Man’s Movie: ‘The Odyssey’ film review

Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of “The Odyssey” has flooded the media with movie references and hype, making it out to be a must-watch, but I struggled to ride this wave. 

From movie analysis to Travis Scott trolling memes all over my For You page, I thought this movie was set to change my life. Maybe it would have if I were a man. 

I understand the main story was based on a man, Odysseus, on a 10-year journey to return home after the Trojan War. What I don’t understand is how late in the war Odysseus realizes how wrong it was to enter into the city of Troy and kill innocent people. 

To me, it’s common sense to not kill innocent people, so I found it irritating how some people online idolize Odysseus to be what a man should be. 

One thing that took me out of the movie was the lack of accents. In an adaptation, such as “The Odyssey,” I’d expect at least some type of ancient accent, but Nolan made the decision to use modern English dialogue. In an interview with Variety, he said he wanted to prioritize “language that has emotional, not intellectual meaning to people.”

This language did not have any emotional meaning to me.  

For instance, listening to Telemachus, played by Tom Holland, made me feel like I was watching “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” all over again, and it didn’t help that Jon Bernthal, who played Menelaus, shared many scenes with Holland. 

I will give Nolan his flowers with Athena, played by Zendaya. Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, representing justice in battle. Most of what her character does is shake her head at Odysseus before he makes a bad decision. Athena appears to Odysseus as his conscience. It is later revealed that Odysseus’ visual representation of Athena is based on a young lady who begged him for mercy before she was beheaded. 

I’d like to make it clear: I wasn’t familiar with the story before watching the movie, so my opinions might be out of pure ignorance. Also, why Travis Scott? 

Fatima’s Final Take: wouldn’t watch it again willingly. 3/5