Around the same time that I read Homer's epic, I saw the 1997 miniseries thereof, which didn't blow me away but helped cement a few memories. Not enough that some parts didn't feel new again, as I would discover. If nothing else, I could count on director Christopher Nolan to make it his own, even without Cillian Murphy or a male character mourning a dead wife or girlfriend.
Royalty has a somewhat different meaning in ancient Greece, where King Odysseus of Ithaca (Matt Damon) sees no choice but to fight in the Trojan War himself, shortly after the birth of his son, Telemachus. His side wins, but the return journey is fraught with episodes of supernatural peril, keeping him and his troops away much longer than other veterans. Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) holds out hope despite a widespread assumption of Odysseus's death, which leads to dozens of suitors taking up residence at the palace. She can't dismiss them without breaking the oft-cited Zeus's Law (i.e., show hospitality in case a guest is a disguised god). By young adulthood, Telemachus (Tom Holland) is thinking of ascending the throne, but the suitors, unofficially led by Antinous (Robert Pattinson), conspire to kill him first.
The source material already includes a structure for plenty of flashbacks. Nolan, of course, takes the nonlinear telling a bit further. If I hadn't known the gist, I might have gotten lost. At least I didn't notice any Nolanian mumbling, with the possible exception of a certain repeated word neither I nor my friend could make out.
A few omissions probably work for the best, and not just to keep the runtime a little under three hours. Odysseus never introduces himself to the cyclops (Bill Irwin) as "Nobody," for a moment that I've considered dopey, out-of-place comic relief. He doesn't visit the course of Alcinous for a breather. Only one Olympian god, Athena (Zendaya), gets an unambiguous presence, appearing to Odysseus alone. Some suitors are spared execution.
Earlier, I had partly bought into complaints that inauthentic casting and dialog would ruin immersion. But how much can you believe in an epic fantasy anyway? And not casting Greeks here is a little different from casting Puerto Ricans as Colombians: Modern Greeks look very different from portrayals in old statues and whatnot.
Speaking of modernity, of greater concern than the turns of phrase (including F-words) is the temperament. While men inevitably dominate the story, we get a bit more of the feminine perspective as Penelope, Helen of Troy (Lupita Nyong'o), and Circe (Samantha Morton) air their understandable grievances. Apparently, reclaiming Helen was just a pretext for the war. Odysseus wishes gods would be more direct in their communications. He also becomes the sole lotus eater, a change not as detrimental as Sir Gawain failing a test of honor. In the end, he predicts the decline of the Bronze Age followed by a recovery of civilization.
There are more deviations, but since I enjoyed last year's Frankenstein, I'd be a hypocrite to boo on that basis. Nolan retains the key themes of sin and punishment: Most of the unfortunate events are brought on by the sufferers' hubris (tho some feel like entrapment). As clever and badass as Odysseus is, he has major faults that he comes to recognize. You don't have to be a pagan to accept that divine rules of behavior exist to set us on a better path.
I didn't care for the darkness and limited color palette of the previews, but it's no Waterworld. Visuals kept me engaged, with or without CG. And even knowing in advance who will live or die doesn't curtail the thrill of an action scene.
Will later generations love this version? Maybe. For now, we can be satisfied that the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. It's better than I and many others expected, and I'm glad I didn't wait for a home viewing.
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