What did you think of the Odyssey?

[Front-Ranger]

I finally had the chance to see this new movie and would like to know what fellow Brokies thought of it.

[serious crayons]

I liked it. It held my interest. The criticism by Emily Wilson saying the movie lacks emotional nuances and the like may be true -- I've never read The Odyssey so I can't tell. It's far from my favorite Christopher Nolan movie (that would be between Memento and The Prestige, two of my all-time favorites, and Insomnia is also pretty good). But it was a good tale.

I've heard of people walking out because they thought it was too violent. My neighbor said friends of hers left midway because it was too gruesome. It was violent in the sense of a lot of people dying, but with the possible exception of a giant chomping down people like they were pieces of salami from a charcuterie tray, it wasn't much more gruesome than an episode of Star Trek.

I've seen some people complain about casting Matt Damon in that role. I guess I would have preferred Christian Bale, who would have done a good job, but Damon did OK. And of course I have no objections to the casting of Lupita Nyong'o or Elliot Page.

[Front-Ranger]

I agree that there wasn't a boring moment which is saying a lot. (Except possibly the long drawn out slaying of the suitors.) But I had some misgivings and think I should have seen it on the smaller screen. I was pumped up for vistas and sweeping panoramas but it was 40 minutes in before they hit the water.

I knew I was in a bit of trouble at the very beginning when the Trojan horse appeared (there is no Trojan horse in the Odyssey). And then when the sack of Troy appeared (twice at least) and the horse was the last image in the movie, I knew that Nolan was reaching for the most dramatic images he could, never mind what was actually in the poem. The soundtrack also made me feel kind of sick. Too much pounding, screaming and anticipation! I guess I'm just too sensitive.

[serious crayons]

(Except possibly the long drawn out slaying of the suitors.)

I agree; that scene went on way too long. The whole movie is arguably too long, so that would have been a good place to trim. The Calypso stretch was also a little longer than it needed to be, if you ask me. Some of anti-film critics have complained about the scarcity of sex in the movie compared to the poem, so maybe they could have spiced up that part a bit.

Having not read The Odyssey, I assumed the Trojan horse was in it. But I haven't seen any of the online Odyssey haters complain about that, so I googled it. According to Google, it is only briefly mentioned "through stories sung by bards or remembered by characters in flashbacks."

[Jeff Wrangler]

Having not read The Odyssey, I assumed the Trojan horse was in it. But I haven't seen any of the online Odyssey haters complain about that, so I googled it. According to Google, it is only briefly mentioned "through stories sung by bards or remembered by characters in flashbacks."

Here's information on the origin of the story of the Trojan Horse,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Horse#HeroSection

[Front-Ranger]

Thanks! After reading that, I see I have to correct myself. The Trojan horse is not mentioned in the Iliad and only briefly in the Odyssey.

[serious crayons]

I've thought about reading The Odyssey, probably with the help of a Cliffsnotes.

I know CliffsNotes have a bad rap for students using them to cheat on book reports, but I found them valuable years ago when reading Hamlet and The Sound and the Fury. And that's all probably in the past -- would students even need CliffsNotes to cheat on book reports these days when they could get whatever information they'd need from Wikipedia? And that's the better scenario, compared to using AI!

[Front-Ranger]

I don't know what students do now...my grandchildren are either too young or are homeschooled. I helped my eldest grandson write essays for his college placement exams. They were just a couple of paragraphs, none more than one page. He has gotten pretty good at writing Google Docs and has me edit them. But often he rejects the edits. I use too much jargon, he says.

Back to the Odyssey, here's a gift opinion from the NYT about the deluge of criticism:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/opinion/odyssey-nolan-discourse.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4VA.Ofg6.KouLUB8jGlqk&smid=url-share

[Jeff Wrangler]

I've thought about reading The Odyssey, probably with the help of a Cliffsnotes.

Good grief! Do they still exist? I presume they're all online and you have to subscribe (and pay a fee)?

I used them when I had to read "Crime and Punishment" for a Russian history class. I simply did not have time to read a Russian novel.

By then I'd reached the conclusion that every professor assigned work on the assumption that you didn't have work to do for anyone else but them. 

[serious crayons]

Good grief! Do they still exist? I presume they're all online and you have to subscribe (and pay a fee)?

Good questions! It's online, and it looks like you can get some info for free but for full access you'd have to pay $36 a year or $9 a month.

I used them when I had to read "Crime and Punishment" for a Russian history class. I simply did not have time to read a Russian novel.

I should have mentioned that when I read them (in old-fashioned paperback booklet form) with The Sound and the Fury and Hamlet it was pre-internet but I was well into adulthood so was not using them as a shortcut for a school assignment. I just wanted better understanding of the texts. With TSaTF especially I would have been really confused without good old Cliff. For Hamlet, it was more about deciphering Elizabethan English.