Christopher Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ Gets Off to an Ominous Start

With “The Odyssey,” hitting theaters in July, Sir Christopher Nolan is hoping to resurrect the summer blockbuster once more, as he previously did with “Oppenheimer” and his “Batman” trilogy. The film’s new trailer is packed with dramatic clips of the cloudy, dark, and smoky kind. The question is if its set pieces and star power can obscure flaws that risk dating the movie more than the original, 2,800-year-old tale.“Ancient Greece” was trending on X late Tuesday, as commenters reacted to their first sustained look at the $250 million film, the most expensive of Sir Christopher’s career. Most reactions were negative. No point drew more contention than dialogue featuring “daddy” and “dad,” terms first recorded 17 centuries after Homer’s story takes place.Colloquialisms like these and “Let’s go!” anchor “The Odyssey” in the present. Using “father” would signal that the characters inhabit a more formal past. “Papa,” the most common prefix for Greek surnames, would do the same. Great films are built on these small creative choices.It will indicate how much Sir Christopher cares about details if he follows the example of another director, James Gunn. Last year, he edited the theatrical release of “Superman” after fans saw the trailer and noticed the hero flinch when struck in the head by a can.Of course the full merits or otherwise of a movie cannot be judged on the basis of its trailer. But further breaking the illusion is that everyone in “The Odyssey” sounds Californian, even those from British Commonwealth countries. No Hellenic actors appear in the film despite Hollywood’s recent rule that actors share the characteristics of those they portray. This upset Athens, which agreed to pay almost $400,000 in rebates to offset production costs.Instead “The Odyssey” features actors of Northern European ancestry: Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as his wife, Penelope, to whom he longs to return. An Afrikaner, Charlize Theron, is Calypso. Born in Mexico to Kenyan parents, Lupita Nyong’o is Helen of Troy, who kicks off the Trojan War and Odysseus’s journey back to Ithaca where he’s king.Zendaya Coleman, as the goddess Athena, is Nigerian, German, and Scottish. It can be noted that Athena is a shapeshifter who changes forms throughout “The Odyssey.” But Helen is described as eukomos or “beautiful-haired” — interpreted as blonde — leukolenos, “white armed,” and kalliparios, “fair-faced.” Neither Black actress appears in the trailer.This columnist feels a connection by heritage to “The Odyssey.” But he recognizes that an actor’s job is to portray other people and only talent matters. In “Zorba the Greek,” “The Greek Tycoon,” and “The Guns of Navarone,” Anthony Quinn, of Mexican and Irish descent, did this job to perfection. A bay on Rhodes is named in his honor.Quinn captured Greeks as they saw themselves and wished to be seen by the world. But he marinated in the culture and spoke in a flawless accent during a less cynical time. Mr. Damon just appears to be playing himself. Sir Christopher, who favors practical effects over CGI, has at least urged him to grow a real beard.Fans of Ancient Greece and Rome expressed dissatisfaction, too, haggling over whether the armor worn in “The Odyssey” is appropriate for the Bronze Age. Thanks to social media, such debates can sour entire communities that look for “goofs” to post on IMDB.Mr. Nolan’s fans argue that “The Odyssey” isn’t meant to be history and is based on a fantasy with cyclopes and sea monsters. This overlooks that each question asked breaks the suspension of disbelief and, as seen with “Animal Farm,” filmmakers can’t argue audiences out of their opinions. What’s on screen must stand alone.If not fans of the Homer’s story or ancient epics, who, then, will fill seats for “The Odyssey” to make back that $250 million budget and — based on industry standards — as much on publicity? It will need to be general audiences looking for a few hours of escapism in air-conditioned theaters.After blockbusters like the “Batman” trilogy, “Interstellar,” and “Oppenheimer,” Sir Christopher’s name is clearly a box office draw. He launched the film in the media with an interview on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” even though that show will stop airing long before the release of the film.But when “The Odyssey” tests its star power in the heat of the summer movie season, it will need some of Odysseus’s luck — and the magic that, for nearly 3,000 years, has had people showing up to cheer him on his journey home.

Christopher Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ Gets Off to an Ominous Start

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