'The Odyssey' A Review

The Odyssey is a period action/adventure movie an adaptation of the epic poem by Homer. Odysseus(Matt Damon) helps to sack Troy via the Trojan Horse and then sets of to return home with his men but loses his way. His wife Penelope(Anne Hathaway) waits in Ithaca for his return, surrounded by mustache twirling suitors insisting he is dead.

Damon, Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Robert Pattinson are miscast, the inconsistent and emotionally thin script don't help them out, they're not bad but it's clear they're are all taking different approaches, feel like they are in different movies, the performances overall just don't really mesh, aren't cohesive. The supporting cast is full of big names, all are fun to see, but not all are successful. Samantha Morton gives the most successful performance in the most interesting scene of the movie. Lupita Nyong'o is wonderful but her appearance is brief. Himesh Patel brings some much needed emotional reality. Benny Safdie's appearance is bizarre and jarring, Charlize Theron isn't given enough to do. It's just odd, with all this talent, with all these names, the acting in aggregate is mostly forgettable and bland.

To be fair it seems clear the acting nor the story is really the focus here, it's the production and in that respect the movie is revelatory. The costuming, the Göransson score, the set design- all are incredible. Rich expansive visuals explode in every shot. The non-linear structure and the frequent cutting seem to be a necessity of shooting on IMAX rather than motivated in any way by the narrative. The ending involves some incredibly shoehorned moralizing but the commentary is such a stretch it doesn't even come across as totally cogent.

A spectacular spectacle with nothing much under the hood.

Currently in theaters.

See It.