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   Christi Junior (christijunior@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Monday, 27-Jul-2026 15:16:30 JST Christi Junior

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   3/3
   
   Did Nolan actually intend for this movie to be an anti-mass immigration tract? Apparently certain rightwing fans of Nolan’s Odyssey liken the film itself to a Trojan Horse: Woke on the outside, but on the inside containing a message straight out of Camp of the Saints. Personally, I think this is pure Cope: the Christopher Nolan who glorified a Jewish communist in Oppenheimer, and who portrayed a scary black criminal as more noble and moral than White cops in The Dark Knight, in no way wishes for White people to rise up against the brown hordes. And yet, the message his movie is pushing would absolutely justify such actions, whether you see this as Homer having the last laugh, art escaping its artist or clueless Hollywood liberals not understanding the implications of their ideas.
   
   Purely in terms of drama, Odysseus’s return and revenge is also thoroughly satisfying and cathartic, and in my opinion redeems much of what came before it. Even ignoring all its other problems, the opening hour presented me with a depressing movie filled with ugliness and non-redemptive suffering – but later on I discovered a strong emotional and even moral core that shone a light in the darkness. The story is both a tragedy and a triumph; despite his best efforts, Odysseus can’t save any of his men, and he doesn’t get to see his son grow up. Perhaps some of his dubious decisions early during his voyage was self-destructive acts, borne out of guilt over his actions during the war. However, ultimately the king does return, filling the hearts of his faithful family and servants with hope and courage, and overcomes both his inner demons and his physical enemies.
   
   I also think it bears mentioning that while A LOT of the hate this movie has gotten is fully justified, some of the criticism is not simply uncharitable, but inaccurate. Take the existence of the gods for example: Yes, none of them are shown in the flesh in this movie. No, that does NOT mean that they actually don’t exist in this adaptation. Ignoring all the other supernatural elements, you simply can’t reasonably dismiss everything that happens to Odysseus as mere coincidences, similarly to how while Exodus: Gods and Kings (I’m not a Ridley Scott fanboy, I swear!) did present naturalistic explanations for the hardships Egypt endured, the story just comes across as absurd if God ISN’T pulling the strings.
   
   Consider the following: Odysseus eventually submits to divine judgement, setting out on a flimsy raft and letting the angry Poseidon lash him with the sea’s waves while trusting that Zeus won’t let him die. In Troy (2004), characters who trusted in the gods invariably ended up dead. By contrast, in Nolan’s Odyssey this leap of faith and show of humility results in Odysseus FINALLY making it back home.
   
   Also, and this is a far smaller issue overall, but given my fondness for dogs I just have to call this out: Disparu claimed that Odysseus seemingly didn’t give a shit about the death of his faithful dog Argos. No. Just not true. Odysseus being briefly reunited with his faithful doggo, who stayed alive all these years just to see his master again one last time, is absolutely given the emotional weight it deserved, and Odysseus’s final request that the dog be buried with respect (after having been abused and degraded by the suitors) is all he can do at that moment, since he’s still hiding his true identity. But I don’t see how you could possibly watch that scene in good faith and come away thinking that Odysseus’ wasn’t moved by his dog’s love and loyalty.
   
   Nolan’s Odyssey finishes strong, but unless you’re going with the 4D Chess Cope theory, you can’t gloss over all its missteps and compromises. A lot of its strengths are ultimately due to its source material, and as an adaptation of that immortal work, it gets more things wrong than right. On the whole it's a pretty Bad adaptation of a truly Great story. However, I do feel that it gets some of the BIG things right, and for me personally that kinda saves the movie.
   
   I’m probably the first ever person to make this comparison, but Nolan’s Odyssey actually reminds me a lot of Metroid Prime 4: it’s an undeniable disappointment, some of the creative decisions are completely indefensible, and the fans screaming Betrayal are ultimately justified in their outrage. At the same time however, there’s just far too much of actual value here for me to ultimately feel comfortable grabbing a pitchfork and joining the angry mob. You could argue that all the genuine talent involved makes the failures all the more unforgivable; personally, those failures make me sad rather than angry. While Metroid Prime 4 was a commercial failure, Nolan’s Odyssey is a hit – and I ultimately feel equally ambivalent about both outcomes.