2hr 52min run time – Action Fantasy – rated 15
4 minute review read
Why I Watched This Movie
There are so many reasons I watched this! Partly because I’ve loved the Greek Myths for a very long time, and I know the original Odyssey story quite well. Of course I only considered it because the trailer showed, to me, that it did it good justice.
Another part is that the trailer looked frickin epic.
And the cast is incredible– literally three of my favourite actors, one that I’ve seen in another thing and really like, and another two that have now definitely joined the list of my favourite actors.
So I went to see it in my local cinema – I loved it! When I came out I felt light-headed and like I’d just held my breath for ages… which I don’t think I did, but I’m not 100% sure. It also might be because of standing up and walking out quickly after sitting still for over three hours, including adverts.
Anyway – onto the review! (No major spoilers btw, but I think since the main plot has been around for over 2000 years it doesn’t count as spoilers – I won’t spoil any of the changes that were made or added sub-plots!)
The Review
Okay, I have no idea how to start this… There’s just so much in this movie – like my reviews for My Chemical Romance, I’m just kinda awestruck! I watched a lot of cast interviews and such before I saw it. Their dedication to this movie is clear, both in the interviews and in the extraordinary quality of their performances. The dedication also paid off for the props team, as apparently all the monsters were handmade, not CGI or digital, and that certainly made a lot of the scenes a lot better!
Something else I really enjoyed about this movie was its length and pacing – the amount of jokes I’ve seen online about being willing to watch 12hr+ movies for the sake of book-accuracy is many. Thankfully this movie wasn’t 12 hours, as that would be a tad excessive, but the rapid fire action, short moments of break, and perfect pacing filled the near three hours wonderfully. When Odysseus washed ashore on Ithaca I thought ‘Wait, its already been that long?!’ – the whole movie truly felt like 2 hours, not 3!
Its a miracle that my mind didn’t wander and that my legs didn’t get restless while sitting down for that long, but my full attention was on the screen the entire time. That’s probably because, despite its age and my knowing the basic structure of the story, it always kept me guessing. The combination of the subplot running throughout and other dimensions and themes that were added meant it felt both true to the story and something exciting, relevant and new.
I mentioned before about the actors that I know in this show, and they are Zendaya, Tom Holland and Robert Pattison, I saw Elliot Page in The Umbrella Academy (absolutely incredible show), and I think Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon are two firm favourites now! (And I’m also gonna watch Christopher Nolan’s movies, they all look so epic and larger-than-life! (and a friend said something about Nolan’s movies, which really fitted with The Odyssey, was that his movies tended to be ‘What all of humanity needs to see, and is really relevant to now‘, and with the horrible-reality-of-war, the trauma that’s involved for everyone it touches and the importance of treating others the way you would wish to be treated, The Odyssey definitely felt like that for me.))
But all that impactful plot and dialogue wouldn’t have mattered without incredible actors making it feel very real and emotional. The performance from every single actor was stellar, from Circe’s… memorable 10 minutes screen time, Sinon’s intense side role that heavily influences the plot, to Odysseus’ harrowing journey that needed every ounce of effort that Matt Damon put in. Even though a lot of the actors are A-list with iconic roles that can be hard to separate from the actors, they were so in character the whole time I never found it an issue. (except one time when Telemachus said ‘Yes, in my ship’ (in reply to a question) so proud like ‘I’m so grown up – I have a ship. And its my ship.’ and I just thought – Tom, that’s very character-accurate, but your Spider-Man is showing.)
So, to conclude, go watch the movie. Seriously, this is a once in a decade (or maybe even less) kind of movie, and if you can get to the cinema all the better! Its not just a movie, its an experience, and not one to miss.
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