The Odyssey Review: Nolan’s Weakest Film Left Me Disappointed

I went into The Odyssey without particularly high expectations. I wasn't expecting it to be one of Christopher Nolan's masterpieces. But honestly, it ended up being worse than I expected.

The biggest problem for me was that the movie started really slow. It took too long to get going, and I found myself thinking about other things instead of being completely focused on the movie. That's never a good sign for a film that is supposed to be an epic.

The storyline itself was probably the best-written part of the movie. I thought the storywriters did a clever job with how they structured the story and moved from scene to scene. The way the different parts of the story connected and progressed was well written, even if I wouldn't say I particularly liked the movie overall. Unfortunately, almost everything else was only decent.

The filmmaking wasn't particularly impressive to me either. Even some of the locations and production design didn't create the epic feeling I was expecting.

For example, they treated a ruined castle as though it were a real, functioning castle. Maybe some of us are just too awake in this day and age to completely buy into that presentation. I believe the ancient world we are shown today doesn't necessarily reflect what these structures originally looked like, and the history surrounding the old world and Tartaria raises questions that make it difficult for me to simply accept a movie's portrayal at face value. To me, there is a much older world that has been erased or rewritten, and I don't buy into the idea that these ruins necessarily represent what the structures looked like only a relatively short time ago. Because of that, the movie's attempt to recreate the ancient world didn't feel convincing to me. Instead of feeling genuinely old and extraordinary, some of the visuals felt artificial and ordinary.

The sound was another problem. The theater I went to actually had a great sound system, but the volume was way too high. It wasn't just powerful—it didn't feel realistic. The sound was so loud at times that it became distracting rather than immersive. A great theater system can make a movie sound incredible, but if the volume is excessive, it can actually take you out of the movie.

The casting also didn't work for me.

Matt Damon simply wasn't befitting the role of Odysseus. It's not that I think he's a bad actor. I just didn't buy him in this particular role. Odysseus is supposed to be a legendary, larger-than-life figure, and Damon didn't give me that feeling.

Anne Hathaway and Charlize Theron didn't work for me either. And I'm not saying older women can't be beautiful—of course they can. I simply didn't find either actress attractive in these roles. The casting didn't give me the visual impression I expected from an epic based on Greek mythology.

Tom Holland was another casting choice that didn't convince me. To me, he looked more like someone who belonged in The Lord of the Rings or a wizard movie than The Odyssey. His appearance and acting didn't feel right for this particular world or character.

The acting overall just wasn't very convincing to me. I never completely bought into these characters, and that made it harder for me to become immersed in the story.

That's what makes the movie disappointing. I wasn't going in expecting Inception. But after watching it, I couldn't help comparing the two—and they aren't even close.

Inception completely pulls you into its world. The story, filmmaking, performances, visuals, sound, and concept all work together. You don't just watch the movie; you become absorbed in it. With The Odyssey, I was aware of the movie much of the time. I was aware of the sound being too loud, the casting not feeling right, and the filmmaking not being particularly impressive.

The strange thing is that I actually appreciated the way the story was constructed and how cleverly the writers moved from one scene to another. That was probably the strongest element for me. But the rest of the movie never elevated itself beyond being decent.

I went in with low expectations, and somehow the movie still came in below them.

For me, this is Nolan's weakest film. That's not something I expected to say, and honestly, I'm disappointed. I wasn't looking for another Inception or The Dark Knight. I just wanted to be captivated by the movie. Instead, I found myself thinking about other things while watching it.

The Rotten Tomatoes Problem

What really surprised me after leaving the theater was looking at the reviews. The Odyssey currently has a 94% Tomatometer score and a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on hundreds of critic reviews and more than 25,000 verified audience ratings.

Metacritic is somewhat more revealing. Critics have given it an 88/100, which is still extremely positive, but the user score is only 5.6/10, with 38% of user ratings currently negative.

That enormous difference between the professional critical reception and my own experience is what made me question how much I should trust Rotten Tomatoes in the first place. When I see a movie that I found slow, unconvincing, poorly cast, excessively loud, and visually underwhelming sitting at 94% with a 96% audience score, I have to wonder what exactly those numbers are measuring.

After this experience, I personally don't think I can look at a Rotten Tomatoes score and treat it as objective truth anymore. It increasingly feels to me like a system that is deeply connected to the filmmaking and Hollywood ecosystem rather than an independent measurement of whether an individual movie is actually good.

A 94% score suggests an overwhelming level of agreement. My experience was almost the opposite. I found the movie merely decent in many areas, and in several important areas I thought it failed completely. Metacritic's user score of 5.6/10 at least shows that there is a significant audience that didn't share the critical enthusiasm.

Ultimately, I have to trust my own eyes and my own experience more than a review aggregate. I watched The Odyssey, and it didn't captivate me. I thought the story was cleverly constructed, but the casting, acting, sound, visuals, pacing, and overall presentation didn't live up to what I expected from Christopher Nolan.

Maybe that's the biggest realization I took away from this movie: I don't need Rotten Tomatoes to tell me whether I enjoyed a movie. I watched it myself—and for me, this was Nolan's weakest film.