How Nolan’s Odyssey May Change Films Forever
Please note the first half of this article was written before the movie was released, and I added a post-release update at the end.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey film may be a tipping stone with tremendous silver lining. Let me explain.
The internet came around in the ’90s. Now information is at everyone’s fingertips, including history and historically-accurate dress, which means more than ever before the public eye knows how inaccurate most historical films really look, especially their combat scenes with all their sword flailing and spinning around like ballerinas, and so public expectation for accuracy, or at least respect for history, will only grow larger as information spreads, just like it did for classical studies in medieval times upon the invention of the printing press.
If you think blatant misrepresentation of the past is just a small nerdy complaint because “it’s only a fantasy story” then you’re wrong. Civilizations operate best under shared narratives with respect for their foundations, and so altering public perception via art can profoundly shape the cultural identity of nations just like Homer’s Odyssey actually did when the poem was shared around ancient hearths!
If Nolan’s movie sells poorly or even gets many terrible reviews then it will hopefully be a canary call for movies with historical settings moving forward, because satisfying your audience is how Hollywood makes the big bucks and, as seen with recent viral posts on X, people are very dissatisfied (although admittedly the movie isn’t officially released yet upon writing this):
Just embrace the Greek-themed sci-fi world instead of insulting everyone who has an education in classical studies, please Nolan. I respect your career tremendously, but enough is enough and we need more filmmakers on the side of truth. It’s time to make films great again.
Modern films do shape public perception and have been spreading way too many misconceptions, fantasy or not. If it’s historically inspired it will warp the way we view our past and suck away proper understanding of the foundations of Western civilization, because the Odyssey is a cornerstone of Western civilization (hence why this is so insulting [try getting away with this doing The Bible movie {we’ve all seen how bad The Last Supper ceremony in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics went}]).
I do appreciate that the film may gain people’s interest in exploring the real past like medieval fantasy did for me as a youth, but a film that pays respect to historical settings would do this much better because it would bring people closer to the truth, not closer to rewatching The Dark Knight, lol. For instance, we’ve all met people who say the arms and armor in the Game of Thrones TV show are “realistic”, and that’s clearly manipulation of perception even if unintentional (the books are way better!).
I would have no reason to complain if Nolan had just made a Warhammer-style film set in an alternative universe inspired by ancient Greece, but basing this off the Odyssey is what irks me because with a $250 million dollar budget this could have been such an aesthetically elegant film! Instead, we have what appears to be plastic, 3D-printed slop enhanced by AI slop to make a compounding slop-fest.
I’ll say it again though that the silver lining is that this film might be a tipping stone. If public outcry can make movies less woke (thank God), then we can make historically inspired films great again like they were back in the early and mid 20th century.
Check out this version of Nolan’s trailer edited by DemonFlyingFox on YouTube and tell me in the comments which version looks better.
WAIT! POST-RELEASE UPDATE – Aug 9th, 2026
I’m not surprised the movie is selling well due to the controversy and actors involved. This may only embellish the coffin with even more silver lining though in the long-run, as people go into the theater or streaming services expecting a masterpiece after reading the engineered 97% Tomato score and come out depressed thinking, “What the Hell was that?”
For me “wokeness” was never a major complaint, it was the bad costume and setting design that makes it impossible for me to sit through something that sucks the life out of my subconscious. After all, a movie is something you WATCH, and no matter how good the story is my eyes are there to be served not tortured. My lizard brain can’t afford to watch this drab and lifeless modern unhappiness for more than 3 minutes. By making something brilliant like the Odyssey fit for “modern audiences” it created a product that reveals how truly sick modernity is. No color. Horrendous costumes. Sad and depressed acting, etc.
