It’s the talk of the town, and The Odyssey was quite an experience this week at the AMC Universal Citywalk IMAX. It’s one of the few true 70mm IMAX screens, and we had tickets to the 10 p.m. show—pretty late for us these days. My wife and I were in the 5th row, so closer than ideal. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, and I can report zero neck pain from looking up a bit throughout the movie.
I liked the film and only got bored in a few spots. It could have been the length of the movie or the fact that we went so late. I was mostly onboard, though. Christopher Nolan does such a good job of picking a relevant theme and sticking to it throughout. I think it helps him stick the landing and keeps the movie from feeling rudderless or like it’s trying to do too many things. Nolan’s themes always feel relevant to the times and somewhat unexpected. For The Odyssey, it was taking a different viewpoint on the Trojan horse story.
The acting was strong, with some weaker character development here and there. I don’t dislike Matt Damon, but I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan. There were a lot of side characters I wanted more time with, but there was a lot of story to get through in three hours. Those characters might be minor in the book as well. Overall, though, it’s the clarity of theme and tone where I think Nolan really shines. It’s the glue that holds together these bigger and bigger productions while still keeping them intimate and moving.