Prior to watching The Odyssey, I had heard numerous glowing reviews and had heard so much hype about it, that my expectations were sky high. And although I enjoyed the movie, I don’t think it quite lived up to the hype.
The best parts of the movie were related to the visuals. The battle scenes, in particular the entrance into Troy with the Trojan Horse and the sacking of the city afterward were exceptional. Great care was done in shooting these battle scenes and they really delivered. There were also really cool aspects of the movie. Odysseus’s journey into Hades looked great on the big screen. The part with the cyclops was also epic and well crafted. The same is true for some of the scenes at sea, in particular the whirlpool.
The parts I didn’t enjoy as much involved the casting and the acting in general. I’ve never been a fan of Matt Damon, and he played Odysseus in a stiff and wooden manner, as he does with most of his roles. Tom Holland as Telemachus came off frail and weak. Zendaya did not have the presence or the acting chops to play a goddess. Elliott Page looked like a kid play acting as a Greek warrior. Then there was the dialogue. The use of modern language I thought was stupid and did not allow for the creation of an immersive world of Ancient Greece. I thought Odysseus being sad about the sacking of Troy didn’t make much sense for someone of that time period, but at least in that case, I understood what the director was going for, so it wasn’t so bad.
Despite these criticisms, the movie overall is very good. It could have been better but it is well worth watching.
