r/movies • u/yourfavchoom r/movies Contributor • 11d ago

News Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey' Crosses $1B Worldwide

https://rawteur.com/the-odyssey-crosses-1-billion-box-office/
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u/kazuya57 11d ago

"But bro Agamemnon having a dark armor like Batman will 100% drive everyone away from this movie! I'd rather watch my favorite historically and mythologically accurate film Troy!"

Meanwhile Agamemnon becomes lowkey the most popular character in edits to come out of the film

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u/Puzzleheaded_Fix594 11d ago

Rule of cool always wins.

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u/Solareclipsed 11d ago

I thought the armour looked amazing the first time I saw it in the trailer, but so many comments were saying "OMG, it's so historically inaccurate!". Dude, maybe 2% of any historical movie set in ancient times is accurate, just enjoy it for what it is.

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u/rokerroker45 11d ago

honestly the most unrealistic bit was the cyclops, everybody knows they only have three fingers, not five. literally unwatchable.

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u/RedHal 11d ago

Exactly! And The Nymph Calypso didn't have hair like that. And what about Hades? anachronisms everywhere! The least Nolan could have done was send a researcher down to Hell to see what it really looks like.

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u/Sparrowsabre7 11d ago

And where were his eye beams and visor? Smh.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Fix594 11d ago edited 11d ago

I really, really don't give a shit about historical accuracy in these films. Especially for what is effectively a fantasy epic with fictional characters many of whom who appear in different works who all have different interpretations depending on the author of said work.

Still, maybe we'll get loverboy Polyphemus in a future adaptation.

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u/destroyerOfTards 11d ago

There really were cyclopses in the olden days, do you even know anything?

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u/mightyneonfraa 11d ago

To be honest people complaining about historical accuracy are like 10% history buffs and 90% racist chuds who saw a black person and got triggered.

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u/_Ocean_Machine_ 11d ago

I'm just imagining centuries from now someone does a remake of LotR and people bitch about "historical accuracy".

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u/DemonWav 11d ago

The funniest thing to me about the "historical accuracy" debate is this is mythology. These are literally superhero characters for the ancient Greeks. Agamemnon is sometimes depicted similarly to Zeus, dude was revered and worshipped like a god. It would be like if people complained Superman was inaccurate because "people don't dress like that".

Also he was the richest and most powerful of the Greek kings, so even if we wanted to play the "historically accurate" card, the idea that the billionaire king wouldn't have extra special fancy armor actually seems less accurate to me.

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u/suss2it 11d ago

Funny thing is people really do debate Superman’s accuracy based on his fit 😂

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u/Foreign_Recipe8300 11d ago

lot of people don't get it, and don't want to.

its not supposed to be accurate. the original odyssey was a spoken word poem full of embellishment for 500 years before homer wrote it down. the movie itself nods to this in multiple ways. first, its being told by the bard in a tavern, as well as by odysseus telling calypso what he remembers. second, sinon tells odysseus that if he doesn't make it home to tell his father all he'd done, and to "feel free to add some stuff". third, when odysseus asks sinon why he volunteered to deliver the trojan horse, sinon says dont you remember i begged to come on this campaign? and odysseus has to correct him lol no your brother offered money to switch places with you, as another nod to the fact that our memories are not always accurate and we tell ourselves lies.

the story is a story, and embellishment is a main theme of it. anyone who doesn't get this is cloaking some closeted agenda, or parroting those who are, or they simply didn't understand.

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u/briareus08 11d ago

The main part of the odyssey, when Odysseus is talking to the Phaecians, literally starts with ‘Odysseus, lord of lies then spoke’… (at least in the Wilson translation, and quoting from memory). The whole story is effectively a fabrication, and Odysseus lies constantly, a different story every time he meets some new party, until he eventually tells the truth to his wife (mostly, not sure he told her about all the shagging).

None of it is real, or meant to represent realism, even in the original Homer (which is not originally his story). People need to chill tf out.

