I re-discovered Nolan today with epic called The Odyssey

I didn't like Nolan's movies. Never in first viewing. Either they were too convoluted or against my taste of commercial cinema. Many times, they felt like high budget documentaries. I like documentaries too, but promoting them as commercial cinema didn't make me want to watch his movies. There was something distinct in Nolan that I didnt like in all his movies the first time I watched them either in theater(only one) or OTT.

So here I am hours after the experience of "The Odyssey":

I didn't go for an IMAX experience. I already had the digital IMAX experiences with other biggies, so thought instead of wasting money on IMAX that isn't really that authentic, went for a 4DX version. I intentionally kept my expectations low. Not just because I didn't like Nolan's style, but also because I wasn't confident about Nolan's skill in adapting a story/poem with lots of mystical/magical elements.

Where did it start and where did it end?

The movie builds up slowly but beautifully to the concluding moments of the climax.

A wife waiting stubbornly for 20+ years for her husband’s return: Anne Hathaway was brilliant, especially during those peak climax scenes which reminded me of many black and white movies having duels between NTR and savitri. I dont recollect the movie’s name but this “a wife asking a stranger about her long lost husband, son identifying his father, swayamvar-like bow-string competition, etc” theme feels so relatable to me. I am trying to avoid any kind of spoiler here for all your benefit.

A son awaiting the arrival of his father and trying to explore his whereabouts: Tom Holland with a balanced performance.

Evil group(suitors) playing their own dirty tricks to take over Ithaca.

Odysseus’s relationship with the army, his pet dog, etc were explored beautifully.

No gimmick, no unnecessary mythic creatures, just pure emotional play immersed in real-world locations that feel mythical. Imagine real-world locations that feel magical and feel like these events really happened. In fact he starts off with a text: “during times of apparent magic..”, which means he doesnt truly believe or depict magic but just suggest it using the environment and the characters dialogues.

The sequence of Polyphemus was so brilliantly planned and executed that can beat any horror movie. I never felt such a tension in any other movie. I know something huge is sitting inside the cave, but we get the surprise at the most unexpected moment: The monster comes from the outside, locking them up in the dark cave. I felt like I was locked with them too!

Even the goddess athena is actually a mind-play of Odysseus than a divine form and a representation of his past violent acts.

There were some monsters, huge warriors, dead waking up(hell) and just a passing glimpse of the sirens.

They are not clearly shown, but whatever I saw of them, I felt them more like mermaids than human-bird hybrids.

Calypso is also depicted as normal human rather than a goddess. The beaches look out of the world because of the screenplay and. not because they were not seen anywhere before. Of course some of those locations were very fresh, but what keeps you going is the screenplay and the constant focus on the characters.

There were stunning and immersive sequences, even on a normal screen. Maybe the 4DX experience made it more in-the-movie with the smoke effects, seat-shaking, real thunder-like flashes during the storm, etc.

But even without those physical effects, the movie will capture all your senses because it all feels so real and always goes along the main plot of how Odysseus makes his journey from Troy to his Ithaca kingdom.

Of course the magic is shown in a very different way here. There are some horror-like scenes which keep you guessing where the monster

We can nitpick abut casting, but for me it is a minor thing and that is also the reason I don't call this the best movie for me, but this is more like a classic old time film making, where there were few retakes, lots of rehearsals made for each scene, perfect staging, natural lighting, minimum vfx, etc.

The soundtrack also perfectly gels with the theme of the movie. It is in sync with the happenings on the screen.

The movie stays with you long after it ends.

Mark my words: Even the biggest haters of Nolan will like this movie and discover the secret recipe of Nolan when they just go and watch the movie without comparing it to earlier adaptations. One example is me myself. I hated the imax experience the first time I saw "The Dark Knight". Even though it grew on me later, I was still skeptical of his style of making.

Before watching this, I said this seems like “Baahubali of Hollywood”. It might turn out to be more than that if my predictions are not wrong.

Nolan has raised the standard of epic storytelling to a completely new level. I have only admired SS Rajamouli in imagining and bringing large scale epic stories with emotional connect, but Nolan joins that category with this movie. I dont compare them. Never. But Nolan feels much more refined this time. That is not to say this movie has no faults.

Some casting choices could have been better like Robert Pattinson and some others felt little odd.

For the first time, I tried visualizing this whole movie in terms of how the plot flows and the emotional intensity of the protagonist(without spoilers). As you can see, the movie keeps shifting from present to the past, almost like a sine wave and the emotional line(of the main protagonist) works like an anti-sine wave, with its peak happening almost after its half way while odysseus keeps losing his army. This induces a sense of guilt in him. Sadness+ struggle+guilt is a deadly combination of emotion that can break any human!


Conclusion:

Go for it. If you don't have the best IMAX screen in your city, still go to the nearest theatre. The experience is much larger than any "IMAX" branding. IMAX is like a topping. The main course is Nolan's handling of the story and how he mixes Greek mythology with realistic characters.

Listen to this to get the feel of the movie:

A music compilation(not based on Odyssey) YouTube which is also enjoyable and has a massive mythic feel to it:

With love.. Anil