The Odyssey - Movie Review — Transcript

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1. 0:00Talking about a Christopher Nolan movie,
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38. 1:10And now Christopher Nolan brings us his
39. 1:12adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey. Let's
40. 1:15talk about it.
41. 1:21So, The Odyssey is the new film directed
42. 1:23by director Christopher Nolan. It stars
43. 1:25Matt Damon as Odysseus and this is
44. 1:27the story of The Odyssey. More than
45. 1:29that, it's Christopher Nolan's telling
46. 1:31of The Odyssey, which kind of sounds
47. 1:32like a no [ __ ] moment, but it's
48. 1:34decidedly
49. 1:35very Nolan does The Odyssey. Odysseus is
50. 1:38the king of Ithaca. He was also in the
51. 1:40Trojan War for 10 years. Then he and his
52. 1:42men are going to sail home and Poseidon
53. 1:44and the rest of the gods say, "We'll
54. 1:45just see about that." This is the
55. 1:4710-year story of a man in Greek
56. 1:49mythology trying to get home. That's 10
57. 1:51years on top of the 10 years he already
58. 1:53spent at the War of Troy. Trying to get
59. 1:55home in a world pre-Google Maps, in a
60. 1:57world pre MapQuest, but no printer. We
61. 1:59all remember, 10 years minimum. All the
62. 2:01while these suitors have invaded his
63. 2:03home. They're trying to take his throne.
64. 2:05His wife and son, played by Anne
65. 2:07Hathaway and Tom Holland, got to deal
66. 2:08with that. While they're trying to hold
67. 2:10on to hope that Odysseus is still alive
68. 2:13out there. Now, what I found interesting
69. 2:15is I heard, we'll call it a rumor
70. 2:17because it turned out to be not too
71. 2:19true, no influencers screening The
72. 2:22Odyssey early. Then all the early
73. 2:24reactions and reviews were influencers
74. 2:26talking about how great The Odyssey was.
75. 2:28They were gushing about it, which led me
76. 2:29to the natural thought of, "Wow, these
77. 2:31early reactions really love The
78. 2:33Odyssey."
79. 2:35Man, you mean this movie might suck? No,
80. 2:36The Odyssey is epic. And that could mean
81. 2:39it's just big, but
82. 2:41this movie's great. First of all, Matt
83. 2:43Damon. Never would have cast him as
84. 2:45Odysseus, not going to lie, but the dude
85. 2:48clocks in to work. I thought it was
86. 2:49going to be the Matt Damon show, you
87. 2:51know? I was like, "Okay, if he shines,
88. 2:53if he's good in the movie, great." Most
89. 2:55in this movie having more than a few
90. 2:56minutes of screen time have a scene,
91. 2:58monologue, or moment that makes them
92. 3:01stand out. Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway,
93. 3:03Robert Pattinson, I mean, they're all
94. 3:05reliably great. Another standout for me
95. 3:07was Kumail Nanjiani. I don't know, I
96. 3:09just didn't expect a member of
97. 3:10Odysseus's crew
98. 3:13to go toe-to-toe with Matt Damon. The
99. 3:14biggest standout, surprise standout for
100. 3:17me, John Leguizamo.
101. 3:20Amazing in here. I thought John
102. 3:21Leguizamo being in this movie was going
103. 3:23to be Mia Goth being in this movie. Mia
104. 3:25Goth is in this movie for
105. 3:2830 seconds. So, that kind of shows the
106. 3:29power of the Christopher Nolan orbit,
107. 3:32you know, the gravitational pull. I get
108. 3:34the feeling actors out there are like,
109. 3:36"I don't care if it's the lead, a minor
110. 3:39role, a background role, or a grip. I
111. 3:42want to be involved in his next film."
112. 3:44So, you're going to have Mia Goth
113. 3:45playing a very minor role in here, more
114. 3:47than 30 seconds.
115. 3:49A minute. But, John Leguizamo was a much
116. 3:51bigger role than I thought he was going
117. 3:52to be in here.
118. 3:54Man, he surprised me. This sounds like a
119. 3:56backhanded compliment. I don't mean for
120. 3:58it to be so. Pattinson, you just want to
121. 4:00smack. The dude absolutely plays it up.
122. 4:03He owns it. Which there is cruelty to
123. 4:05dogs in this movie, too. I'll give you
124. 4:07that warning.
