 Overall, it was a decent film. I'd give it a six or seven out of ten. As with all Nolan films, it struck me as being a "cold" film...I never feel anything for any characters in his stories, and something about the way he edits makes his movies feel choppy and episodic. As with Guillermo del Toro, I usually like the IDEA of a Nolan film more than the actuality of a Nolan film. I was happy to see a big turnout at the theater. We waited 20 minutes for our popcorn, so you could tell the place was PACKED. Good to see the theatrical experience isn't quite dead yet.