The Odyssey Proves There’s Still Hope for Big-Budget Filmmaking

Spoilers travel for The Odyssey.

Grab your oars and acceptable sail, cinema fans, due to the fact that The Odyssey is present successful theaters. The latest introduction from legendary filmmaker Christopher Nolan adapts rather virtually 1 of the oldest stories successful recorded history, that being the epic poem attributed to Homer. The decade-long travel of Odysseus (Matt Damon), seasoned and leader of the Trojan War, arsenic helium desperately tries to get backmost to his location land of Ithaca is simply a communicative that has influenced countless storytellers implicit thousands of years, truthful it’s lone due for 1 of our astir celebrated directors to instrumentality a ace astatine it.

At slightest going by critics, The Odyssey looks to beryllium different large triumph for Nolan. The movie is pulling successful spectacular reviews, including an 8/10 from IGN’s Scott Collura, who described the movie arsenic a “must-watch cinematic experience.” For those who are looking for a bully clip astatine the movies, it volition fulfill and past some. But for radical who emotion movies arsenic an creation form, The Odyssey stands arsenic 1 of the champion caller examples of the benignant of movie that a ample workplace fund seldom allows successful the modern day: a singular creator imaginativeness successful a blockbuster featuring a satellite you tin judge in. Let’s instrumentality a look astatine however The Odyssey proves there’s inactive anticipation for big-budget moviemaking.

A Fully Realized World

When we look backmost connected the past of genre film, the movies that person go the astir established parts of the taste lexicon thin to beryllium ones with worlds the assemblage are afloat absorbed by. Think of Middle-earth successful the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the techno-dystopian satellite of The Matrix, oregon a postulation far, acold distant successful Star Wars. These are places with a genuine consciousness of verisimilitude, the feeling of being real, which tin lone beryllium maintained done interior consistency and an creator attack of sincerity. This does not mean that the satellite needs to beryllium realistic, and indeed, The Odyssey is obscurity adjacent realistic with its anachronistic costume plan and galore mythical monsters. But it does mean that a film's satellite needs to beryllium taken earnestly by the artists, truthful it tin truthful beryllium taken earnestly by the audience.

This attack stands successful opposition to the existent inclination among workplace blockbusters, astir notably the influx of superhero films coming from Marvel and DC, wherever filmmakers dainty their worlds with irony. Much of the drama successful modern blockbusters comes from making amusive of their ain world-building, imparting a cynical cognition that makes it intolerable to put successful a mounting arsenic afloat real. To usage a caller example, wherefore should I judge successful Eternia successful Masters of the Universe erstwhile the characters are saying “it’s crazy” that there’s a greenish tiger oregon a talking bird? That’s not to accidental you can’t usage wit to make your setting, but treating the fictional satellite with flippancy ruins a setting’s integrity, thing we besides spot with progressively dire integer backdrops, oregon environments that consciousness similar hyper-stylized sets instead of places wherever radical really unrecorded (I’m looking astatine you, Dune Part One and Two!).

A film's satellite needs to beryllium taken earnestly by the artists truthful it tin truthful beryllium taken earnestly by the audience.“

Nolan presents Homeric Greece with a subdued, naturalistic ocular benignant that facilitates easygoing believability adjacent with the story’s inherent phantasy elements. Some whitethorn see the colour palette washed out, but I would reason it’s simply understated, leaving cardinal flashes of stronger colour arsenic potent bursts of vigor successful a broken, decaying world. This extends to each facet of the accumulation design, arsenic good arsenic however the movie creates a consciousness of surviving abstraction by utilizing existent locations and plentifulness of extras. While historians whitethorn outcry foul astatine the armor and helmets of Odysseus and his companions, oregon that determination is nary a hint of Mediterranean ancestry successful the film’s incredibly stacked cast, the information remains that Nolan and his squad person worked overtime to physique a mounting that tin beryllium the sturdy instauration The Odyssey needs truthful the assemblage tin immerse themselves successful the experience. That enactment is captious truthful the movie tin relation successful the mode of storytelling Nolan is aiming for.

The Odyssey uses existent locations and plentifulness of extras to execute its wide look.

An Epic Scope

The mode successful question would beryllium an epic, which present refers to a genre, not needfully a level of prime (although the movie is excellent). The connection "epic" comes from defining a benignant of story, aft all, that being the epic poem, of which Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are among the prototypical examples. Given the poem’s length, a worthy adaptation of The Odyssey needs to beryllium epic successful size, but Nolan’s attack makes it epic successful feel. There are galore movies that person runtimes implicit 2 oregon adjacent 3 hours that don’t warrant them, but The Odyssey takes afloat vantage of its length, luxuriating successful its satellite and communicative done layered flashbacks and considered payoffs. This is done truthful that the value of Odysseus’s journey, the implicit exhaustion helium indispensable consciousness arsenic 2 decades walk earlier helium sets ft connected acquainted shores, is an acquisition the assemblage tin really empathize with.

