This is a review on Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" that I watched approx. 2 days ago, so I hope that posting a book-to-movie adaptation review here is accurate. I'll go over the details in the book as well, so be ready for heavy spoilers!

Important Disclaimers Before Watching It in Cinema For those who are neurodivergent like me (on the autism spectrum or with ADHD) or are sensitive to sounds, I highly recommend to wait until this movie is out for streaming or to avoid this movie at all cost - similarly can be said for those prone to epileptic attacks. It's my first time watching Nolan in cinema and it will be my last. I know his movies are infamous for his bombastic loud sound management that can shake a cinema room, and imo this movie is so far his worst. There is an unbearing, grating, droning scream that occurs when the Cyclops gets his eye gouged out and it was really hurtful to my ears (even worse to my brother as he is more sound sensitive than me). The intention to portray a horrific monstrous scream of pain could have been done differently instead of turning the sound volume to over the max. Please, please, please take this into account before going to watch the film in cinema! There are positive reviews out there that argue for the sound management being the highlight (especially the cyclops scream) and I highly disagree. 🙏

My Personal Opinion I did not enjoy the film and I'll go into further depth as to why later on. It's a "meh" adaptation and for me does not stick out to the other countless Hollywood adaptations of this Greek epic: All-white or A-List celebrity cast with no Greek actors/actresses ✅ Relying on landscapes and music that are not necessarily inspired by authentic Ancient Greek or Greek folk music for the sake of conjuring an imagined vision of ancient civilizations ✅ Intertwining modern messaging with old cultural values so that it attracts the audience (e.g. there are no gods) ✅ Our main character is a brooding, beaten-down, PTSD-driven character that portrays typical stoic masculine traits ✅ Leaving out scenes or details that appear unimportant at first, but are essential to the spirit and themes of the Odyssey ✅

Did it stick to the main story In short: yes. If you're a Nolan fan who has close to zero knowledge on Greek mythology, or someone else with no familiarity with it, you will enjoy this movie. Nolan is always a guaranteed hit regardless of his efforts put into it, and the main positive thing I see in those (bastardized) adaptations is that it draws people to the source material and they get access to it, which is fantastic! It covers the main plot beats, and unlike other adaptations we get to see Telemachus on his journey to gather news on his father. ... That's it though

What they left out and changed - big and small I'll address the controversial moments that went rampant after the trailer dropped. For me, the Viking ship and the wrong armour was very distracting for me. Even worse is when the crew landed on the island of Laestrygonia and the giants were dressed in late medieval armour. Even my siblings, who didn't read the Odyssey or merely a summary of it, had to chuckle when Odysseus' crew obviously failed to defeat the armoured Laestrygonians (with an additional comment on whether they run around with that armour on because they appeared so suddenly).

Lupita Nyong'o was one of the small highlights for me - she's one of the few actors/actresses that actually shone in their role. She played a double role of Helen and Clymenestra, and she provided a fantastic interpretation of a bitter and jaded Helen who suffered physical abuse during her captivity (apparently, she has epic scars). Same can be said with John Leguizamo as Eumaus - blind loyal slave to Odysseus and a cowherder. I was super stoked that he brought the minor character I enjoyed in the book to life, he embodied that role! Elliot Page did not play Achilles - in fact, Achilles did not appear in the movie at all. Elliot played Sinon, a minor character appearing in Virgil's Aeneid who watched over the Trojan War and persuaded the Trojans to safe-keep the trap as an offering to the gods. That tiny role was expanded there and Elliot Page really proved his acting skills when Odysseus and his crew faced him again in the Underworld (i.e. Iceland). Funny that the most memorable characters for me where the "diversity quota" of the cast that everyone was freaking out about.

Now for the new part - the movie had no colour and scarce beautiful landscapes to the extent that even Calypso's island, notable in the book for being rich with forestry and fruits, is reduced to an empty desert island. The scent of citrus and of brittle pine suffused the island (...) Around the cave a luscious forest flourished; alder, poplar, and scented cypress. (...) Birds nested there but hunted out at sea; the owls, the hawks, the gulls with gaping breaks. A ripe and verdant vine, hung thick with grapes, was stretched to coil around her cave. (...) The meadow softly bloomed with celery and violets (Homer, transl. Wilson, 5.62 - 5.73)

