This review may contain spoilers.
It’s a little ham-fisted by its closure, but there is a lot to generally love about The Odyssey. Nolan’s CGI usage is often so subtle that it feels like a practical effect, and when you combine those effects with real-world locations and old-fashioned camera trickery, there’s a lot of magic on screen.
As always, Nolan’s filmmaking is extremely confident. There is never any sense of self-doubt. He knows where he wants the camera, even if it is typically centre framed for the benefit of his IMAX audience. And he knows how to create a sense of sheer spectacle.
Nolan’s dialogue remains stilted, but most of the cast does great work, considering what they’ve been given.
And while I think there’s a lot here that doesn’t work, it is largely outweighed by what does. Some sequences are truly fantastic. The cyclops sequence is exceptional. There is a sequence in Hades that blew me away; it felt like something I had seen before, but Nolan somehow imbued it with some ineffable feeling of “the new.” I also loved the return to Ithaca and the film’s climax, which kept me on the edge of my seat.
The sum is greater than all its parts. Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay The Odyssey is that it made me want to watch more movies. It reminded me of the transportive magic of the medium at its best.
Viewed in Ultra AVX at Cineplex, which had a poor crowd (who kept checking their phones!) and a poorly optimized, dim projector. Booked tickets for IMAX 70mm in August.