The Odyssey (Review)

[Redacted]

I guess some people live near high grade cinemas where they have the right kit to show films in high quality video & audio. Maybe there are high grade cinema goers there too. I for one do not live near such a place. But we do have a small cinema, and it's relativity civilized, but then my telly is nice.

The wider ASR readership may not be aware of what a pain doing anything or getting anywhere in the UK these days. Gridlock, or traffic cones, lack of parking that will in any case be expensive, aggressive malcontents everywhere, often drunk or high. Out of town shopping parks where some cinemas are located being used as drag race strips or places to get your car nicked or vandalized... A lot of talk about the 'death of the high street' but it's no surprise why. Like many people, we moved out of towns and now live in a Cornish village, and can walk into the adjoining town, hassle-free. And we have great music venues!

 

[Pauli]

The one odyssey movie is »2001: A Space Odyssey«. You can believe me, Dave.

 

[Pauli]

The »Cyclops’ Eye«

 

[Marc v E]

I translated (parts of) the original text written in ancient Greek. And very much enjoyed my teacher telling stories about the ancient Greek culture.
It was often so weird to read what their habits and culture were, that it sparked a lifelong interest in other cultures.

If Nolan really stayed true to the gist of the original story, Stephen Fry would be a very good choice as an advisor.
From what I saw in interviews he really knows his classics. He wrote a book on Troy too, btw.

I am somewhat hesitant to watch the movie, because I suspect nothing much of the original is used, but part of the decor and hearsay gist of the story. I would be really impressed if Nolan took the time to read it himself and immerse himself in the culture, and then write the script.

Btw I thought Dunkirk was a masterpiece. Mainly because of the many intertwined stories, visual storytelling and not much dialogue. That imo would be the best recipe for the Ilias (so I do have hope, I just realised, lol)

Ok, just watched the trailer. It's an interpretation of a hearsay story mated to modern dilemmas. The actors forgot to act.

This review reflects what I saw so far:

 

[WillBrink]

It's almost 3 hours long.

Dune is shorter, took a trilogy to even attempt to tell the story, required many edits to make it work. I hope people don't go to this movie hoping for a accurate adaptation vs a modern take on a very old story.

 

[Timcognito]

I hope people don't go to this movie hoping for a accurate adaptation vs a modern take on a very old story.

Why the story is compelling. No reason to mess with it, several ever changing short scenes that with all the AI and CGI it should be the first chance to get it very close, if not right on the story. We will see.

 

[kemmler3D]

I translated (parts of) the original text written in ancient Greek. And very much enjoyed my teacher telling stories about the ancient Greek culture.
It was often so weird to read what their habits and culture were, that it sparked a lifelong interest in other cultures.

If Nolan really stayed true to the gist of the original story, Stephen Fry would be a very good choice as an advisor.
From what I saw in interviews he really knows his classics. He wrote a book on Troy too, btw.

I am somewhat hesitant to watch the movie, because I suspect nothing much of the original is used, but part of the decor and hearsay gist of the story. I would be really impressed if Nolan took the time to read it himself and immerse himself in the culture, and then write the script.

Btw I thought Dunkirk was a masterpiece. Mainly because of the many intertwined stories, visual storytelling and not much dialogue. That imo would be the best recipe for the Ilias (so I do have hope, I just realised, lol)

Ok, just watched the trailer. It's an interpretation of a hearsay story mated to modern dilemmas. The actors forgot to act.

This review reflects what I saw so far:

My general POV is, if you have the choice, you should see the movie, THEN read the book. No matter how good the movie is, it's always disappointing compared to the book. In this case, it's tricky because there has been a wide gap in release dates between book / movie.

 

[kemmler3D]

I guess some people live near high grade cinemas where they have the right kit to show films in high quality video & audio.

Only in a very few areas for the top-end 70mm IMAX stuff:

A lot of people in the US would need to travel 1600+ Km to see the 70mm IMAX format. Even Chicago, Las Vegas, Denver and Seattle don't have them, which feel particularly surprising to me.

