1. Almost every review and every friend I know who has seen the film complains about the muddy sound and the fact that it is hard to understand a lot of the dialogue (No wonder Ben liked it!). There is just no excuse for this. It’s incompetent and is disrespectful of the audience, particularly older members, who are not used to hearing their crowd talking like teenagers and who often have a hearing impairment.
2. Many reviews say that Nolan’s approach to the story evokes the films of Cecil B. DeMille, and what I’ve seen in various trailers and excerpts confirms that. Wonderful. DeMille was always under-appreciated as a film-maker during his lifetime by critics and the self-anointed intelligentsia. He knew how to mount a spectacle, and he knew how to entertain audiences, the latter being the #1 mission of ethical film-makers.
3. I only mentioned it in passing in the previous post about the film, but conservatives have beclowned themselves by complaining so much about Nolan’s casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy. I don’t regard that choice as even particularly bold non-traditional casting. Helen isn’t a historical figure: this isn’t like casting a black actress to play Anne Boleyn. Helen’s crucial feature as a catalyst for the Trojan War was that she was uniquely desirable, and a black Helen certainly would stand out in Ancient Greece. Sure, it’s deliberate audacious casting, but, again, the Ethics Alarms rule on such matters is whether it works or not. I’ll have to see for myself.
4. Is the movie feminist? Nyong’o has made a few idiotic comments about how the movie remedies the fact that black women were invisible to classic authors. Other critics have complained that with the exception of Odysseus’s long-suffering and steadfast wife (played by Anne Hathaway), there aren’t enough women in a movie about men trying to get home after a long war in ancient Greece, which is like complaining that there aren’t enough female characters in “Saving Private Ryan.” The whole story of Odysseus’s ordeals, like “The Illiad,” is about the Greek gods, especially the goddess Athena, manipulating human affairs. Apparently Athena doesn’t have much screen time given her central importance, but that’s okay: one “Clash of the Titans” was enough. The Greek myths were remarkably even-handed about the power of the gods and goddesses: both were sex-obsessed, vicious, and diabolical.
5. [Added] A helpful reader sent me this video commentary by Victor Davis Hanson who expands on just how ignorant Nyong’o’s statements are. Hansen knows Homer’s Odyssey rather well, since he taught it in both English and Greek for 20 years, and expresses amazement that the actress would make such assertions while admitting that she never read it. These knee-jerk ideologues just say stuff they learn as absolute cant, and so frequently don’t know what they are talking about. Hanson’s erudition is excellent.
6. The critical responses prove, if nothing else, that politics indeed infects and ruins everything in the America of The Great Stupid, and also that confirmation bias is a perpetual impediment to perception unless one aggressively fights it off.
7. Finally, after “The Odyssey” I never want to hear another Hollywood progressive complaining about characters in films not being cast with actors and actresses of the same ethnicity. In a huge cast in a movie about Greeks, the only actors of Greek descent are Yannis Kokiasmenos, who plays an un-named coastal villager, and Greek-American actor Michael Vlamis, who has a minor role. This, after Stephen Spielberg made a completely superfluous (and inferior) new film version of “West Side Story” to make sure Hispanics were cast as the Puerto Ricans. I’m a Greek-American, and I couldn’t care less who plays Homer’s characters as long as the portrayals are effective. If “The Odyssey”successfully buries this particularly stupid woke obsession permanently, that alone will add Nolan to my great film directors list.
Added: For what it’s worth, the very conservative Washington Free Beacon calls “The Odyssey” “not just faithful, it’s absolutely inspired. It’s possible that this is the single-greatest cinematic adaptation of a great work of literature in the 113-year history of the motion picture as a popular art form.”
Ethics Alarms 
I’m a fan of the movie. I spent time afterwards trying to figure out how I would do it differently which helped me understand some of the choices that were made. I like the approach and it also leaves room for another future interpretation, should someone desire to take that approach.
I saw this, too. We will see it this week. Three hours;no intermission. Just a heads up. BTW – as you may already know, Nolan read many translations and decided to go with the recent one which was written by a female (supposedly the first female translator of The Odyssey). Might be worth looking into. Also, don’t forget Young Washington which also got a fav review from Shapiro. Sent from my iPhoneOn Jul 20, 2026,
While some of my fellow conservatives pre-poo-pooed the movie because of some silly casting choices, my reservations about seeing the movie are almost entirely because Matt Damon is a tedious and predictable actor.
Yeah – your reservation is not unfounded. I don’t think he did anything unique or interesting with the role. I think they dodged a bullet with that casting choice though because it was a servicable performance.
He got the part because everyone is sick of Leonardo DiCaprio.
“Tangent: Ben does not get points for his delivery. Cowabunga, how can someone be peddling a podcast without taking the time to learn how to speak distinctly and clearly? Shapiro doesn’t open his mouth sufficiently when he speaks, he places his voice in his sinuses, and he speaks way, way too fast. I could make Ben three times as effective in a two-hour coaching session. Why doesn’t someone tell him? I found listening to his review excruciating.”
While I share similar complaints, he commands a huge share of the listening market, so economics would imply his voice and speed of delivery are *not* detrimental to the product he sells.
That’s not a wise conclusion, MW. I’d say his product is sufficiently needed and popular that his terrible delivery doesn’t hurt him as much as it should. It’s unprofessional and sloppy, as well as irresponsible. It’s like a great dentist with bad breath. Sure, you’ll put up with it, but why should anyone have to?
His terrible delivery is a part of his product and why I listen at times. The delivery is his distinctiveness and provides a an aspect of unpolishedness that is “refreshing”.
I’m going to look for a wood-chipper now…
My wife and I will probably watch the movie. However, it has stiff competition with “O Brother, Where Art Thou.” I hope the soundtrack is just as good. Oh, and Holly Hunter is “Penelope” in my book.
Just sayin’.
jvb
I had forgotten that “O Brother, Where Art Thou” was a rather free adaptation of the Odyssey.
Indeed. Some terrific dialog and one of the few movies where George Clooney shines.
“Well ain’t this place a geographic oddity? Two weeks from everywhere!”
——————–
“I won’t get out of prison until I’m 83 years old!”
“Well I’ll only be 82…”
——————–
“You stole from MY kin!”
“Who was fixin to betray us!”
“You didn’t know that at the time!”
“So I was borrowin it until I did know!”
“THAT don’t make NO sense!”
Nothing beats True Grit for dialogue though.
Big Dan Teague: “You don’t say much my friend, but when you do it’s to the point, and I salute you for it“
PWS
“Well, ain’t it a small world, spiritually speaking. Pete and Delmar just been baptized and saved. I guess I’m the only one that remains unaffiliated.”
― Ulysses Everett McGill.
Coen Brothers certainly know how to make him act. Same for Burn After Reading.
“Big Dan: Thank you boys for throwin’ in that fricassee. I’m a man of large appetite, and even with lunch under my belt, I was feelin’ a mite peckish.
Ulysses: It’s our pleasure, Big Dan.”
“Pete Hogwallop: Ain’t nobody gonna pick up three filthy, unshaved hitch-hikers, and one of them a know-it-all that can’t keep his trap shut.
Everett: Pete, the personal rancor reflected in that remark I don’t intend to dignify with comment. But I would like to address your general attitude of hopeless negativism.”
Clooney is a very good actor, and as Hollywood liberals go, I’d say he is far more of a gentleman than the crazies like De Niro.