125. 4:08Us dog people and all. You know how
126. 4:10[laughter] it is, yeah. We dog people
127. 4:11are like, "Got to mention that." One
128. 4:13scene in particular is
129. 4:15it was a bit much. Props to Nolan for
130. 4:17not shying away from the ugly parts of
131. 4:19the times that were. That said, it was
132. 4:21rough to watch. But the big thing, the
133. 4:23selling point of this film, is the fact
134. 4:26that it is very Christopher Nolan does
135. 4:29the Odyssey. It's in the vast, enormous,
136. 4:31expansive world that feels equal parts
137. 4:34mythical and real. And where you're used
138. 4:36to seeing boats and ships and landscape,
139. 4:39but you see the haze of green screen, I
140. 4:41didn't run into that here. It looked
141. 4:43impressive. It looked real. More than
142. 4:45that, it felt real. That's what cinema's
143. 4:47supposed to do. It's supposed to make
144. 4:48you feel something. There are scenes in
145. 4:50this movie that are straight-up
146. 4:53horror movie-esque. Funny, the other day
147. 4:55I saw an article headline that said
148. 4:57something like, "Why hasn't Christopher
149. 4:59Nolan made a horror movie?" Maybe they
150. 5:01just watched the Odyssey. Cuz I'm
151. 5:03watching the Odyssey going, he kind of
152. 5:05did. The Cyclops cave has always been a
153. 5:06standout moment in the Odyssey for me.
154. 5:09And it's a standout moment in this
155. 5:10version of the Odyssey. It's absolutely
156. 5:13terrifying. This Cyclops was the thing
157. 5:16you were afraid was under your bed if it
158. 5:19would fit under your bed. Another
159. 5:20standout scene was the Circe scene. It's
160. 5:22the kind of thing that's going to live
161. 5:24rent-free in my head for probably a
162. 5:26month. Some locations were different
163. 5:28than I thought they would be. Maybe
164. 5:29that's Nolan being like, "Yeah,
165. 5:31grounded realism, it's kind of my
166. 5:33thing." But I was like, "That's
167. 5:35less of a palace, more of a hut." Yeah,
168. 5:37that scene's scary as hell. And that's
169. 5:38where Nolan really shines in the way he
170. 5:41does things, the way he can take
171. 5:43something and make it feel grounded when
172. 5:45it deals in a world of mythology and
173. 5:47magic. Cuz I don't know about you, I
174. 5:48might be projecting, but when I read
175. 5:50these mythological stories, it's just
176. 5:52kind of I take it in like, "Yeah, and
177. 5:54magic's in this world and they just see
178. 5:56it as normal and well, it's it's a magic
179. 5:58world." But Nolan makes magic in this
180. 6:00film terrifying and it should be
181. 6:02terrifying. You feel like you're having
182. 6:04the same existential crisis that the
183. 6:06characters themselves are having. And
184. 6:08that's a big thing. It's a big deal.
185. 6:10It's rare. Two things that I have heard
186. 6:12critiques on even when coming out of the
187. 6:14movie theater and people giving their
188. 6:15thoughts and talking about it was the
189. 6:16sound and lighting and one of which I do
190. 6:19understand. The other I didn't run into
191. 6:21a problem there. I didn't run into a
192. 6:23problem with the sound. Christopher
193. 6:24Nolan's last couple, maybe few movies,
194. 6:27there has been that okay, who did the EQ
195. 6:31on this movie kind of feeling? I didn't
196. 6:32run into it here. There were moments
197. 6:34that were louder than others, but I
198. 6:36liked it. What can I say? The Cyclops
199. 6:38screaming in the cave, his scream is so
200. 6:40much louder than what you've heard to
201. 6:42that point and I feel like that was the
202. 6:44point. It added to that feeling for me
203. 6:46of, "Hey, this is nightmare fuel. Let's
204. 6:48get the [ __ ] out of here." Another one
205. 6:50is the lighting. I understand the gripe
206. 6:52of the lighting, but I didn't have a
207. 6:54problem with the lighting. I have my
208. 6:56theory about the perception of the
209. 6:58lighting in here. It is a bit darker
210. 7:00than a lot of movies I've seen lately,
211. 7:02but it's not that flat, dull, boring
212. 7:05dark. I noticed a world of contrast and
213. 7:08shadows and light and dark and
214. 7:10I feel like I've almost forgotten how to
215. 7:12process that as a new film. A lot of
216. 7:15movies these days have that evenly lit,
217. 7:17dull, lifeless, muddy look to it and
218. 7:20well, I liked this more. This movie
219. 7:22absolutely does follow the less is more
220. 7:25adage and I like that, too. I mean,
221. 7:26you're dealing with monsters, but you
222. 7:28got Nolan going, "Hey, we want things to
223. 7:30feel and look real."
