Film Christopher Nolan's THE ODYSSEY | OUT NOW!

I think Insomnia is excellent actually. I thought Following was also pretty okay when I watched it, but I don't remember much of it now and don't know how to rate it.

I'd put Memento first, then The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Insomnia, and Dunkirk (maybe in that order), I suppose The Odyssey and Oppenheimer somewhere quite a bit below that (in that order), and the rest of his films further down in a pile of stuff that didn't do much to me (Inception, Tenet, Interstellar, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises).

In principle, I like what Nolan is trying to do in his films. He doesn't take the easy or obvious road and tries to push narrative boundaries and the film medium (through IMAX). But what he actually produces that way is very hit or miss for me.
 
I’d find it hard to rate them. Tenet and TKDR are the only two I actively disliked when I watched them. Interstellar and The Prestige are his most rewatchable so I guess they’re my favourites. The rest are all various degrees of enjoyable. I don’t think Inception has aged very well but I appreciate it modernised blockbusters at the time.

I definitely need to rewatch The Odyssey, and I want to, which is a good sign.
 
Ubik said:
There's a bit of a cult following who insist it's among his best. I think these people may be incredibly wrong but I will give it another shot at some point.
Click to expand...
Yeah I personally don’t understand these type “cult” followers of people/individuals. Call a spade a spade. I’m sure because movies is something so “preference” driven there probably genuine people who liked it. That’s fair but not for me. Nowhere near the worst movies either, just measures up short for a “Nolan” movie. Another one that sort of divided opinion somewhere, is Interstellar. Personally, I loved it.
 
Just got back from this. Solid 8/10 for me. A few random thoughts:

It doesn't, of course, make any logical sense that classics or epics should need to be done with British RP accents... but christ was so much of this just aggressively and distractingly American.

Having the whole Circe sequence basically being a mini horror film was an inspired choice. Comfortably the strongest bit, and so easily could have been goofy and a source of unintentional comedy (not that the film didn't have quite a few moments of that anyway).

The reframing of the Trojan Horse story worked very well and made for another strong sequence.

I don't really know why Agamemnon needed to be Darth Vader.

Surely Tom Holland needs to be something other than a professional dweeb at some point?

I thought Zendaya's one note that she has actually kind of works for the character.

Pattinson does a great slimeball.

The literal sailing off into the sunset with lectures about the decline of the rule of law and the fall of civilisations was incredibly Hollywood and incredibly on the nose, but I guess it's going to be.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I think I’m a massive outlier (on here anyway) when it comes to Nolan films. Memento my favourite. Then Dunkirk, with Odyssey and Interstellar not far behind. Can take or leave everything else.
Click to expand...
Yeah but no one gives a shit about your opinion
 
Ish said:
Surely everyone (everyone!) has Tenet at the bottom? :lol:.
Click to expand...
Only time I watched it was on a flight years ago. Remember nothing. Tried to watch it on a flight again yesterday, lasted 10 minutes before turning it off and switching to Interstellar. Easily his worst

S - Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar
A - Odyssey, Prestige
B - Batman Begins, Dark Knight Rises, Memento
C - Dunkirk, Oppenheimer
D - Tenet

Probably something like this? Don't remember much of Memento so just tossing it at B.
 
Last edited:
Finally went to see it today. My review -

webp
 
The fact that @Sweet Square posts are sometimes entirely indistinguishable from something you'd expect to see on Truth Social might be the best evidence we have for the horseshoe theory of politics.
 
Insomnia is an interesting movie in Nolan's career because he is not the writer , only a director. He wrote and co wrote all of his other films. Al Pacino and Robin Williams are great, the chemistry between them makes the movie watchable although the story itself is not something groundbreaking. I really njoyed it when i saw it for the first time but at the next viewings it is clear that this is not a 100 percent Nolan film.
 
horsechoker said:
I don't get it
Click to expand...
Nolan take on Odysseus is to make him Graham Platner. Only after all the murdering and pillaging did I realise war is in fact very bad.

I was genuinely interested in Nolan take on the Greek epic but he just removes all the parts which would have tested him as a director. What's left is mostly bland visuals, dull costume design, maybe his worst script(Comically how many times they mention zeus law)and incoherent political themes. Step backwards on all levels to Oppenheimer.

Still the pig scene was fun.
 
Sweet Square said:
Nolan take on Odysseus is to make him Graham Platner. Only after all the murdering and pillaging did I realise war is in fact very bad.

I was genuinely interested in Nolan take on the Greek epic but he just removes all the parts which would have tested him as a director. What's left is mostly bland visuals, dull costume design, maybe his worst script(Comically how many times they mention zeus law)and incoherent political themes. Step backwards on all levels to Oppenheimer.

Still the pig scene was fun.
Click to expand...

Bland visuals and dull costume design is just wrong.
 
bosnian_red said:
Only time I watched it was on a flight years ago. Remember nothing. Tried to watch it on a flight again yesterday, lasted 10 minutes before turning it off and switching to Interstellar. Easily his worst

S - Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar
A - Odyssey, Prestige
B - Batman Begins, Dark Knight Rises, Memento
C - Dunkirk, Oppenheimer
D - Tenet

Probably something like this? Don't remember much of Memento so just tossing it at B.
Click to expand...
My order is more like this:

S - Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar
A - Prestige, Inception
B - Batman (first two), Oppenheimer, Odyssey
C - Memento
D - Tenet, Dunkirk

Both the first Batman movies could arguably be in my A as well.
 
