u/Flame0fthewest

I'll start with a story time, so if you want to see "the point", feel free to scrooll down.

I'm 29/M

I didn't have a normal childhood nor teenage years by any means. I didn't have a normal family, I never felt close to my parents, I barely ever had meaningful friendhips and I never had a girlfriend either.

I come from a religious family, the church we used to go was basically a cult. I had no right to say no when I didn't want to go, I had to go to there twice a week. I couldn't watch most scifi and action movies or tv shows, not even anime.

I couldn't own a mobile phone until I was 18 and I couldn't use a computer more than twice a week for a little time. I had to change schools because of religious reasons (my parents thought that the new leaders or my school were "bad christians").

Despite of all these, I had a relatively "happy" childhood. I had some friends, I had some adventures and I enjoyed living.

Until everything fell apart.

- Changing school meant I lost all my friends (LITERALLY: I had no mobile phone and I didn't own a computer, I had no way to keep in contact with them)

- I became sick and never really got cured (no one knows what's wrong with me, most doctors said my health issues must be related to mental health). I felt nausea, headaches and stomach problems for no reasons. It was so bad I went to a hospital for weeks once. I slowly got better, but no one could ever give me a answer what was my problem exactly

- I came from a art school, so I loved music, drawing, reading a lot. In my new school (which had a bad reputation) I was just the "weird one". I didn't want to smoke, I didn't want to drink, I didn't like partying the way my schoolmates did. I was bullied despite of the fact that I never provoked anyone.

- Since I was on the bottom of the hierarchy of the school, not many people bothered to make friends with me. Most of them were mean or didn't care about me at all. I had surface level friendships only

- For the next years I had the same experience everywhere. I finished school. I went to high school, again, into a very bad one. People literally stole my money and food, one guy knocked me out on the street for talking back to his friend who stole my necklace. After just a few months I went into a different highschool

- The new one was a bit better but not so much. I hated it till I finished there, and then I stayed for another year to get a degree in marketing (I had no idea what to do with my life, I just wanted to buy some time)

- By this time I part ways with the church. My relationship with my parents wasn't really bad, I just didn't understand or loved any of them really, and they never understood me either.

- I realized that my father is a alcoholic and drug addict and his condition became worse and worse. (and apparently he's been like this for many years, I was just blind to it for somehow)

- I couldn't really find work. I was sick, or felt sick often. Even if I had a job, I hated it, despite of trying my best. I live in a small town, we don't really have a lot of chances. When covid hit, I became very sick again, and had to drop the only workplace I liked because I couldn't do hard work anymore

- For the next years I had no job at all and while my mother and father were working, I've been home, nursing my grandmother who moved into our house. I kept doing this until she had to move into a home for elderly people because she lost her mind

- Shortly after this one night, while we were watching a tv show, my father walked into the bathroom and took his own life. Didn't even leave a note. I found him, and I took care of everything, I dealt with the paramedics and the police so no one had to see what I have seen. My family felt bad for me and they were proud that I was the one who "took the hit" but idk. I don't know to feel about it.

- After this, everything had to change. We sold the house, and everyone moved into different places. I live with my sister in a flat we rent. I have money for some years.

How I feel now

All the things I went through changed me. I was a very cheerful kid, I was always happy and I liked to laugh a lot. I had a lot of energy and I'm slightly autistic... but at times I feel I just lost the person who I really was.

I'm not angry at the world. I feel sad most of the time. Sometimes just "neutral". I barely ever feel happiness, and when I do, it's always related to video games, books, anime, manga, tv shows or movie.

Every time I walk on the streets I get sad. I see a lot of teens, because I live right next to a school.

And they are happy (at least they look happy). They are having fun, laughing, teasing each other, I can hear meaningful conversations and I can hear them having a party near the park.

I can see young couples kissing, walking while holding hands, or just chilling at random places.

I literally never had a chance to experience these moments as a teen. I know it's SO STUPID to even think about it, but this is what I want more than anything. (Which is funny, because most people would hate to go back to their teenage years. Or so I heard)

Or, rather, it's not even about "getting younger again". I just want to experience these things. For real. The proper way.

I want to have deep conversations with friends who understand me.

I want to be useful for people. I want to go on adventures. I want to party.

I want to go to their houses to play, to talk, to philosophy.

I want to invite them into my flat to do the same.

To watch movies together. To talk about books. About relationships. To cook, to drink something, to experience REAL LIFE.

Seeing people having "normal lives" makes me a bit happy, often melancholic, and more often very sad. Because I envy them a lot. I don't know how to shake off this feeling.

The scariest thing is that I'm not even sure if I could be a useful friend for anyone. If I could feel this good, even if I had the chance. So many years passed and I just feel empty.

Well I guess that's all.

Thank you if you read it. There's a chance I'll delete this post later, or I don't know. I just felt like I have to write this out of me.

