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The Odyssey Movie Review

54:30 recording · EN · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

The Odyssey is merely fine, and the hype around it shows how rare good films became.

  1. Hype now outruns the actual qualityA film that would have been called okay 20 years ago is hailed as one of the greatest ever made.
  2. A good hook beats a huge budgetObsession cost $750,000, took roughly $450 million, and made a star of an unknown lead.
  3. Safe, coddled artists make duller workToday's manufactured actors lack the tough backgrounds that shaped Steve McQueen, Kirk Douglas and Charles Bronson.
Executive Summary AI
  • The Critical Drinker says Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey turned contentious mainly over casting, after Lupita Nyong'o was announced as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page joined, though both are onscreen for about five minutes.3:36
  • He stands by his review's verdict that the film is "meh" — slow, emotionally sterile and loose with Odysseus, turned from a hero longing for home into a Vietnam vet with PTSD.8:06
  • As counter-evidence that cinema still works, he points to Obsession, made for $750,000 and now sitting at around $450 million, on track to be the most profitable film ever relative to budget.16:31
  • He argues Hollywood, Marvel included, only pivoted away from identity-politics pandering after tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue over roughly a decade, with Star Trek, Star Wars and Indiana Jones left as casualties.20:20
  • The loss of DVD income, he says, removed the second lease of life that made risky films profitable, leaving studios dependent on proven IPs and endless franchise sequels.31:22
Key Quote
“It's like, how many movies have you watched?”
— Critical Drinker1:11
Key Quote
“Christopher Nolan doesn't direct people he directs ideas”
— Critical Drinker14:51
Key Quote
“It's not that hard, but they made it hard.”
— Critical Drinker18:21