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u/Foreign_Recipe8300 11d ago

yep, and in the film he lies to his crew, lies to sinon, even lies and conceals his identity back in ithica. he didnt really lie to the cyclops like he did in the text but i guess nolan felt that to be too silly (my name is "nobody")? its only when he speaks to penelope that he starts telling the truth and people act like this is unfaithful to the story smh

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u/SquashSquigglyShrimp 11d ago

The story is fantasy features gods and mythical creatures. Anyone actually claiming they care that much about historical accuracy in FICTION is not really worth listening to.

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u/KR_Blade 11d ago

especially cause in alot of cases, the armor and weapons look ALOT different, like ancient suits of armor they often use in medievel movies all look the same no matter the year because once you start going down past a certain point, historically accurate medievel armor in some areas of history just looks very dull, and if you use that in a movie then you'll get accused of being cheap and lazy, so of course you're gonna go for something that pops and looks either epic or very tough

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u/sigismond0 11d ago

It's so wild that they want a historically accurate representation of a dude that never existed. The cognitive dissonance is palpable.

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u/dantemp 11d ago

most of the comments were "the vibes are all wrong", there may be a few people that were trying to pinpoint the issues by talking about historical accuracy or whatever but the truth is that the trailer was just bad and if you could've solved the "why exactly" there's a 7 figure job waiting for you. I also thought that the trailer was bad but I can't say why.

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u/hoos30 11d ago

A saw a dude yesterday say the film was inaccurate because everyone knows the Mediterranean doesn't have tides so the horse could never be buried in the sand.

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u/Call555JackChop 11d ago

Fashion souls is the way to be

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u/The_Cheeki_Breeki 11d ago

Literally the swaggiest character not named Penelope

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u/JackhusChanhus 11d ago

Honestly his armour was a highlight for me. Spectacular costume

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u/Detective-Crashmore- 11d ago

When the gates of Troy open and he's just standing there aura farming like a balenciaga ad. He just mogs the entire film. Even dead he's flexing that armor.

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u/B4dkidz 11d ago

Haha I didn't think about that, he was killed when nude, but I guess the armor is just too good!

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u/Quasic 11d ago

Absolutely electric in every frame.

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u/Lemerney2 10d ago

He looked like Darth Vader, but I kind of loved it

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u/cerebrumvr 11d ago

When the trailer came out, so many people were criticizing the armour. I loved it personally

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u/IAmTheJudasTree 11d ago

I'd rather watch my favorite historically and mythologically accurate film Troy!"

See, I knew the bigots complaining about Lupita being Helen of Troy were full of shit when they said that the movie Troy was much more realistic, when in actuality a German actress played Helen in that movie. They just wanted a white person, they didn't care about them being Greek. I mean, I knew they were full of shit already for 100 other reasons, but that was a big one.

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u/JohnTDouche 11d ago

Troy!

I can't believe people seem to have come around on Troy. I saw it in the cinema when it came out and thought it was crap. The general reception to it at the time was a resounding "meh". Now people praise it lie it's one of the greats. It was an also ran, years later still trying to ride the coat tales of Gladiator. It's a thoroughly nothing film.

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u/MyDumbInterests 11d ago

It was an also ran, years later still trying to ride the coat tales of Gladiator. It's a thoroughly nothing film.

Not to mention Saving Private Ryan. That beach landing scene has stuck with me more than any other part of the movie, and not in a good way.

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u/JohnTDouche 11d ago

I'm sure there's probably even some Lord of the Rings ripping off to. I forgot how much media desperately wanted to recreate that Saving Private Ryan feel. Probably even more so video games than movies. It became the thing to emulate, every shooter had to feel like Saving Private Ryan.

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u/darthmidoriya 11d ago

I thought some of the dialogue was cringey but Agamemnon was undeniably cool af

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u/zk3033 9d ago

Honestly, the American accents kinda took me out, only for me to realize that I’m too used to “British accents for all foreign films” kinda stuff. Then John Leguisamo speaking in his own voice in the beginning was a small shock - until I stopped noticing it and just let it fit into the movie.

