finally watched Project Hail Mary and yeah that was peak i wasn’t expecting anything else but i didn’t realise how much i would love the character of Dr. Ryland Grace (and Rocky too ofc)
amaze amaze amaze
also Carl’s betrayal genuinely hurt like that was rough 😔 that whole sequence damn I wasn’t expecting it to get that serious like it was actually so uncomfortable watching grace go through all that
So I got to watch The Odyssey today and it was phenomenal- I don’t think anyone was expecting otherwise!
spoilers below the cut!
though tbh i don’t think you can spoil a 3000 year old story 😭
It’s the first film I’ve ever watched in IMAX and damn it was a big screen. It gets used to great effect though- there are so many beautiful shots, especially basically every scene that’s set on the water (there’s this one recurring visual of a setting sun that is so pretty).
Also the audio is actually crazy- you can genuinely feel the volume which is cool as hell (as with the thundering storms, especially coupled with the blinding lightning flashes) and also genuinely scary at points (actually feeling the pained inhuman wails of Polyphemus after he’s blinded was decidedly uncomfortable).
There’s so many things I could talk about that I genuinely don’t know where to start. All of the actors are really good in their roles, I get why literally everyone in Hollywood wanted a piece of the pie. Obviously nothing needs to be said about Matt Damon or Anne Hathaway because like we already knew they’d be great. Tom Holland is very endearing as Telemachus, and it’s really fun to see Robert Pattinson play someone as slimy as Antinous. A surprising standout for me was Jon Bernthal because to be frank I was not expecting much from him but he was really quite good as Menelaus. Lupita Nyong’o is also great as Helen of Troy- I really love the edge she gives the character (also unrelated but making Helen and Clymenestra identical twins played by the same actress is so funny considering only one of them is the most beautiful woman in the world, though actually that is probably a commentary on how needless the Trojan War actually was, which does seem to be a key theme. I was also delighted to see John Leguizamo as Eumaeus (though I couldn’t help but see Tybalt underneath that make-up). Elliot Page was also great as Sinon, genuinely such a good job showing his frustration at Odysseus.
The costume design is also really good. I do get why some people may have been frustrated at them not being accurate armour (especially considering Bronze Age armour is so rarely depicted accurately) but the costumes do look very cool most of the time. Special shout out to Telemachus’s new fit after coming back from Sparta (it was tough as hell) and Odysseus’s beggar disguise at the end because of the generational aura farming he was pulling off (I am a sucker for designs where the characters face is obscured by a hood). The Trojan soldiers also looked so damn clean with the full white armour, and I did actually really like the way the Laestrygonians looked and moved in that big bulky metal armour.
The only outfit I had issues with was Agamemnon because it just looked too big on him 😭. That whole outfit felt like they were trying too hard. There was one exception to this though: as the gates of Troy open on that moonless night, and we see Agamemnon standing there in front if his armies, posed tf up, I did see the vision. Batman levels of aura farming I simply could not criticise. Shame he looked silly in the day (again, personal opinion).
I did really love how they depicted all the obstacles that Odysseus faced on his journey. Polyphemus has such a cool design, I love how the rest of his face is distorted to make that single eye look more fitting on his face. His sequence is shot like a horror movie and it works so well, especially that first reveal as this giant looms out of the darkness. I do get why they didn’t have him speaking at first (so they can have this surprise as he cries out to Poseidon after his blinding), but at the same time it does mean we don’t get that delightful little “Nobody” exchange that really highlights Odysseus as a tricksy guy.
Circe is probably responsible for one of my favourite sequences with her transformations of Odysseus’s men into pigs. It’s actually such a visceral scene. The way the men just cannot stop eating is so so uncomfortable, the way they just keep forcing it into their mouths and it doesn’t seem to end (I’ve got to know how they shot it). To have Circe actively moulding the men into pigs like clay was such a cool choice and the squelching and cracking sounds as she rearranges flesh and bone are just awful (positive). It’s so damn long and drawn out and it just works so well at inspiring horror.
The sequence in Hades is also really fun, like obviously I’m going to love ghostly Greek soldiers on a dark misty beach. I love how bedraggled and unkempt they look, like they’ve been dragged out of the grave after their violent deaths. The design for Tiresias with his top half emerging from the ground, covered in that cloak that spreads over and blends into the dirt, such a good idea for a shade being called from the underworld.
I did love when they reached Thrinacia and the cattle they have been expressly forbidden from eaten literally pull up to the coast like a Bronze Age all you can eat buffet 😭. The escape from Thrinacia is also one of the standout sequences of the film, it just feels so overwhelming. The dark stormy ocean suddenly illuminated by flashes of lightning, the overwhelming rain smothering the men, the loud peaks of thunder that reverberate around the stadium, and the knowledge that you’re watching the end of Odysseus’s men all come together so beautifully.
