im actually so disappointed with The Odyssey
Not sure if a spoiler alert is needed considering Homer wrote it 2000 years ago. But if you haven't watched the movie, maybe watch the movie first.
I don't usually bother writing movie reviews because it always seemed like a pain in the ass. But seeing people handing applauses after the ending, seeing the abundant 10/10 reviews online including from my friends, I couldn't help but to write what I exactly felt from the movie. No, the movie wasn't bad but it wasn't the best either.
My biggest gripe was that I couldn't feel anything from the movie. For a movie about a man spending 2 decades of his life trying to come back home, it doesn't feel like it. This is something I felt with TENET too. Nolan wants to depict a Protagonist trying to save the world but it felt more like The Protagonist brawling with the boys (still can't believe he crashed a plane just for one scene). The sense of scale I got was anything but grand. Sure, many of the scenes were and looked amazing like the scene in the cave with the son of Poseidon (I forgot what the titan's called), the witch turning the soldiers into pigs (again forgot the name), visiting Hell.. (this was awesome) But that's about it. The parts did not assemble a great whole.
Speaking of assembling, I can't believe for a 2 hours and 52 minutes movie, the editing's still choppy like the movie's being pressed for runtime. Calm down.
It was in the third act when I realized why Nolan picked The Odyssey for adaptation. Odysseus is Nolan's catharsis from Oppenheimer. Men that realized the consequences of their action too late except Odysseus' path is different I suppose (OMG is this movie about us?) Concept-wise I think the movie's great. But a movie is not a concept. It's something to be experienced.
Watch Spirited Away. Now that's a journey about trying to come back home. You can't even tell how much time has elapsed for the protagonist (it doesn't matter). Actually, we don't have to look that far. Nolan HAS directed Dunkirk. We know he could portray what it's like to wait dreadfully. I actually cried at the ending of the movie (rare). What blew my (or yours too) mind is Dunkirk is only 1 hour and 46 mins long. It definitely felt much longer.
All things said, when the movie's about a journey going back home with political power play in it, I don't think even Nolan could adapt The Odyssey. Or perhaps, the material's better suited for a different director.
For the record, I did watch the movie on IMAX.