‘The Odyssey’: What do the fates have in store for Christopher Nolan’s Homeric epic as awards season gets under way?
Jesse Eisenberg On His New Film ‘The Debut’, The Surprise Success Of ‘A Real Pain’ And Donating A Kidney – Karlovy Vary’s record-breaking juggernaut, and a small but vocal faction of the audience appears to be begging to differ.
Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, the ever-controversial aggregate site is reporting a stubborn wave of one- and even half-star reviews, calling it “super boring”, “long-winded and poorly written”, “one of Nolan’s biggest disappointments”, and — more harshly — drawing unfavorable comparisons with the similarly themedAnne Hathaway Shares 'Princess Diaries 3' Update After Having To "Start Over": "We Had A Story Breakthrough"'The Odyssey' Conquers $264M+ Around The World, Best Ever For Christopher Nolan Ahead Of 'Dark Knight Rises' - Global B.O. Sunday Update Of course, Christopher Nolan’s films have been famously polarizing since his reinvention of the Batman franchise back in 2005.
Beginning with, Nolan felt the need to establish authenticity where it was never previously needed — and, for better or for worse — he’s stuck with that formula ever since . It certainly paid off with, which won seven Academy Awards out of 13 nominations for its portrayal of the tortured father of the atom bomb.
, Nolan has mostly targeted mid-July for his big-budget bonanzas, and it’s a strategy that has worked surprisingly well for his Oscar campaigns. But after three days on release, it’s not immediately clear whether lightning will strike twice afterWhile nominations for Best Picture and Best Director — and sound, VFX and costume — are perhaps inevitable, even at this early stage, Nolan has never been consistent with acting awards: Which is what made’s sweep so strong, with wins for Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and a nomination for Emily Blunt.
But given Nolan’s track record — don’t forget Leonardo DiCaprio’s snub forTrue, there is a lot of love for its charismatic star over the years . But despite three nominations for his acting, Damon won his one, and so far only, Oscar for Gus Van Sant’s — not for his performance but the script he co-wrote with his old friend Ben Affleck — which could be all the impetus he needs to win if his campaign keeps up the momentum.
Damon’s Odysseus, however, is not a traditional action hero, despite the menacing nature of the film’s teaser posters, which show him going into battle, sword in hand. In fact, Odysseus is more like J. Robert Oppenheimer, a man tormented by the capacity he has to unleash violence.
In that respect,is a deeply anti-war film, accidentally made all the more timely by America’s recent “excursion” into the Middle East, and Damon’s horrified expressions in the thick of battle do not exactly invite comparisons with, let’s say, Mel Gibson’s more Oscar-baiting leadership style in It’s the admittedly somewhat overstated literacy of the piece, if not the politics of it, that seems to be the issue rankling those drawn in by the action-packed trailer, not Homer’s 3,000-year-old poem. Indeed, the film’s pivotal scene — the use of a giant wooden horse to enter the fortified city of Troy — is anything but entertaining.
Nolan shows it to be ugly, filling up with the bodily fluids of dying soldiers as the horse, their “gift” to the Trojans, is engulfed by the incoming tide. This and the continued mention of Zeus’s Law may be closer to liberal Hollywood’s heart than the American public’s, given the MAGA support for ICE.
Speaking of Hollywood, the Academy loves a transformation, but Damon arguably doesn’t deliver one; his Odysseus is pensive and introspective, so much so that the sirens taunt him with his own dark thoughts that perhaps he doesn’t actually want to go home at all, having lost his sense of self-worth and integrity in the barbaric and brutal siege of Troy. ) — which don’t quite summon the requisite level of threat.
In this respect, despite the surprisingly warm Mediterranean cinematography,sometimes resembles a very expensive long-running Saturday morning ’70s TV show with surprise weekly guest stars .
Nevertheless, the road to the Oscars is nearly as long as Odysseus’s journey home, and, at this stage, hunches are just that: hunches.
“We can’t live by omens and sacrifices,” Odysseus tells his men. He might as well be talking about awards season.
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