Supposedly people are traveling pretty far to get the top-end experience though. I am lucky in that I can take a 20 minute train ride to one of those screens, but maybe I am treating it too casually and it will be totally sold out!

As far as bad traffic, bad parking, and public degeneracy being part of going to this theater - well, I think I have some idea of what you're talking about. As a long-time city dweller I'm used to it, though.

 

[Redacted]

Here in Penzance we have 2 decent chip shops, and several charity shops within a walk from the harbour car park

 

[xanalog]

Only in a very few areas for the top-end 70mm IMAX stuff:

After doing the IMAX for both Avatar#2 and Mando+Grogu; my ears did not settle-down until the next morning, after each one.

[CLAUDE]"The maximum continuous sound pressure level (SPL) for IMAX theater speakers is 105 dB, as specified by industry calibration standards where dialogue sits around 85 dB with 20 dB of headroom. While SMPTE recommends 85 dB for screen speakers and up to 105 dB for peaks, actual playback levels often vary; some venues may reach peaks between 96 dB and 108 dB, and unchecked systems have been reported to hit 130 dB, which exceeds the pain threshold and safety guidelines."

I have decided that I am not having anything to do with IMAX theaters, anymore!
Like Gollum said "Precious"... my ears, that is!

 

[Marc v E]

I haven't got fomo, I've got romo (LOL)

 

[Marc v E]

Now this is storytelling at its finest imo

 

[kemmler3D]

After doing the IMAX for both Avatar#2 and Mando+Grogu; my ears did not settle-down until the next morning, after each one.

I have decided that I am not having anything to do with IMAX theaters, anymore!
Like Gollum said "Precious"... my ears, that is!

Can confirm it was insanely loud last time I went to one. Might consider using concert earplugs.

 

[xanalog]

Can confirm it was insanely loud last time I went to one. Might consider using concert earplugs.

I intentionally held back until after I got your Like,...

...to also mention that I am not a fan of those (IMAX) 3D glasses, either.

 

[Chrispy]

You read about the Odyssey from Latin adaptations. Homer is in Greek.

Yes, wasn't taking Greek at the time. It has been translated a bunch into various languages. I also as mentioned have read english translation, altho may have been just one.

 

[AussieAus]

Just watched it in 70mm at the Melbourne IMAX with my fiancee. Was a good mix of perspectives as I read it in high school and she never studied greek mythology at all, went in completely fresh, and we both loved it. The audio was an absolute sensory onslaught, in a good way because the IMAX cinema could handle it. In a poorly setup/tuned/calibrated cinema I could imagine it being an absolute mess. The bass levels were so big, yet clean for so much of the intense scenes, the immersion was incredible.
I won't spoil anything in here, but Nolan definitely made ballsy moves in some of the lighting choices, and I thought they just added to the immersion. I highly recommend just avoid reviews good and bad, go in without any pre-judgement, and just enjoy it, but try find a cinema at least with a solid sound setup.

 

[bigLP]

Yes, wasn't taking Greek at the time. It has been translated a bunch into various languages. I also as mentioned have read english translation, altho may have been just one.

I believe the story predates the Greek Language(written anyways). It was passed down verbally. I think first written version found in Egypt.
In Latin it is "Ulysses"

 

[Gorgonzola]