Redplane said:
My order is more like this:

S - Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar
A - Prestige, Inception
B - Batman (first two), Oppenheimer, Odyssey
C - Memento
D - Tenet, Dunkirk

Both the first Batman movies could arguably be in my A as well.
Click to expand...
Rises at the top is a choice! But I respect it, Hardy-Bane is fun.
 
Wumminator said:
Bland visuals and dull costume design is just wrong.
Click to expand...
Depends on what aspect of the visuals, I suppose, but I wasn't really impressed by much of the film visually, and certainly not the camera work.
 
Wumminator said:
Bland visuals and dull costume design is just wrong.
Click to expand...
Agamemnon helmet looked like the handsome squidward meme and

HOipvxUakAAThKf


Maybe it's unfair but I'm comparing Nolan Odyssey to the Pasolini Greek adaptations -

HN1YCrvXUAAKJzL



And Pasolini even added in time travel.
 
Last edited:
Ubik said:
Rises at the top is a choice! But I respect it, Hardy-Bane is fun.
Click to expand...
Yeah I figured to some that may be controversial but Heath Ledger aside, I feel like the Dark Knight felt a bit rushed towards the end, which took it down a notch for me. The Dent thing almost seemed out of place. Feel like Rises was the more cohesive package. I think Heath's performance and obvious tragic legacy overshadowed the actual quality of the movie as a package a bit.
 
V.O. said:
Surely Tom Holland needs to be something other than a professional dweeb at some point?

I thought Zendaya's one note that she has actually kind of works for the character.

Pattinson does a great slimeball.
Click to expand...
It's possible I'm being harsh here but personally, I think I've watched about 5-6 films in recent years where Tom Holland is playing Tom Holland and where Zendaya is playing Zendaya... and it's getting tiring. They are still young in some ways and might still develop, but at the moment they are very one dimensional.

Pattinson is actually a pretty great actor these days.
 
MadMike said:
It's possible I'm being harsh here but personally, I think I've watched about 5-6 films in recent years where Tom Holland is playing Tom Holland and where Zendaya is playing Zendaya... and it's getting tiring. They are still young in some ways and might still develop, but at the moment they are very one dimensional.

Pattinson is actually a pretty great actor these days.
Click to expand...
I thought Zendaya was pretty good as Zendaya in this one.
 
Sweet Square said:
Click to expand...

:lol:

You're just operating on way too many levels of irony for me, man!

Sweet Square said:
Maybe it's unfair but I'm comparing Nolan Odyssey to the Pasolini Greek adaptations.

And Pasolini even added in time travel.
Click to expand...
Shocking degree of discipline from Nolan to have some kind of avenue to doing time travel/alternate dimension type bullshit and actually not doing it tbf.

MadMike said:
It's possible I'm being harsh here but personally, I think I've watched about 5-6 films in recent years where Tom Holland is playing Tom Holland and where Zendaya is playing Zendaya... and it's getting tiring. They are still young in some ways and might still develop, but at the moment they are very one dimensional.

Pattinson is actually a pretty great actor these days.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Zendaya-as-Zendaya fatigue is real. Probably wasn't helped by the trailers for Spiderman and Dune 3 immediately before the film either. :lol: It kind of worked in this for me though in fairness.

And yeah, Pattinson has come along miles from being the lad in Twilight. Those other two could do with developing a tenth as much as he's managed.
 
Organic Potatoes said:
I thought Zendaya was pretty good as Zendaya in this one.
Click to expand...
She’s always good, playing Zendaya, that’s not the problem. It’d be nice to see her play a different more complex character for once though. And to see her emote more complex feelings.

Compare her acting to Samantha Morton playing Circe and it’s night and day.
 
S: Dark Knight, Memento
A: Inception, Odyssey, Batman Begins, Prestige
B: interstellar, DKR, Oppenheimer
C: Dunkirk, Tenet
 
MadMike said:
She’s always good, playing Zendaya, that’s not the problem. It’d be nice to see her play a different more complex character for once though. And to see her emote more complex feelings.

Compare her acting to Samantha Morton playing Circe and it’s night and day.
Click to expand...
It's night and night on the Sun.
 
So whats next for Nolan?! I saw somewhere that he plans to take a break from filmmaking but i am not buying it. If he keeps with the usual pace for his next movie release we can expect it around the summer of 2029.. a lots of talk on social media that he needs to do a horror movie next. Or western?! Or that "Prisoner" adaptation that was mentioned before the Odyssey.. Nolan is literally in a privileged position to do whatever he wants next. What would you want it to be?
 
PepG said:
So whats next for Nolan?! I saw somewhere that he plans to take a break from filmmaking but i am not buying it. If he keeps with the usual pace for his next movie release we can expect it around the summer of 2029.. a lots of talk on social media that he needs to do a horror movie next. Or western?! Or that "Prisoner" adaptation that was mentioned before the Odyssey.. Nolan is literally in a privileged position to do whatever he wants next. What would you want it to be?
Click to expand...
Looks like he's taking 3 years off.

I'd love to see him do a fantasy epic. Specifically a Tolkien adaptation from The Silmarillion.

A man can dream...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.