The Odyssey: Cramb in Creative Review

Hello, Jamie Cramb here, back with another blog. Just over a month ago Christoper Nolan’s The Odyssey was released. So, me and the team went to see it last Wednesday and it was better than I expected.

As someone who never read the book or anything related to Greek mythology, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did. Considering this is also a Nolan movie, with heavy dialogue moments like Oppenheimer and The Dark Knight trilogy, I was ready to be confused at a lot of points, which (thanks to the Simpsons spoof on the story with Homer as Odysseus) thankfully I knew where the story was most of the time. So yes, there might be SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW… YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Let’s start off with the story.

The story is about King Odysseus of Ithaca. After 10 years of fighting in the Trojan war, Odysseus and his men set sail for home: desperate to see his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus, whom he hasn’t seen since he was a baby. Odysseus angered the Gods, so they decided to make lives of Odysseus and his men - let’s just say a living hell - with so many misadventures. While many more years go by, with his wife now being pressured remarry with someone else, Odysseus now has to remember what happened and try to get back to his home.

I loved the music in this movie; it’s dramatic when there’s an action scene or dramatic scene happening. I particularly loved the bit where Odysseus is on the raft with waves hitting violently and the music just soars; one of my favourite parts of it. The action was amazing; the battle of Troy was cinematic and action-packed, and seeing this depiction of the Trojan Horse is something else. People on the internet complained that the outfits and such were so historically inaccurate, but this isn’t a real story; it’s fictional. I think, to describe the world in dessert recipe terms, it’s a pinch of truth and loads of sprinkles of fiction; it covers all of it. And the whole Battle of Troy, when you’ve stitched all the scenes together because they are all fed to you separately in the film, was awesome. And in the scene where Jon Bernthal’s character was telling the story about it and the music was getting more intense as it rages on was very great. Now let’s move to the characters.    

The characters: Let’s start off with the main character himself, Odysseus, played in this version by Matt Damon, was great in this. He was a man wanting to get back home to his wife but had angered the gods, and they all decided to make his life a living, stormy sea hell (literally). By the end of the film, you feel he has completed his character arc, and if this doesn’t give Matt his Oscar, NOTHING WILL. Tom Holland was okay… I wish he had done more, and it felt like he didn’t do much until the very end of the film. Anne Hathaway was good as Penelope. She doesn’t appear much but feels powerful when she does; at the same time felt a little one-dimensional. Seeing her just waiting around for Odysseus felt like her character lacked depth, but I still enjoyed her performance. Having John Leguizamo was very surprising, so whenever I saw him, I was like “Hey, it’s Sid from Ice Age”.  Robert Paterson as Antinous was such a hateable, snivelling villain, and was always looking for an opportunity to take the throne, like trying to get under Tom Holland’s skin.

Spoilers

Near the end, trying to kill Odysseus with his ‘boys’ (Henchmen) trying to do it for him while he was cowardly hiding, and worst of all, trying to RIZZ UP Penelope… oh you evil man!

What other things did I like? Well, one thing I really loved is how some bits in this movie were almost horror-like. For example, the Cyclops was horrifying, and it was the first monster in the movie. FUN FACT: it was a massive puppet on set mixed with CGI, but I liked how they used it more practically.  The shrilling scream it made when it got poked in the eye was horribly loud - in a good way. When it was chasing after Odysseus and his men, you can feel the adrenaline and fear those men must have felt, and you barely make out the Cyclops when he was running at them through the trees. Circe turning the soldiers into pigs was so uncanny. I was all like, is it weird how they were just fine - lions, tigers, and panthers HA! You thought I was going to say bears. Anyways, just being there, and with only one house being out in the open, am I the only one who thought it was already sort of strange? Also, come on Circe that is the most witchy-ish name ever alongside Abigail and Eda.

Benny Safdie as the Greek king Agamemnon with absolute aura-farming whenever he was on screen in the armour, but I just wished he didn’t talk, as his voice just didn’t mesh well with the character he was playing.

Having Travis Scott (the Rapper) in this movie was a choice, and if you haven’t seen the movie, he was actually the first actor shown on screen, and he’s only in two scenes. His new song “When I’m Home” plays in the credits… but we left before it played. I listened to the song a while after, and in my opinion it wasn’t his best, sadly. But oh well, and I swear if we got a Greek mythology version of FE!N (one of his songs), it would’ve been cool, but what would have been the point in that.

I really didn’t care all that much about the Gods, which is crazy since I know they have a massive part of the Odyssey story, but I didn’t really care all that much. Sam (Community Manager at Creative Stirling) said not all the gods were in the movie (and she was not happy about it), but the one who is played by Zendaya (Athena) was alright, while Dr Sam has an opinion on her as an actress.

I’m not going to completely spoil the ending if you haven’t seen it (but I am actually kind of going to spoil it for you), but the fight scene where Odysseus was fighting everyone who wanted his wife and when everybody had died or surrendered to him, all of that, was epic. Again, I have to stress how the music was, as always for this movie, just Epic and so intense. By the end of it, all that was left was Antinous, and at that point Antinous had to have known it was so over.

Final thoughts: The Odyssey was better than I expected… It had so many dramatic moments, really good action, intense scenes, an amazing score by Ludwig Göransson, and for the most part, great, interesting characters. It is now one of my favourite films by Christoper Nolan alongside The Dark Knight Trilogy.

I am giving The Odyssey a 9/10.

Jamie.