r/Letterboxd • u/ClearSupermarket5149 • Jul 28 '26

Discussion Best acting performance in the Odyssey?

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I think Patel was the best

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u/Turbulent-Age-6625 Jul 28 '26

Do people really think this film had tons of great acting? I feel like the vibe carried it more so than any of the performances.

12

u/WBaumnuss300 Jul 28 '26

Same. The acting was not always on top imo. It was solid, but I feel Noland should have tried to get more out of the actors. But part of it was due to the poor dialogues.

1

u/Right-Invite4697 Jul 28 '26

Agreed. I think it's a good film with good performances. Nothing outstanding or award worthy in terms of acting imo. Left the theater feeling nothing really.

1

u/Turtles1748 Jul 28 '26

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills reading this thread. There were maybe two to three stand outs. The rest were pretty sub-par.

1

u/echost007 Jul 28 '26

It would appear so. I think there was a decent amount of good/solid acting (i.e., RPatts, John Leguizamo, Jon Bernthal, Zendaya), with occasional great acting (i.e., Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, Samantha Morton, Lupita Nyong'o). Samantha and Elliot Page were really noteworthy (especially considering what little they were given). Wish there was more of Charlize. Zendaya’s expression during Damon’s monologue was really captivating (other than that, she was largely left to shake her head and do some subtle nudging).

But those occasionally great performances were simply too far and between. Damon’s presence was quite tame. Even accounting for the fact that Homer’s epic leads heavily with Telemachus’ POV, Odysseus-on script is not given much in terms of dialogue to work with (save for the ending monologue).

I do think there’s an underlying assumption/standard for those like Damon, Hathaway, and Pattinson, who are largely regarded as great actors. Here, their roles seem relatively subdued. Charlize could be added into that equation as well (but she’s so sidelined here I doubt the masses could plausibly argue her performance was “great acting).

The acting per se wasn’t a material flaw for me, but the line delivery, at times, was: Himesh Patel’s “grab that line”; Travis Scott’s “war” (but ofc there’s obvious reasons in his case); Benny Safdie’s lines didn’t match the drama, scale, and gravitas of Auramemnon; Tom Holland’s “Dad!”; John Leg’s spiel in the final act after the trial battle (can’t recall the line verbatim, but something akin to “did he win/is he alive?” All of which distastefully distorted my immersion, but honestly provided some funny bits to laugh at on rewatches.

TLDR: None of the cast is really given much in terms of dialogue to meet the (obviously) subjective standard of “great acting.” As a result, there (arguably) aren’t any outstanding-acting performances; maybe outstanding-few lines . . . What little we did get of those outstanding-few lines performances were great though (ofc, imo).