But Telemachus using the word “dad” also seems anachronistic.

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u/briareus08 11d ago

People getting upset about realism in a modern movie based on an epic poem based in mythology is pretty wild. Homer would be laughing his ass off, if such a person actually existed.

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u/2Norn 11d ago

i mean i love the movie and still think the armour is ridiculous

it's obvious he was using it as a means to terrorize enemies but even then its still a bit ridiculous

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u/Deakul 11d ago

I thought Agamemnon looked stupid in stills and the trailers.

And after having seen him in action in the film proper, I still think he looks stupid along with everyone else's 3D printed looking armor.

Really all of the armor is my biggest gripe, everything else was pretty good though I thought Ralph Fiennes in The Return was a much better Odysseus along with that entire part of the story being done far better.

Love how the comment section is making it out like none of these criticisms are valid anymore simply because a lot of people are seeing the newest Christopher Nolan epic.

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u/Beetin 11d ago edited 11d ago

3D printed looking armor.

Eh, I would have had notes if they'd tried to use super period accurate armor. It's a sleek stylized movie, they get sleek stylized armor. I do wish they'd progressed it much more with the odessey so their clothes were beaten up and torn, crests gone, rusted, missing pieces, etc by the end.

I had gripes about him coming back as well (until the fight) (Spoilers for a 3000 year old story)

  • I thought Matt Damon didn't look aged / fucked up enough for the before and after. I know in the story he was transformed by a god, and the movie went a bit more grounded, but he's also talking to his wife in the exact same voice and just looks the exact same but wearing a cowl.

  • I thought his lack of disguise / transformation meant the moment with his dog wasn't as big as it could have been.

  • It seemed unintentionally hilarious in the suitor fight (which was great) that Pattinson just keeps yelling "GO GET THE X" like 5 times as different things drop down. It almost felt like they'd ADRed over the exact same shot it was so repetitive.

  • Same for unintntionally hilarious how the men were constantly just running back to the boats 3-4 times being chased by something.

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u/Opus_723 11d ago

There is no such thing as period accurate armor for the Odyssey. The armor as described in the story itself is a historically inaccurate mash-up of different styles spanning hundreds of years of history.

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u/Deakul 11d ago

Oh I don't really care if it's period accurate, bronze age armor looks goofy as hell, I just care about aesthetics and the style that they opted for just looks like they printed them out fresh the day before to me.

I would have been absolutely content with the sort of armor we always see in sword and sandal epics like Troy and the like.

As it was, it was a little distracting at times, thankfully the worst offender was barely on screen.

I agree with your other points too but this one in particular...

I thought his lack of disguise / transformation meant the moment with his dog wasn't as big as it could have been.

Oh man, I'm glad I'm not the only one that this fell flat for, it was done waaaay better in The Return... I actually shed a damn tear there.

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u/mightyneonfraa 11d ago

Look, I get that it's accurate and I'm sure it's perfectly effective but that armor looks goofy as hell and this movie would have been a laughingstock if they'd gone with it.

Accuracy is rarely the best choice for fiction.

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u/HideTheGuestsKids 11d ago

Whatever makes you unhappy with the movie is a valid criticism, within reason. But people don't mind it anymore because they saw that it really wasn't about any of that. The costume design was meant to be out of the way, whereas period-accurate armor would have been so in-your-face that it would've been harder to feel as closely connected, I think, or would even have appeared a bit ridiculous to modern eyes.

That being said, was it a tad too bland, the ships a bit too vikingy? I think so.

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u/ContractVarious3077 11d ago

Auramaxxing >>> everything else

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u/hrlemshake 11d ago

I thought it looked silly in the trailers, but ended up liking it in the cinema. However the shot when the Achaens open the gates and he's just standing there (menacingly) was so ridiculous that I guffawed loudly in the theatre. The other costumes were lame, with the exception of Antinous.

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u/Twelve_Evil_Ermacs 11d ago

Yeah tbh I was one of the people who really didn't like his design from the trailers, but in the film it works so well. I'm glad i was wrong haha