No, more like: why the F did the writers come up with this story? It doesn’t make much sense to me. I know it’s supposed to be absurd and thought-provoking and whatnot, but it feels random. Like whatever came to the writers/director’s mind first, OK, let’s use that. Not a very sophisticated approach. I remember Bunuel films that made more sense despite being equally absurd. Why do those partisans still have those stupid rules among themselves, when nobody is forcing them, for example?
The film itself is well shot, from a cinematographic standpoint, and the acting is great as well.
I actually thought it was a bit woke, just not as hard as I expected. They’re still taking one of the foundational stories of Western civilisation — a Bronze Age Greek epic about kings, heroes, gods and the birth of European identity — and running the usual modern checklist over it. Black actress as both Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra (the face that launched a thousand ships is now race-swapped for diversity points). Trans actor Elliot Page as the Greek soldier Sinon (a male warrior whose whole job is deception and battlefield cunning). Zendaya as Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war. Travis Scott as the bard who basically opens the movie. And then the big thematic one: Penelope isn’t just the patient, cunning wife anymore — she’s openly framed as the real leader, sharper and more competent than her own son Telemachus, with the film leaning hard into the “strong independent queen holding the kingdom together while the men screw around” empowerment angle.
Classic woke stuff where I felt like standing up during the movie and shouting out “quit with the Simone de Boooooooooo” shit. .
Spanish opinion on Moroccan Sahara should be completely disregarded. Was in Morocco last week and visited a hotel proudly flying US, Japan, Italy flags etc. Thank fuck, most of Western civilisation sides with them over the Algerians. Couldn’t give two shits what some Commie Spaniard actor thinks. Let him sit with Russia, Algeria and the North Korea
Clearly Nolan wants young people to see the movie. Scott, Page, Nyong’o, Zendaya: it’s hard to herd young people in the door for an old story unless you give them some touchstones, even superficial ones. The scene with the Laestrygonians is another example. Goofy af but maybe young folks love the steel armor.
Best part of the movie (to me) was the arc of rage in Odysseus. Ten years of rage pent up in the Achaeans spilled over into the slaughter of Troy. The fate of Athena at the hands of Odysseus’s men haunts him, and Odysseus spends the rest of the movie realizing its true cost. That kind of realization can take a lifetime to learn, which may be one reason why the runtime is 173 minutes (no intermission, btw). Even in cinema such a lesson takes time to take hold. It’s something young viewers would benefit from observing the costless way.
I might watch the non-IMAX version when it trickles down to streaming services. My biggest gripe is that the movie was too jittery overall, and the quick cuts in the action scenes made them hard to follow. The theater’s IMAX screen was too big and too close.
Hmmm, likely one rogue embassy. But Morocco’s foreign policy is very much Western oriented vs its main foe, Algeria. Recognises Israel too. While in Morocco I did spread the word to some students on Taiwan’s MOE scholarships—only 33 applicants last year from Morocco. Once upon a time, I was heavily involved in diplomatic country scholarships in Taiwan.
Paicu Yatauyungana of course wasn’t alone in this. The ROC forced at least hundreds of Taiwanese women, indigenous or otherwise, especially those whose family had people labelled as political dissidents, to exchange their autonomy for keeping their families safe. Her story is just dramatic, since being a well educated indigenous noble woman, who also became famous by her performance talents, still couldn’t save her from losing autonomy to her own body.
Have not watched it, but from what I can gather (review by language and history education youtubers, none of them enjoyed the linguistic and historical inaccuracies either) Nolan is stripping the gods away, and leave the possibility for the gods and maybe even the creatures in the movie to be a manifestation of the mind because his movie is trying to link the Trojan war to the Bronze Age collapse, and the Greeks were the sea people. So he wants to focus on Odysseus coping the guilt of bring down civilization.
Exactly! I get that he wanted to present a more “human” version of the Odyssey and the reality of war. To be honest, the inaccuracies wouldn’t bother me that much if he wanted to make a “modern perspective” of the Odyssey, as Lin-Manuel Miranda did with Hamilton. But it seems like he wanted to have it all: having a modern moral framework and some wishy-washy version of the past, something that looks “classic”. Even if that version of the past had ridiculous inaccuracies like using a Nordic boat.
Still can’t believe Obi Wan is with Hera Syndulla.
Really liked the first 2/3 of the movie. I had to wipe off some tears, not gonna lie. It echoes the tone of Tobey’s Spider Man 2, but in reverse.
I feel like the star of the last 1/3 of the movie is the new character, but Peter still has some amazing fight scenes and heroics in it.
By now would mentioning the new character’s name still be considered spoiling the movie? I guessed it before the movie came out, but I feel like after the movie premier it’s impossible to avoid spoilers. Sometimes it’s like on the thumbnail or titles of clips and videos, so you get spoiled without even clicking them.
Anyway… Sadie and Tom actually have great chemistry, and by what Peter said to her, it really makes me wonder where the franchise will take them, and where the franchise will take the characters separately. At this point, would the trio of Tom, Zendaya, and Jacob even return? Feels like Tom wanted to hang up the suit after the last movie.
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ST Academy made me want to vomit.