224. 7:33But that would probably mean a lot of
225. 7:35CGI. So, there were a few scenes where I
226. 7:37was left to my imagination or maybe
227. 7:39something's off in the distance, but
228. 7:41that kind of puts me in the POV of the
229. 7:43guys in the boat seeing this thing. Uh
230. 7:45the monster Scylla, I I didn't find that
231. 7:47to be impressive, to be honest with you.
232. 7:48That's That's a caveat for the film. You
233. 7:50don't get a good look at it, to be fair.
234. 7:52Maybe if I had the movie at home when it
235. 7:55comes out on Blu-ray, hard copy, always.
236. 7:59Maybe I could frame by frame it, pause
237. 8:00it, be like, "Oh, that does look cool."
238. 8:02But for right now, for the quick glimpse
239. 8:03we get, meh. All right. Controversies.
240. 8:06This movie's had some controversies,
241. 8:08some conversations that have taken
242. 8:10up a lot of internet bandwidth. I feel
243. 8:13they're worth addressing here because
244. 8:16the movie doesn't have them play out how
245. 8:19I think some people think it will. First
246. 8:21of all, Helen of Troy. Lupita Nyong'o as
247. 8:23Helen of Troy. She's in the movie for I
248. 8:25think 5 minutes max. She has a couple of
249. 8:28moments, but they're so fast, they're so
250. 8:30brief. That's what Nolan does in this
251. 8:32movie. He has a lot of flashback moments
252. 8:35that are just a second or two long. It
253. 8:37does kind of crack me up knowing
254. 8:39Christopher Nolan set up this whole
255. 8:41shot, probably filmed for a day and a
256. 8:43half for footage that lasts that long.
257. 8:45Release the Nolan cut. There's probably
258. 8:47not enough time in a year to watch it,
259. 8:49whatever that would be. Another one,
260. 8:51Elliot Page as not Achilles, does not
261. 8:53play Achilles. Nope, just plays a young
262. 8:55soldier again in this movie briefly. I
263. 8:57think Elliot Page and Lupita Nyong'o
264. 9:00collectively are in this movie for
265. 9:027 minutes, and that's generous. The
266. 9:04argument's been Elliot Page as a Greek
267. 9:06soldier in the Trojan War would get
268. 9:09destroyed. But to be fair,
269. 9:12that is the point of the character.
270. 9:13Elliot Page's character in this movie
271. 9:15kind of reminded me of the kid from The
272. 9:17Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix
273. 9:18Resurrections. Maybe you fought in that
274. 9:20war, but you definitely wouldn't be
275. 9:21first pick on the war draft or high
276. 9:24school gym. But that dynamic is a big
277. 9:27part of Odysseus's arc in his story, and
278. 9:30I felt it really worked. The other one
279. 9:32is the way people talk, the script I
280. 9:34mean, Nolan's scripts have always kind
281. 9:36of been All right, I guess you wrote
282. 9:37that dialogue." I mean, sometimes it's
283. 9:39great. Sometimes you definitely have
284. 9:41that thought. But, they definitely do
285. 9:42have this English-American way of
286. 9:44talking. And I agree, there is something
287. 9:47about the British way of speaking, the
288. 9:49King's English. You hear the Imperials
289. 9:51in Star Wars having British accents, and
290. 9:53it's said It was said the sun never set
291. 9:55on the British Empire. Looks like the
292. 9:57British Empire expanded to a galaxy far,
293. 10:00far away. And it just works. They just
294. 10:02sound awesome. Lord of the Rings, they
295. 10:04just The way they spoke, it sounded
296. 10:07powerful. In this movie, they don't
297. 10:09really talk like that. And I'm not going
298. 10:11to lie, it just didn't stick with me
299. 10:12past that scene, which is near the
300. 10:14beginning of the film. At no point was I
301. 10:16in the Cyclops' cave going, "Yeah, but
302. 10:18he said daddy." And the big one that I
303. 10:21even in my sponsorship segment in this
304. 10:23video poked at, cuz it's just
305. 10:25low-hanging fruit. Odysseus yelling,
306. 10:27"Let's go." like he's a TikToker talking
307. 10:29about the newest MCU trailer. The scene
308. 10:31in the movie
309. 10:33is executed and plays out in context
310. 10:37differently than how the trailer makes
311. 10:39it look like it does. I don't want to
312. 10:40tell you how the scene plays out. I want
313. 10:42you to watch it yourself, but you might
314. 10:44very well have that moment of
315. 10:47"Did Nolan just troll the internet?" And
316. 10:49probably. I really dug the musical score
317. 10:51by Ludwig Göransson. The song in the
318. 10:53Odyssey trailer is the theme in the
319. 10:55Odyssey. And you know how somber, sad,
320. 10:58and heartfelt, and emotional it is?