I’m going tomorrow. The pre-controversies are amusing. It is not history. Say it again. It is not even literature, really. It does not need to be faithful to an 'original'. The original was an oral Greek tradition passed on from generation to generation for 10 centuries throughout the Greek speaking diaspora before it was ever written down around 750 B.C. and our earliest surviving manuscript comes five centuries after that. This means at least three things: 1) Homer has been text-less almost as long as it has been text. Myth is amorphous, non-doctrinaire and to some degree whatever you see in it and however you choose to tell it; 2) There is no fixed text to be faithful to. Every generation reinterpreted Homer as their own, as they should, as does Nolan; 3) It was an international epic told in a dizzying pastiche of Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot topped with Attic ‘intrusions’. So pick your dialect of English for this 'translation', it's all good. I should have liked Bronx, Cajun, Cockney and Queen’s English; 4) A black actress playing Helen seems entirely appropriate for a pre-racial Greek speaking culture that spanned three continents including Africa. This is the story of a shell-shocked veteran just trying to return home from a war no one ever wanted any part of and which brought ruin upon all of the victors. The monster stories are told by the ‘much-turning’ story teller (Odysseus) to entertain his audience in the court of the Phaeacians and his ‘much-wandering’ quite possibly extended metaphors for his PTSD and guilt, cf. Shay, Achilles in Vietnam (1995) for a compelling thesis that drama and mythos was this culture’s way of processing PTSD from wars. The only thing that matters: Is it a good movie? Does it make me think after the film? Does it reflect our times?

Your POV is valid and well expressed however it isn't mine.

I object in general to eccentric morie interpretations of both classics and more recent literature. What I prefer, (philistine as I may be), is rigorous adherence to the author's plot and ethos. I have yet to see Nolan's new Odyssey though I probably will. What I have seen is the likes movie adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings great novels. And especially objectionable the ridiculously over-blown Hobbit series.

Regarding Peter Jackson's three LoTR movies, I objected to many thing, beginning with the fact Frodo Baggins being as guy in his early 20's whereas Tolkien's character 50 y/o at the time of the quest. There were many other very objectionable plot and character changes, One of the screenwriters, I believe Philippa Boyens, said that "Tolkien wasn't a real writer" and in effect that she knew better what audiences would want ... I thought, "What an arrogant and presumptuous bitch!!". Needless to say Tolkien was one of the most read authors of fiction of the 20th century.

Sorry, but at the risk of being considered bigoted and racist I have to bring up the DEI issue. Nowadays it seem compulsory to include actors racial origin that at totally implausible in the original author's story. I hear the Helen of Troy in Nolan's Odyssey is a Black woman. You don't have to be a racist to realize the the 7th or 8th century BCE Homer (or whoever the author) would likely never have seen a Black person -- or if perchance he had, that he would have imagined Helen as a Black woman.

Another example of grotesquely anachronistic inclusion of DEI actors is Black actors as elves and dwarves in Amazon's Rings of Power series. That, along with the screenwriters' gross distortion of Tolkien's time lines rendered that series offence and unwatchable for me.

 

[Sokel]

I hear the Helen of Troy in Nolan's Odyssey is a Black woman. You don't have to be a racist to realize the the 7th or 8th century BCE Homer (or whoever the author) would likely never have seen a Black person -- or if perchance he had, that he would have imagined Helen as a Black woman.

Without getting into the ethics, that's flat wrong.

Even the pre-Greek, most beautiful civilization ever existed, the Minoans, had close ties with Eguptians which with their turn had close ties with Nubians, etc.
Color was not even a thing back then, unlike now.

 

[Gorgonzola]

@Sokel has called me out for saying that Helen of Troy, (mythical though she was), would not have been a Black women in Homer's imagination. Sokel makes a reasoned argument that bronze age Greeks would have been aware of Black individuals. But such individuals would have been rare north of Egypt and Dark Age Greeks, (Homer's era), weren't as cosmopolitan as the Minoans

Sokel is also correct that color was no big deal in those days. OTOH, Nolan's choice of a Black woman for HoT is gratuitous pandering to the 21st century imperative of "Woke".

Sokel says judgmentally that the Minoan was the "most the beautiful civilization ever". This isn't provable and some recent scholarship casts some doubt on the long-presume benign character of the Minoans.

I understand the moderator's choice to cut of direct replies to Sokel's post but he (or she) will need to delete this current post to shut me up.