good morning everyone!
Today’s hoddle comes with a rare spoiler warning: For those of you who aren’t aware of a 2,700-year-old poem, I will be reviewing the latest adaptation to hit the big screen. I’m talking about The Odyssey, of course.
again: spoiler spoiler spoiler for an ancient poem
There is a lot to like about this film whose nearly three-hour run time feels appropriate, if not too short. There is so much from the famed Greek epic that we don’t see - the Bag of Winds, Odysseus’s affair with Circe and the whole “nobody” trick with the Cyclops.
For me there were two ommissions that were most glaring:
A lack of gods: We see a lot of Athena (played by Zendaya), or perhaps it’s some priestess to the goddess Athena. But there’s no Poseidon, no Zeus - two hugely important characters. Still we feel their omnipotence and omnipresence throughout the film, so you feel them there. Perhaps this explains these characters’ relationships with the deities they built temples and slaughtered for.
Calypso refusing to let Odysseus leave: But by not including the gods, we are also deprived of the intrusive roles they played in mortals’ and nymphs’ lives. Among the most important is Hermes, an interlocutor who has a major role to play with both Circe and Calypso. But let’s focus on the latter. We know she kept Odysseus on a beach for years, but we never know why. And we never know why she let him go. So when Odysseus is allowed to leave, it feels empty. For such a major storyline, it feels lacking.
That said, there’s a lot to like about this film.
The visuals are stunning - a feast for the eyes that would be worth the $79 Trojan horse popcorn bucket. And in a film that cuts from scene to scene, some stand out more than others. For me there are a handful: the sacking of Troy, Odysseus’ encounter with Circe and his confrontation with his fallen comrades at Hade.
John Leguizamo was my pick for MVP for his performance as Eumaeus, a shepherd and friend of Odysseus. Himesh Patel was also outstanding as Eurylochus, Odysseu’s second-in-command, and at times helped lift Matt Damon in some of their scenes together.
Others failed to live up to the epic. Tom Holland was outclassed in every way, delivering a jilted performance as Telemachus, Odysseus’s son. This was a big opportunity for Holland to graduate from Spiderman, but this showed that perhaps an epic isn’t his jam. But if you’re acting opposite of Damon and Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson and Leguizamo, you’ve got to hold your own - not deliver some wooden performance as if you’re just reading the lines.
Now, the script left a lot to be desired. I understand the idea of wanting to deliver an Odyssey for a modern crowd, but that doesn’t mean writing the kinds of dialogue that you could find at a secondary school playground. As stunning it was to watch the film, it was at times difficult to listen to.
This leads to my rating which might be harsher than most out there. It has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and many reviews giving it a 9/10 or better. I enjoyed the film a lot and I want to see it again, but I’m not there.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Starlight, by Yola
And now for your links:
Independent: “James Maddison outlines Roberto De Zerbi’s ‘very clear’ message to Tottenham squad ahead of new season”
BBC: “Are there already worrying signs for Vrancken’s Hearts?”
ESPN: “Can U.S. Soccer afford to wait for USMNT coach Pochettino?”