The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan
Is it possible to go into this movie with no expectations?
Last night I watched Christopher Nolan's most recent film, The Odyssey, and really enjoyed it.
I have far fewer words to share about the movie than many other people do. Mostly, I came out of the movie thinking it was really good, but not great. It's maybe not even a top-five Nolan film for me.
That has more to do with Nolan's elite filmography than any failing of The Odyssey itself, and for basically any other director it could easily be their crowning achievement.
The cinematography of this film is where it shines, though I also felt like most of the actors gave strong performances. The sound mix is always something of a question mark with Nolan, but I think that was exacerbated by our specific theater having some pretty rough (maybe blown out?) speakers.
The first act took me a while to get fully immersed into, but the film steadily picks up and comes together nicely in the final act—despite an action sequence at the end that was too drawn out.
There are a few sequences that are incredibly impressive visually—Hades, the cyclops, opening the gates of Troy—but I didn't quite get that 'Oh man I can't wait to rewatch this' feeling that many of Nolan's best movies (The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Interstellar) left me with as soon as the credits rolled.
That doesn't make this movie any less good than it is.
Overall: 60
I use the 20-80 scale to rate things.