Yes, I know, I'm a bit late, and there's a chance I might not serve with anything new, but I just felt a urge to talk about it a bit.

- WHAT I LIKED:

Creative visuals

The Cyclops - holy gods, that creature was HORRIFYING. In the original story Odysseus and his crew actually spoke with him, and tricked him with vine...

This didn't happen in the movie, but the fact that the monster didn't talk to them only made it much more scary. I always found fake-eyes or cgi-eyes on cyclopses weird in literally every movies, but this one was new.

For whatever reason, the cyclops' eye was vertical. This artistic choice somehow deleted the "uncanny" feeling I had, and turned it into a much scarier and "realistic" one. Can't really explain why, but it worked so well.

The Witch - when she reshaped the soldiers like someone who's playing with clay... except the clay is made of human bones, skin and muscle... that was true horror. I've never seen anything like that before, and I loved it.

Agamemnon - my man was "aura farming" the entire movie. I wasn't a big fan of the armor at first, but the movie really sold him to me as a mythical hero.

He had presence. He didn't have to talk or fight at all. His size, the way he was moving all told us that this man is a beast, someone you don't want to mess with. We never had to see him fight, and we could believe that he is extremely capable.

The Bow Scene - I don't really have to explain this one. The moment when Odysseus "dry fires" his bow, while the note syncs with the music is just sending shivers through my spine.

- THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE

Tell, don't show

This should be the opposite way, yet Nolan choose to explain everything through words. All the meaningful moments (or almost all of them) are literally told to us by a character. I'll give you some examples.

Penelopé is a very capable leader - when Odysseus tested her by telling his son to tell her that it's time to get married, Penelopé gets mad. She says that she's been sitting on the empty throne and she did a good job managing everything.

Would have been nice if we could see anything about it. How capable she is, how cunning and manipulative, or creative a lonely woman with power can be... but this won't be shown.

Love - this bothered me the most. Penelopé and Odysseus share ONE somewhat wholesome moment during the entire movie.

I know it's not really fleshed out in the original piece either, but the movie had a chance to explore a bit... WHY does Penelopé love Odysseus? WHY does Odysseus love Penelopé?

I'd have loved to see some moments, flashbacks, etc to expand this a bit. It's not really a mistake that this was left out of the story, it just makes me feel very hard to get invested in the characters' fates.

Odysseus and his homesickness - I think the movie doesn't take this seriously at all. Odysseus has been away from home for quite a long time, and he never gave up. Because he loves Ithaka, and he loves Penelopé.

I'd have loved to see him, sharing a moment with soldiers beside the fire or on guard duty etc. That he loves the scent of the air at Ithaka, he loves the waving grass, the crowded city, the mountains, etc etc. ANYTHING.

But it's the same as his relationship and feelings toward his wife: the movie tells us that it excist, but never really shows it.

Odysseus is not a hero - I'll talk about this a bit later, but I think the movie misunderstands him. Odysseus was a hero, a warrior, a genius, a cunning, curious person.

But the only time we see him doing something stupid for FUN, and he laughs on it, and smiles, is at the syren scene. He didn't try to negotiate with the Cyclops. He looks miserable every single moment. He didn't try to uplift the mood, he doesn't act like a true leader at all.

He's just another ordinary man, who's challenging the gods (but then again, even this has ben TOLD TO US, not really shown by true actions)

FINAL THOUGHTS

I think Nolan touched some very interesting subjects, which would be a great thing, but he choose the wrong story for this.

Odysseus's greatest action is a war crime

We all know the story of the Trojan Horse. Odysseus came up with this idea, and thanks to it, they have won the war. HOWEVER. The movie handles this invetion as a crime against universal values.

Odysseus doesn't think that the Horse was a great idea anymore. He thinks he offended the rules of the gods - because tricking your enemy with a gift and then stabbing them in the back is NOT HEROIC AT ALL. It's a crime.

I think this could have been a super plot point but in another movie, because the Odyssey isn't about guilt over war, and about a miserable character.

NOLAN'S VISION IS GREAT, BUT MISSES THE POINT OF THE ORIGINAL STORY

The Odyssey is about the journey of the hero. It's about the will of humanity, it's about fightning against all odds, it's about not giving up.

Odysseus is a clever, capable man who stands up against gods, who uses his mind to outsmart his enemies who he cannot fight, and he always tries to do the "right thing."

Nolan's Odysseus is just an ordinary man, driven by guilt. He acts out of responsibility, rather than because of his ideas.

Not sure if my point here is clear, english isn't my native language, but I'm trying my best.

Overall

I don't think that this movie was great. It had epic moments, and moments I hated, and I think the story didn't work because it tried to re-write the entire message of the original piece.

However, I wouldn't call it bad, I've seen much worse ones. I'd give it a 6 points out of 10.

Thank you if you read it :D