Well, say what you like about Christopher Nolan, once again he’s mastered the art of seemingly taking over the summer with that one movie title that everyone turns their head to. What’s his secret? Perhaps the ‘bwaaaam’ of the Inception trailer planted into our subconscious, appropriately enough, the impulse to talk about whatever he does? Or maybe it’s his obsession with 70mm stock that spreads among cinephiles and to the public in turn?
Either way, it’s even more amplified when it’s one of the longest-told stories in the zeitgeist. Even if you don’t know what Odysseus was king of, chances are you at least know what a cyclops is, or what a Trojan Horse means. Combine that with Nolan’s big old bombastic style, now it makes sense that people got curious here. And of course, because the times are what they are, some people are obsessing far too hard over certain casting chances or blathering about how something isn’t asleep or something. Those same people I wager probably get their impression of Greek mythology from 300 or God of War games, to say nothing of how they’d react to King Memnon or that little relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, all in the original texts.
It’s all a bit moot as well as it becomes pretty apparent that Nolan is, for better or worse, doing his own take on Homer’s classic tale. The characters and events are broadly recognizable, but the themes and details soon diverge, as we’ll see.
But let’s start with this as it’s own thing. One of the draws for Nolan is the visuals—and thankfully, the film is far better lit and sprawling looking than the trailers suggested, with plenty of sun-kissed Mediterranean coastlines on display. There’s some very nice effects sequences—we do get a cyclops in full display, as horrific looking as a monstrosity nearby, and the flesh-changing sorcery of Circe.
Nolan’s anachronic order thing is on display here, though it’s not too far off from the original story anyhow. Still, while we do get some very well directed moments like the sacking of Troy, nicely tense and atmospherically lit, they feel like they should’ve come a bit earlier. It’s nothing deal breaking, but still.
Matt Damon is our Odysseus, who while still guileful as in the story, is a much more haunted and doubting figure, wracked over his role in the Trojan War. As his trickster self, Sean Bean back in Troy felt like a better fit when we saw him, though Damon at least gets the job done here. Zendaya appears alongside him in a somewhat ambiguous role as Athena, and our next protagonist is Tom Holland as son Telemachus, on his own quest to find the truth behind his father.
We do get into some of the more unsavory aspect of the Bronze Age as mentioned in the myth—like Odysseus ransacking a town for supplies, and the usual more modern takes of the wrongness of the Trojan War. With some of the designs, it’s also clear it’s not quite fully historical either, sort of using this stylized realm for the story. But on its own, the costuming is somewhat odd, ranging from decent to full fantasy like the giants encountered, those ones crossing over to being a bit goofy. Agamemnon also ranges from imposing looking to an inexplicable not-Batman.
Still, for some of those odd choices and its somewhat more dour tone, for the audience, most of the essentials are there. The direction is generally solid, the actors do what they’re meant to do (Lupita Nyong’o as Helen is pretty memorable), and the editing/pacing rarely makes you feel the length. One or two lines of dialogue took me out of it but that’s about it. And honestly, compared to most Hollywood takes on Greek mythology, it’s not scandalously divergent—name me one high-profile and recognizable adaptation of the labors of Heracles, for instance.
Either way, it certainly doesn’t seem that Nolan is sailing off in to the sunset himself anytime soon…
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