I do think my favourite sequence overall is the Sacking of Troy. The tensions as the horse is dragged into the city and as the men quietly escape, and then as they race to open the gates before the men of Troy can stop them, all culminating in a phenomenal action sequence as the city falls. It’s well-choreographed, violent, and feels appropriately action-packed. I do enjoy that Odysseus wrestles with his guilt after the fact, and it’s not just hype for the Greeks (which is probably more accurate lmao)
Also, I’d love to hear your interpretation of Zendaya’s Athena appearing to be killed during the Fall of Troy: do you think Athena throughout the movie was being represented by the face of a real woman that was murdered in her temple as Odysseus watch, or was that apparent murder not real but instead a representation of the Greek’s disrespect as they beheaded a statue of the goddess?
I do love the Sea People being this looming threat, mostly because I just think the Sea People are cool lmao. But also, I do think it was really cool that Odysseus recognises that he is essentially no different to these Sea People- he too is a man who comes from the sea with apparently no respect for the rules of civilisation, and he is forced to recognise that fact.
I do think the finale is also really well done- an appropriately dramatic reveal for Odysseus (also, Argos barely managing to wag his tail upon seeing his master for the first (and last) time in two decades 😭). Appropriately action-packed, and I love that Eumaeus got to be involved. I do think that Telemachus felt kind of wasted- it was a bit odd seeing as he had this arc of growing up becoming the king Ithaca needed only for his final act to be fighting a slave (not to diminish Melanthius). I get he couldn’t really be involved in the main fight due to the risk of exile, and also it reflecting the lesson he learned in the beginning about holding back and attacking when needed, but still. I can’t complain though, it was a good finale and the reunion between Odysseus and Penelope was worth waiting for. Nice to see Telemachus crowned too.
So yeah, that’s my thoughts on the Odyssey. Would love to know what you think, and please let me know if I’ve been an idiot!
genuinely baffling choice to try parking the bus against THE lionel messi 😭 ffs it was supposed to come home why on earth would you just sit back and let argentina keep attacking
i should feel worse but i am inordinately fond of that man but come on this was just disappointing raised our hopes just for a frankly self-inflicted battering (why sub off the only one who scored a goal?!)
Alright so I do admit to being incredibly biased (as Asgore Dreemurr’s self-proclaimed strongest soldier) but I can’t help but feel this chapter has lowkey fumbled the bag when it comes to Asgore.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like the chapter but I feel like Asgore is such an interesting character and we didn’t actually do too much with him in the literal Flower King Dark World.
I just wish they had committed either way to how they were going to present Asgore. We know that the incident with Dess upended his entire life, and he’s desperate to show the town what happened. He’s clearly obsessed with how things once were and he’s trying so hard to try and bring it back. That moment where he sees the gang and yells at them to leave feels like it should be the beginning of an Asgore who is straight up going kinda crazy- this is his opportunity to show the world the truth, of course he’s going to reach for it (even at the detriment of how he treats his family).
But then a couple cutscenes later he’s suddenly realising he was acting poorly and he’s back to normal. We know that he is a good person and loving father fundamentally, but it feels like this pivot is kinda cheap no? I feel like either Asgore should have been far more obsessive and it should take him longer to get over that, or have him be overtly trying to look out for the kids in the beginning and show that their safety is at least a somewhat comparable priority to him as solving the mystery. Currently, it feels kinda half-arsed: he’s not being reasonable (but he’s also not entirely unreasonable) but then he also comes around way too quickly imo. I do get that it’s a very busy chapter but still. Right now it feels like the worst of both worlds- that bit where he addresses Kris and says how proud he is of them would hit so much harder if we had seen more of a conflict between them, rather than just a single argument.
I think he just needed a bit more on-screen time to show him overcoming his flaws, especially with how he’s been treating Toriel. The way he’s been treating her is unacceptable, bordering harassment at this point. It feels cheap that he quickly realises it’s bad when Flowery starts pestering him- it’s such a major flaw and idk I feel like more time should have been spent addressing that. (Side note but I adore Flowery he’s so funny genuinely one of my favourite characters in this game lmao)
I’m not saying we needed hype moments and aura farming, but I wish we had more time to wrestle with such an interesting character and to watch him start dealing with the incident that lead him down such a self-destructive spiral. I would love to hear more opinions about this though.
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Unrelated but I also would have appreciated some hype moments and aura farming lmfao like that’s my goat right there let him cook. Of course it’s not necessary and it hasn’t affected my enjoyment of the chapter, but Asgore has been going through it and it would have been nice to see him flex a bit yk. Obviously DR Asgore is not UT Asgore, and it’s not like I wanted him to suddenly start killing kids but at the same time we know this guy is decidedly powerful and it would have been nice to see him do something that really gets you to realise that in another world this was the literal King of the Monsters who led his people in battle against humanity. That moment where he talked about parading the body around town had me so hyped that we were going to see some elite-level aura farming later in the chapter but unfortunately it was all for naught 😭 idk i wish he had been able to put up at least a bit of a fight against the Knight, or to actively oppose the Flowers when he sees Kris in danger. A lot of Deltarune has shown us what we wanted to see in Undertale and prime Asgore would have been cool. Please don’t take this as me expecting Asgore hype moments and then being disappointed though- my main gripe is just that it felt like he was underutilised and I think his character development needed more exploration, and hype moments wouldn’t have contributed to that at all.
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