Alex Wheeler Movie Ops

When listing the oldest stories known to man, the Odyssey is near the top. It won’t be the oldest, but it will be one of the better known, as its episodic tale of gods and monsters lends itself to classroom lessons on its parts. I’ve never read the entire thing, but as Odysseus and his crew sailed towards the sirens in this film version, I thought to myself: Is this the one where someone ties themselves to the mast?

The Odyssey has been awaited with bated breath. Not so much because everyone loves the story, but because audiences know and love its writer/director, Christopher Nolan. He’s been bringing us intelligent, crowd-pleasing films for decades now and is one of the few people who could get the obscene amount of money needed for this adaptation. With his unparalleled cachet, Nolan assembled an all-star cast, drug them to remote locations, and filmed every moment on an IMAX camera. It’s production is a story unto itself, the kind that whips even casual film fans into a frenzy. But none of that is the film itself, which still had all sorts of ways it could go wrong. But it’s Nolan, so of course it doesn’t go wrong. But, it also doesn’t quite live up to its own mythological greatness.

The bones are good, with Matt Damon providing a sturdy, slightly more agreeable Odysseus than the character in the original poem. He’s more pensive, more weighed down by his decisions during the Trojan War and the subsequent troubles he leads his men into on their way home. The change is deliberate, as the film goes on to explain quite overtly. Nolan is pulling out elements of the poem and using those values to interrogate our modern world. Particularly, he keys in on Zeus’s Law, which requires hospitable treatment of guests. Everywhere Odysseus and his men stop, the law is cited, but not everyone calls on it with good intentions.

This especially affects the wife and son he left behind. He’s king of his corner of the world, and the longer he takes to get home from the Trojan War, the more power-hungry men settle into his home. If they can get Penelope (Anne Hathaway) to admit Odysseus isn’t returning and remarry, her new husband will be king. She has a system to fend them off, remaining behind a screen and refusing to say Odysseus is gone. Hathaway plays her not as stubborn but as determined, at times desperate for her love to return. Having a harder time is Telemachus (Tom Holland), who has grown up without a father to teach him how to navigate Zeus’ law without being taken advantage of. Due to Holland being noticeably older than the character, his bumbling comes off less like inexperience and more like incompetence, making the character grating. But Robert Pattinson outdoes him in annoyance, with his mustache-twirling portrayal of the most pushy and entitled suitor bordering on comically overdone.

In general, the scenes of Odysseus’ home aren’t pulled off with nearly the verve of his journey home, which consists of pit stops with a new foe whenever they go ashore. Cyclops, giants, and a woman who thinks offense is a good defense whittle his men down in various ways, with these encounters never feeling repetitive. It’s here that the budget and Nolan’s expertise are felt. There’s a never-ending sense of dread, as if something bad is around the corner. And it is, and Nolan spikes into moments of horror as gods and monsters take their swipes at Odysseus and his men but never truly let them go. Always, they are at the mercy of Poseidon, and he is relentless.

The reason for these trials is overt in this adaptation. Odysseus is feeling guilt over his treachery at Troy, where he devised and carried out the Trojan horse trick. It won them the war, but it was the ultimate betrayal of Zeus’ law. There’s no going back from such a transgression. Odysseus knows it, as do the gods who are punishing him.

Obviously, we have long abandoned Zeus’ law, and meeting strangers with suspicion and rebuffs are now the norm. How much of our current strife comes down to this change is debatable, but The Odyssey is drawing a line back to that tricksy horse. Odysseus, even in his guilt, can’t imagine our current world. The severity of its ramifications is meant to be felt through the grandeur Nolan brings to the story, with all those lush locations and practical effects making the dread palpable. But the line he draws is still tenuous, and Odysseus still needs the happy ending he gets in the poem. With that link so loose, the flourishes feel unmoored, and the grandeur borders on ostentatious. The Odyssey is a lot. Every one of its elements is beautiful, but the sum doesn’t live up to its parts.

Release: now in theaters
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Charlize Theron