Apparent Magic | THE ODYSSEY Review

My Dad’s sun set a handful of years ago now. And he have left a mark.

I often credit my love of movies to him. My Dad had a disregard for the censorship system. This exposed my sister and I to the hyperviolence of the 80’s and 90’s very early. I guess ‘desensitized’ is the word for it. Interestingly, there’s only so many times Murphy can be turned into a pin cushion in the original Robocop that feels horrifying before it becomes awe-worthy.

Building on that, he also shared his love for Greek mythology and Homer’s ‘Odyssey’. In fact, I believe when he first introduced it to us, he even called it by its Latin variant ‘Ulysses.’. I can remember the major beats. We all know what a ‘Trojan Horse’ is. But the in-betweens didn’t feel as clear to me. That was up until I watched Christopher Nolan’s epic retelling in 70mm IMAX of:

The Odyssey.

Adapting Homer’s original epic, Nolan ensures to follow suit delivering a tale of defying fate. A husband and father fighting to get home. And revenge. All the while weaving the myths of ancient Greece throughout. While these gods are certainly less mischievous than we are used to, they are still just as damning.

Matt Damon portrays the hero of the poem, Odysseus, King of Ithaca. After fighting in the ten-year-long Trojan War, Ithica considered Odysseus lost at sea. Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and their son Telemachus (Tom Holland), fight off suitors in Ithica, all vying for his throne. And the ensemble cast only grows from there. Robert Pattinson. Lupita Nyong’o. Jon Bernthal. Mia Goth. John Leguizmo and many, many more.

And they all deliver to Nolan’s master plan. Do it practically. Do it well. And keep the earthiness of the poem intact. As it’s the first feature film to be fully shot in IMAX, it definitely scales itself to the poem Homer wanted to tell. The film engrosses you in its visuals, forcing you into its world of fate and men. And when you have leads telling you “it’s the hardest movie they’ve ever done“, I can’t help but think that Nolan was giggling the whole time he was shooting this. So set in his method, which after his catalog of film, seems to imply he knows what he’s doing.

I’m about to go on an ‘epic’ rant.

“I’m about to monologue son” as Detective Jack Peralta would say. What’s our current count? 3. I have said ‘epic’ 3 times. And that’s because it’s the word that fits this film, and the tone of one of the two major surviving ancient Greek epic poems by Homer. Epic visuals. Epic practical effects. And epic sound, because this is a Christopher Nolan film and everything is LOUD. And this combination of epics, leads to this consumption of the viewer. Something that isn’t so much as overwhelming, but maybe moreso breathtaking. Dazzling. And earth-shattering. Honestly, the final battle and the drum composition behind it, my god(s). I’m sure my heartrate was insanely high after it.

In conclusion, and there’s only one if you’ve been paying attention. Would my Dad have liked it? Yeah. I think he would have loved it. And he probably would have said it would’ve sounded cooler if it was called ‘Ulysses’ too.