Matt Damon's Odysseus is not my Odysseus. He only incorporated the bitter part of Odysseus that appears in the later half of the story - worn down, tired, gods sceptic, etc. This paints his decisions and actions as rather sheer luck or dumb fuckery, because his charisma and trickery is written out in this adaptation. His important scene "I am Noman/ I am Nobody" is completely left out, as the cyclops himself does not speak, rendering the Cyclops scene as meaningless. The other main actors/actresses weren't a stand-out for me, even with Robert Pattinson's strong performance. The movie includes a very complicating backstory with Pattinson's Antinous and Page's Sinon: apparently Antinous spread a lie that he volunteered to fight in the Trojan Wars as a child to follow Odyssey but was ordered by the King to stay behind. In truth, as a kid Antinous pulled a pin that signifies his acceptance into the army and he pushed Sinon (way younger than him) to accept the position in his stead. My family interpret this different, that the first scenario was true, which just proves how overly complicated this side plotline is. It includes dead Sinon wanting Odysseus to hand the pin to Antinous, Antinous freaking out when he saw the pin, and Odysseus calling him a "coward" before killing him. 🤷‍♀️

Sadly, I did not enjoy Ludwig Göransson's movie soundtrack - there are no memorable tracks nor songs to take away from the movie, most of the soundtrack is designed to support the movie. As in, emphasis on the sound and the music is making the sound of the monster, waves, etc. There were authentic Ancient Greek instruments incorporated, but you hear them very vaguely.

Does Wilson's translation hold any flaws in the movie Not that I can think of! Wilson aims to shed light on the marginalized groups in Ancient Greece as presented in Homer's texts (women and slaves) and to rectify how they were presented in other translations (the used of "bitch" or "whore", blurring slavery with domestic servitude, old-fashioned victim blaming that is not canon to the original text, etc.). Afaik this does not show up in the movie - one can argue Penelope had time to shine to stand up for herself against the suitors, but the other men were identical to the men seen in the older translations. Menelaus took on the old-fashioned route of blaming Helen for the Trojan War, and Helen did not defend herself unlike in Wilson's translation, and Odysseus + Telemachus were hero-washed in which their murder of Penelope's slave girls, raped by the suitors, was not depicted at all. Melantho, the slave girl who warmed up to Antinous, was seen as someone "deserving" her death in Odysseus' massacre for allying with the suitors - the audience was meant to see Melantho as an antagonist.

The Issues of Theme - There are no Gods vs The Gods are Dying Finally, one major issue I have is with the theme. Nolan follows Wilson's academic theory that the Odyssey is a reflection on the value of hospitality (xenia, I think) being broken in the Trojan War saga. Penelope fears for Ithaca's rich civilization when rumours of "pirates" or "people of the sea" ruining cities and breaking xenia are spreading, and Odysseus in disguise confirms to her that the "people of the sea" were veteran Greek soldiers (which is a very interesting theme to explore in the Odyssey, it makes sense). This is strongly tied to the overarching film theme of "The Gods are dead, why should we bother respecting them?" Personally, I have mixed thoughts at first that transformed into disliking the theme as a whole. I think Nolan misinterpreted Wilson's theme of "The Gods are Dying" - throughout the epic, the mortal characters are bitter towards the Gods/Goddesses and blame them for the losses in the Trojan Wars (or in Odysseus' case, his unfortunate odyssey :P). Despite this, they attempt to send offerings to them whenever they can to improve the situation, Odysseus being one of the few characters to do it very often. This implies that the Greek Gods/Goddesses are dying, the public is turning bitter and start to believe that respecting the Gods/Goddesses is futile, but it's still a baby-step. In contrast, the film toes between reality and fantasy i.e. it desperately wants the viewer to believe that maybe the Gods/Goddesses didn't exist at all, and all this misfortune can be rationalized with Nature's interference. Zendaya's Athena can be read in two ways: One is that Athena took over the appearance of an executed Athenian priestess in Troy, to haunt Odysseus for desegregating her altar in Troy. Another way is that Odysseus is hallucinating Athena and in turn the executed priestess, trying to combat with PTSD with an imaginative figure. The latter half seems more likely, as Zeus and Poseidon are rendered as simple natural and sea disasters that plagued the crew. When one minor character asks Odysseus to sent sacrifice to the Gods/Goddesses, Odysseus not only refuses, but also declares that it is no use - that they won't hear them, they are dead anyway, maybe they didn't exist at all.

I dunno if you can tell, but my eye is twitching whenever I remember that. By erasing the Greek pantheon as mere fantasy or legend, or leaning too much into "realism", a major element of the Odyssey is erased in the movie.

That is all of my very very long review of the movie's The Odyssey. It's as accurate as Epic: the Musical minus the charm and likeable characters. You might as well watch Troy with Brad Pitt, which imo is much better than Nolan's movie lmao.