Christopher Nolan Plan Trusting (I think The Odyssey Will Be OK)

Maybe The Odyssey won't be that good, but don't be a panican

I don’t really like that Nolan is adapting The Odyssey. I wasn’t excited when it was announced and I’m even less excited now that I’ve seen the cast and some of the trailers. I would much rather he keep making sci-fi time dilation dreamcrime movies or clever thrillers about magicians and amnesiacs. That is very obviously his zone. But he wants to do The Odyssey, and at this point I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I think some of you are being pretty gay about all of this.

Yes the casting is too diverse, the costumes aren’t historically accurate, the dialogue sounds too modern, there isn’t a lot of color*… I get it. My reaction to all of this: The Odyssey is probably going to be fine.

The Odyssey is going to be fine because Christopher Nolan is Good Actually. Which oddly feels controversial to say at this point, but yes, Nolan is actually one of the greatest living filmmakers. He’s really good. He works at a very high level, he does cool stuff, and we can extend the tiniest bit of grace while he makes his multiethnic transgender sword and sandal epic that he has probably been dreaming about since he was 12.

I’m not expecting the best sword and sandal epic ever made, but I’m anticipating an entertaining 2.5hr Nolan movie with some great sets and stunts and music and excellent use of IMAX cameras. Will it reveal the deeper meaning of Homer’s work? Will I come to truly understand the people and places of the era? No I don’t think so, but I will not ask that much of it.

Many of you are concerned with “historical accuracy” of 1200 BC but you’re ignoring the equally relevant historical record from 2000 to 2026, during which time Christopher Nolan made quality movies with a level of consistency that might be unrivaled in modern Hollywood. Box office returns aren’t everything, but they’re something, and you need look at his track record**:

I asked AI to make this graphic. I didn’t verify all the numbers but I did verify some and they were accurate. I’m sure there are errors here but you get the point.

I also think people are misunderstanding what Nolan is even trying to do here. He does not appear to be attempting some rigidly faithful archaeological reconstruction of Homeric Greece. He appears to be making a Christopher Nolan film inspired by The Odyssey: mythic, visually stylized, and probably intentionally anachronistic in places.

So while I share some of the concerns people have about The Odyssey, I’m choosing to be a plan truster for now***.
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*I actually don’t believe most of you who complain about color grading btw

**I’ve seen more than a few people predict the movie will “flop,” which is not a bet I would take.

***I’ll become the chief panican if the rumor about Ellen Page playing Achilles turns out to be true, that would be too retarded even for me