321. 11:00Yeah, that's the vibe of the movie. I've
322. 11:02been replaying that trailer version on
323. 11:04YouTube on repeat since I watched this
324. 11:06thing. Bringing out those emotional
325. 11:08feels, what you see on screen is half
326. 11:10the job. That's half the part. The other
327. 11:12half is the musical score, and this one
328. 11:13does the job. I've noticed this about
329. 11:15Christopher Nolan movies. I feel like it
330. 11:17wasn't always the case, but at a point
331. 11:18it became the case. The movie kind of
332. 11:20feels broken up, if not disjointed.
333. 11:24You're left with that feeling of
334. 11:26"Okay, where is this going exactly?"
335. 11:28It's all about how he can pull it
336. 11:29together in the end. And when he does,
337. 11:31it feels like you're giving the key to
338. 11:33the map you've been watching for 2 hours
339. 11:35or so. Well, close to three here, but
340. 11:38since the last hour is it wrapping up,
341. 11:41I'll say two. And when it does,
342. 11:43dude, that's the real point here. The
343. 11:46last 45 minutes of the Odyssey or so, I
344. 11:49was sitting there like I was Carmy
345. 11:51talking to his mom in The Bear. Man
346. 11:54tears being held back because this film
347. 11:57makes you feel something. It's not just
348. 11:59something. It's something big and
349. 12:01something human. It's
350. 12:03revolves around family and loss and
351. 12:06pain. It's about war and how it changes
352. 12:09you. It's like Nolan's almost looking at
353. 12:11the audience going, "You going to crack
354. 12:12yet? Here's another thing. How about
355. 12:14now?
356. 12:16Here's another thing. How about now?
357. 12:17Thing is, the emotional impact of this
358. 12:20film,
359. 12:21I was thinking about it all night. It
360. 12:22doesn't end when the end credits hit. I
361. 12:24took it home with me. In the end, if
362. 12:25it's not apparent yet, I absolutely
363. 12:28loved Christopher Nolan's Odyssey. Well,
364. 12:31Christopher Nolan's take on Homer's The
365. 12:32Odyssey. You know what I mean. It's like
366. 12:34the absolute cinema meme rolled into one
367. 12:37film. Even with the slow start, I mean,
368. 12:38it doesn't have a lot of get-up-and-go
369. 12:41early on. It is giving you a lot of
370. 12:42information. Funny enough, it's kind of
371. 12:44a hybrid of show and tell. Usually, it's
372. 12:47one or the other. It's telling while
373. 12:49showing. But, that's for about 25
374. 12:51minutes of setup. All things considered
375. 12:53for the Odyssey, it's
376. 12:54pretty time efficient. I guess it didn't
377. 12:56bother me because I don't see the
378. 12:58Odyssey how I've heard some people
379. 13:00describe the Odyssey. I've heard this
380. 13:01movie described as an action movie. It
381. 13:03has action in it, but I feel it's more
382. 13:05of a drama with action in it. And
383. 13:07granted, the action scenes are great.
384. 13:09They're standouts. They're exciting.
385. 13:11More than that, this film is amazing at
386. 13:13tension. It's big. It's epic. It's
387. 13:15heartfelt. It's soulful. It's tragic. It
388. 13:18unexpectedly made me chuckle a couple
389. 13:20times. One of my favorites of the year,
390. 13:21not even a question. With an ending
391. 13:23that's satisfying as I remember the
392. 13:25ending of the Odyssey being. The Odyssey
393. 13:28is
394. 13:29awesometacular.
395. 13:31>> [cheering]
396. 13:34[applause]
397. 13:35>> This is the kind of thing I go to the
398. 13:37movies for.
399. 13:39I feel like I'm not going to see
400. 13:40something like this.
401. 13:42I was going to say ever again.
402. 13:44Definitely for a very long time. All
403. 13:46right, so the Odyssey, have you seen it?
404. 13:48What did you think about it? Or what's
405. 13:49your favorite Christopher Nolan film?
406. 13:51Whatever it is, whatever you think,
407. 13:51comment below, let me know. And as
408. 13:53always, if you like what you've seen
409. 13:53here and you want to see more, click
410. 13:55right here to see more.
411. 14:02>> [music]
412. 14:06[music]