That was a fucking GREAT movie.
I am not a classicist and I have never read the poem, so make of my thoughts what you will.
It is stunningly beautiful. I saw it on an IMAX screen, and so many moments made me gasp because the visual composition of each shot is perfect. My appreciation for its beauty is only enhanced by the knowledge that almost everything if not absolutely everything on the screen was filmed in a pretty old-school way. And the sound, my god; it was so loud, I felt those battles and moments of panic and shock in my chest. It was a completely immersive experience.
The cast is incredible. There was not a dud among them. I’m sorry, if you’re asking yourself why Matt Damon was there then that’s just because you’ve got something personal against Matt Damon, because he was fantastic in the role. Tom Holland’s performance is his best so far, and it’s one of Anne Hathaway’s greatest; I could have had a thousand more minutes of Anne Hathaway as Penelope. Every single performer hit the right note, and what struck me is that they are all gifted with the ability to make the material extremely accessible to a general audience. This is partly down to the dialogue and the familiarity of the language used to tell the story. But it’s also because this cast is smart, and it shows in how they interpret and portray each moment. Additionally, they’re all so charismatic and likeable and sympathetic in their roles that the audience is instantly drawn in.
I can see why Nolan cast these roles the way he did. When I first heard about this movie I thought it was too star-packed, but I think it was necessary because there is no villain in this version of the story. This cast is typically used in heroic roles, and here they are used to depict monstrous events, but no real monsters. My view was that in this version of the story, Odysseus is both the protagonist and the antagonist, the central conflict of the film held within that single character. Why hasn’t Odysseus gone home? Because Odysseus doesn’t want to go home. Odysseus actively resists his journey home, and his men die as a consequence. This stubbornness and pride could make the character extremely unlikeable, which is why you need an actor like Matt Damon in the role; you have to believe that a woman like Penelope would wait for him, you have to believe that his men love him enough to follow him into Hades. Without Matt Damon, or an actor like Matt Damon, this Odysseus is just a twat who makes stupid, selfish choices because he can’t get his shit together. And that would be a film. It might even be a film truer to the source material, I don’t know. But it wouldn’t be this film, which I loved so much.
I loved, loved, loved Odysseus’s first reunion with Penelope, when he returns to Ithaca masquerading as a beggar. I loved that his internal conflict is revealed while he is disguised; because that conflict is between his own self-perception and the external demands placed upon him. He feels in himself nothing but darkness, feels himself unworthy of home, and he has to make peace with that feeling and the events that led to it, and he has to atone before he can return to Ithaca and take his place as its source of light and hope.
I honestly think that this is Nolan’s most emotionally resonant movie to date, and it’s definitely his most narratively satisfying. The flashbacks and time jumps are so seamless that they no longer feel like an affectation. The conclusion is so joyful, so hopeful, I genuinely wanted to applaud as the credits went up. I never, ever feel that at the cinema, but I felt it today. It is beautiful, gorgeous, a masterpiece. It has leapt into my all-time top ten, and I plan to see this movie at the movies for as long as I can.
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