A groundbreaking mythological or historical film would actually have good costumes for once, imo, not modern language, because ancient and historical films from Hollywood haven’t seen good costumes in decades (unless the movie isn’t set in a Western setting of course ((Disney hired historians for the Moana remake but continues to make Western costumes look like trash)). Hopefully that will change soon though as more people realize how trash it all is, and with the great success of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms TV show which proved fans actually want good armor. Any reviews mocking the armor in Nolan’s Odyssey are buried under one-line praises of Nolan’s genius smothering the first page of Rotten Tomatoes like he’s a god. The real Rotten Tomatoes score for The Odyssey is not what you think (see more on that below).
Read real reviews (or watch real news) before you trust the compromised review sources like Rotten Tomatoes (or news like CNN). Or just read Homer’s book and think for yourself. If you thought the movie was good then I’m happy you enjoyed it. That’s fine. I just won’t be lining up to read your list of other movie recommendations, because like I said my eyes are there to be served not tortured and I can’t even watch the trailer without cringing a dozen times. Aesthetic-wise, I’m too far down the what’s-possible-hole to bear this bucket of lifeless, modern unhappiness. We can do so much better and Hollywood is gaslighting itself if they don’t admit it.
Hollywood knows how to make money, that’s fair, but they forgot how to make a good film, and that’s sad. All the really good movies coming out nowadays are from the younger generation, written and directed by YouTubers (like Obsession) and people who haven’t yet sacrificed their love of the art to meet modern agendas. I’ll gladly admit if I was wrong about this whole silver lining thing, and quietly hope that one day the movie industry will heal itself, and start producing bangers like in the ’90s and early 2000s, or better yet the mid 20th century when we had movies at least try to show costumes accurately. One can only dream.
Before it gets taken down, I screenshotted and pasted below the viral Reddit post proving the Odyssey reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are rigged in Nolan’s favor. The real average rating is 4.6/10 when considering all users, but they bury this score deep in the website’s code so no one can see it.
I tested this myself, found it easier to just Ctr-F search for “audienceAll” and the real hidden review score from all users is 4.6 as of Aug 9th, 2026. Not surprised in the slightest.
How can those silver giants not be CGI? lol
A really funny thing to note is that people were calling out how horrendously ugly and unfitting the Laestrygonian plastic armor is since the trailer dropped, and now the kind of people leaving this movie a 10/10 score are surprised that this plastic armor wasn’t CGI. That should tell you everything you need to know. Some things just can’t be helped. Lmao.
How others see it now:
People brush off everything I’m saying by stating that “It’s just mythological, not historical, so the historical accuracy of costumes don’t matter” meanwhile they’ll have no stinking clue what they’re talking about. So let’s just go cast a movie about ancient Chinese mythology without casting a single Chinese person, and then make all the costumes look like plastic Power Rangers, and call anyone who complains about it a chud. Yeah, do that.
Meanwhile, how I saw it Day 1:
“Don’t believe everything you read” – Tupac
Memes Break! Some Memes About Nolan’s Odyssey To Open Your Eyes And Make You Laugh About the Whole Craziness Of It All
In Nolan’s Defense – An Honest Review From Someone Who Liked the Film
In sharing my pre-release update as a standalone article on X, someone who I admire chimed in and gave their honest feedback. If you want to read a real review before considering sitting down for 3 hours to watch the film, here you go:
At the end of the day, I’m still glad they’re retelling Homer’s Odyssey and like I said I hope it gets more people excited to actually read the book. However, it’s obvious that with $250 million budget for filming we could get some fresh minds in Hollywood who know how to do better. Better costumes. Better settings. Better actor choices. Better sound design. More timeless, universal messaging rather than trending, fringe messaging. The list goes on.
Before And After Gray Filter in Nolan’s Odyssey Comparison
Reviews I’ve read on Reddit and X have said these before and after shots are unfair because the actual movie shows these scenes in sunny weather as well. Even if there was ZERO color tampering at all, and if EVERY scene was unedited, in-camera colors, the overall choice of colors, costumes, props, and settings in general still give it a depressed, modern-unhappiness vibe that goes against what we know Homer’s Odyssey is and what the ancient world should look like.
One thing I’ll give Nolan credit for though is staying true to his vision despite all the criticism! That is not easy to do.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
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