Of course I had to go see this despite reservations about Matt Damon. How could he possibly convince as the wily Odysseus? Well, the script helped him out by ignoring “wily” and turning Odysseus into a pensive, guilt-ridden bore, a complete anachronism. Mr. Damon had no problem with that.
But there’s plenty to like. Most of Homer’s Odyssey is a flashback, and Christoper Nolan handles matters temporal very well. The Polyphemus episode, as well as those of Circe and Scylla/Charybdis were excellent. As were the Shades emerging from Hades. Cool shipwrecks too.
The Laestrygons episode might have been better had Monty Python and the Holy Grail never existed. For some reason the giants were dressed in medieval armor, which made me expect them to demand a shrubbery or say “none shall pass.” As they were chasing the Greeks off the island, I was half-expecting the Greeks to start shouting “Run away, run away!”
In a similar vein, Agamemnon resembled Darth Vader, which seemed comical to me. I was reminded of Rick Moranis in Spaceballs.
Some of the inevitable changes to Homer worked well, others not. The movie cut the island of the Lotus Eaters, instead having Calypso give Odysseus lotus flowers to keep him forgetful and happy. Excellent idea. But for some reason Helen and Clytemnestra are now twins. Why? I get changes that make a leaner movie, but that seems random. And where the hell was Laertes?
Borrowing Sinon from the Aeneid was an excellent idea, but poorly executed. Excellent as a plot connection that I won’t get into here. But completely wrong as a character. Sinon was the point man for the Trojan Horse trick, a glib con-man. But in this movie he’s an awkward innocent who utters a few words after getting mortally wounded.
The Trojan Horse episode was well-depicted despite Sinon’s botched character and Agamemnon as Darth Vader. But due to Sinon’s reduced role and the absence of horse-doubters (Laocoon and Cassandra), the Trojans’ decision to accept the horse would seem like idiocy to those unfamiliar with the story. As a majority of Americans can no longer tell you who won WWII, that likely would be most people. Granted, Laocoon makes no appearance in Homer’s version, but if you’re borrowing Sinon to add coherence, why stop there?
My biggest problem with this movie involves a spoiler, so I’m mum on that.
Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend seeing it on the big screen. Shipwrecks. Mythical Monsters. Minimal CGI. Yes, please.
I’m down. Will probably catch it on IMAX. I thought about it this weekend but had a lot going on.
I have vague notions of Homer from high school English, and from Brad Pitt is Troy.
My typical That Wasn’t In The Book Dammit complaints will not be in play. Sometimes it’s nice to just ride with whatever the filmmaker thinks is cool. I’m not above such behavior, of course, but to this point Peter Jackson and David Yates have refused to take my notes on LOTR or even Harry Potter.
The Lady Monkeystador – who has read books about Clytemnestra and other prominent characters – will probably be disappointed about something. She told me that Clytemnestra and Helen are twins, but that Helen somehow is the only one who is Zeus’s child, and as such is favored and beautiful. I tried to work that out in my head, and she gave me what I would describe as an “OMG, noob” face.
Clytemnestra likely won’t bother Mrs. Monkeystador much. Clytemnestra’s just in the movie long enough to do the act she’s most famous for.
Clytemnestra and Helen were sort of half sisters. I say sort of because they had the same mother, but Clytemnestra’s father was a mortal, and Helen’s father was Zeus. Can they be true half sisters if one is semi-divine? Seems a stretch. But the problem with their twin status in the movie is not so much that they’re twins, but that they look exactly alike, which is absolutely inane when you consider that Helen was “the face that launched a thousand ships,” and offered by Aphrodite to Paris as the world’s most beautiful woman. If there’s another woman around with the same face, then the myth becomes nonsense. For the twin thing to work you can’t have them resemble each other too much ( as many twins don’t). But the same actress plays both.
Probably depends on whose account you’re reading, but the version I know is that Clytemnestra’s twin was Pollux, and Helen’s was Castor. Zeus raped their mother Leda, who also coupled with her mortal husband (a king) on the same night. The egg inseminated by Zeus produced Helen and Castor, the other Clytemnestra and Pollux. So one set of mortal twins, another set of demigods. Would have made for some interesting Thanksgivings.
I used to be more of a stickler about movies following books. But when you consider that the Greeks and Romans themselves altered the myths over the centuries, then, well, why can’t we? Some changes make sense, but others don’t. I can enjoy these movies even though they have parts that make me want to boo and throw my popcorn box. I enjoyed Troy very much, but Briseis killing Agamemnon? And in Troy as it burns? No, no and NO.