Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

I did enjoy the film for what it is – a summer adventure blockbuster. Its long runtime did feel much shorter, and it sure is technically competent as well as visually and sound-wise stunning Though it significantly lacks in the script department similarly to other Nolan's films.

Metaphysical themes are underdeveloped, e.g. the central theme of anti-imperialism and decline of a civilization ignores the societal structures that lead to such behavior in the first place and only laments over "the Collapse of the Bronze Age" and hopes for moral and righteous man to reform the civilization.

Dissonance can be felt throughout the film, e.g. the one-dimensional, moral, just, pragmatic and universally good man in the role of Odysseus transposed into story which requires him to be cunning, charismatic, arrogant, generally clever but flawed person. Other palpable incoherence is the insistence on having the most authentic music possible and bringing up the Bronze Age (through dialogue nonetheless) but otherwise be completely non-bronze-age non-Greek depiction.

Nolan's The Odyssey is a vulgar spectacle, and any perceived sophistication is just an illusion which disperses with bit of examination. But it is precisely these qualities which make it fulfil its role as a summer popcorn film flawlessly.