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timtinkers.online · @timtinkers.online@bridge.neodb.net

Rated The Odyssey 6/10

This review may contain spoilers. I spent the last two days trying to grapple with it, but it did little for me I am afraid. The positives first: yes, yes, the spectacle. It's a long movie, but it stuck the landing for me with the "we are the sea peoples" dialogue. His Athena being just a priestess who fell victim to the sack of Troy was very potent. And the whole motif of the Bronze age collapse ties in with the current political moment we are living in, I for one at least was reminded of roving gangs of ICE agents, how fascism spurns civilization, and I want to give Nolan props for his political streak in his recent movies. But I felt it all was undercut _by_ the spectacle, by Matt Damon going—what I dub—Malignant-mode on a room full of suitors. I never really connected with any of it. Maybe I am the wrong audience for this, I never pretended to care about the Odyssey or ancient mythology, but I can't help but ask myself if this is the best we can do with it. Isn't an adaptation like the Coen's _O Brother Where Art Thou?_—an adaptation where the directors never actually read the source material—a better exploration of the human condition? I initially dismissed Tenet as well, but it has grown on me since, perhaps this one will as well, who's to say. Seen in IMAX.

#movie

Published 2026-07-16 00:00 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere