Never have audiences been so divided as they are on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey: People who’ve seen it say it’s amazing. People who haven’t say it’s a disaster.
Welcome to the internet, where everyone can share an opinion, whether or not they should.
YouTube has abandoned its “dislike” metric, but sites like the Jabrek YouTube Dislike Viewer, which purport to report the number of dislikes, say that more than half a million people have given the latest trailer for the film a thumbs down, compared to 68,000 who liked it.
The comments section is a pile-on, with negative comments the most upvoted. One jokester, who was upvoted 19,000 times, complained: “I paid nothing to see this trailer and I already want my money back.”
But people who have actually seen the film are much more generous: The Independent‘s Jacob Stolworthy calls it Christopher Nolan’s “biggest film to date,” while Collider’s Steven Weintraub says it’s “incredible,” adding, “I’m really blown away by this film.” Variety‘s Jazz Tangcay calls it an “astonishing achievement” and a “triumphant, spectacular epic.”
Other reactions were more muted — IndieWire‘s David Ehrlich says the film is “too clunky to be S-tier Nolan, but the last act rewards the journey.”
Even the least enthusiastic reviews, however, were more positive than those of many people who reviewed the movie based on its final YouTube trailer.
We know half a million people didn’t see and hate the film because it has only been shown as its London premiere and in select screenings for critics and influencers.
Why Is The Odyssey Getting So Much Hate Online?
What’s going on?
Many blame review bombing, a phenomenon in which a vast number of users pan a film without seeing it in a coordinated effort to bring it down. The targets are often films perceived as “woke” because of inclusive casting.
Last year’s Snow White, for example, was barraged with negative responses from people who didn’t like the casting of a Latina actress, Rachel Zegler, as the famously pale Snow White. While critics didn’t tend to like the movie, the intensity of the negative reaction on IMDb was so intense that the site flagged it, saying its “rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title.”
The Odyssey has been the target of gripes because of its inclusion of Black stars, and Nolan’s decision to cast Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy — known for being so beautiful that she had the face that launched a thousand ships. Bigots have also griped about the casting of Elliot Page, a trans actor who also starred in Nolan’s Inception in 2010. And there’s been griping about costume and accent accuracy.
The film, Nolan’s adaptation of the Homeric epic, about Odysseus’s long journey to get home from war. Besides Matt Damon as Odysseus, the film stars Anne Hathaway as his wife, Robert Pattinson as an aggressive suitor, Antinous, Tom Holland as Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, and Zendaya as Athena. The cast also includes Travis Scott, Charlize Theron, Mia Goth, and many more.
The film carries especially high expectations because it follows Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which earned more than a billion dollars at the box office and won seven Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director for Nolan, Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr.
We haven’t seen The Odyssey, but we like Nolan’s movies a lot. So we’re looking forward to July 17, the day the film arrives in theaters and real audiences can vote with their hard-earned dollars, and share real opinions based on actual viewings.
Main image: Matt Damon as Odysseus in The Odyssey. Universal Pictures.