Translating the expansive communicative and episodic operation of an epic poem into a mean similar movie that values brevity and honing successful connected the affectional crux of a fixed country would beryllium a dense task for immoderate filmmaker. It’s casual to ideate a mentation of The Odyssey that leaves filmgoers complaining that it should’ve been a miniseries for streaming. How fortunate for america past that Nolan and his collaborators recognize the code and bushed of cinematic storytelling truthful well, that the movie intercuts betwixt truthful galore antithetic characters and subplots without losing the affectional throughline (editor Jennifer Lame, travel get your trophies). Instead of each “episode” of Odysseus’s escapade – the Cyclops, the Laestrygonians, the Sirens, going to Hades, etc. – being starts and stops successful the film’s flow, they run arsenic cascading events, each 1 reverberating against the others and making the sum of his quest arsenic overwhelming arsenic possible.

That consciousness of scale, the epic scope of the film’s instrumentality connected the archetypal poem, is some Nolan’s astir ambitious conceit and his astir strategical choice. The Odyssey delays gratification for what feels similar ages, making the anticipation for Odysseus’s instrumentality to Ithaca, reunion with his woman Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and lad Telemachus (Tom Holland), and the comeuppance of the legion of suitors who person been tormenting his household for years astir unbearable. But similar the monolithic bow that Odysseus strings to amusement Penelope helium is so her husband, the hostility gets to the highest constituent earlier giving america the catharsis we need.

The consequent enactment finale wherever Odysseus slaughters the suitors – on with a spot of assistance from Telemachus and loyal servant Eumaeus (John Leguizamo) – is 1 of the astir satisfying sequences successful Nolan’s filmography due to the fact that quality and assemblage are wholly successful sync. This climax means arsenic overmuch for Odysseus arsenic it does for us, for adjacent if the movie wants america to see the complexity of Odysseus’s actions astatine Troy and his interaction connected the world, we each inactive privation to spot him yet instrumentality backmost his home.

A Visionary Director

And erstwhile again, we’re backmost astatine the aforesaid drum I’ve been banging for years present astatine IGN: Hollywood needs to fto talented directors marque the films they privation to make. It sounds truthful simple, and yet it’s a acquisition that studios person refused to larn clip and clip again arsenic they effort to dictate presumption to filmgoers who person go progressively frustrated with reheated IPs and mismanaged franchises. And yes, to beryllium clear, doing different mentation of The Odyssey isn’t precisely the pinnacle of originality fixed that the communicative is respective 1000 years old, but the passionateness Nolan feels for the task bleeds onto each inch of the IMAX screen. Can we accidental the aforesaid for movies similar The Mandalorian and Grogu, which fizzled retired with the worst container bureau effect of immoderate Star Wars film, oregon Supergirl, which was reportedly ripped retired of its director’s hands and has dealt a terrible stroke to the caller DCU lone 2 films in?

Seeing The Odyssey successful adjacent proximity to different caller workplace blockbusters is an workout successful exasperation. Watching a movie that really feels directed should not beryllium a “once successful a while” dainty erstwhile going to the theater. Distinct originative choices and a consciousness of authorial volition are cardinal components of what makes a movie much than a specified postulation of moving images, and Nolan’s estimation – to the constituent of being 1 of the fewer moving directors your mean idiosyncratic connected the thoroughfare could sanction – comes from those aforesaid components. It besides comes from perpetually challenging himself arsenic an artist, pushing the boundaries of what helium tin execute some narratively and successful presumption of method trade with each movie helium makes. Sadly, refusing to beryllium complacent, to not conscionable settee for doing what you’ve done before, is each excessively uncommon successful mainstream moviemaking.

That’s not to accidental determination aren’t plentifulness of talented radical moving connected movies that autumn a small short, but their efforts are often undermined by mercurial executives, micromanaged productions, and misguided workplace priorities. It’s not conscionable a disservice to directors, particularly up and coming ones who don’t person the aforesaid clout arsenic idiosyncratic similar Nolan, but besides to their galore collaborators some successful beforehand of and down the camera. Yet watching a movie similar The Odyssey proves that singular visions tin inactive marque it done the workplace strategy intact. It’s a luxury that needs to beryllium afforded to much than conscionable a venerated few, but that it’s imaginable astatine each shows that Hollywood is susceptible of doing things the close way.

Like Odysseus and Penelope sailing to the West, filmmaking whitethorn beryllium chasing the escaping sun, but there’s inactive immoderate airy connected those uncertain seas.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You tin travel his fixations connected Twitter.