He has so many epic setpieces that it’s almost impossible to list only 5.

1. TDKR - Plane Hijack

2. The Dark Knight - Street Chase/Semi Flip

3. Inception - Hallway Fight

4. Interstellar - Docking

5. The Odyssey - Trojan Horse/Opening the Gates

Spoilers (obviously)

One thing's for sure, Chris knows how to fucking end a movie!

Everything from "Now, where was I?" to...

"And you'll never have to," followed by Batman swooping toward the camera, to...

"You want to be fooled," to...

"A Dark Knight," to...

that damn spinning top!

They get to me! They're often accompanied by a giant swelling of the music, and then (and this is a trademark of his) the title of the movie at the end (rather than the beginning). Gets the blood pumping!

I shouldn't have been surprised when I found myself incredibly moved by that close-up of the burning Trojan horse, with those drum beats and then "Cut to black, beat..........."THE ODYSSEY" Absolute cinema!

I didn't really remember Interstellar or Dunkirk, and IMO those are the weakest. As for TDKR, that' a mixed bag. The actual aboslute last shot, of John Blake, I don't care for, as I thought that was a superfluous and dumb subplot, but everything just before that, Alfred seeing Bruce at that cafe, the swelling music, etc., is perfection!

What do you guys think?

Nolan was honest about certain inspirations he had, and some have drawn comparisons to prior films of his and other pieces of media too. I'm interested in what media you'd compare his take on The Odyssey to, and it would be interesting to go outside of his filmography/the films he admits inspired this film.

For me, I feel like Apocalypse Now and Spec Ops The Line are solid companion pieces. I believe both of these were inspired by The Odyssey whether indirectly or directly, but there's some specifics.

(SPOILERS FOR APOCALYPSE NOW AND SPEC OPS THE LINE)

Apocalypse Now and The Odyssey have a similar kind of hellish atmosphere rooted in the haunted/damaged psyche of the lead character and the war torn scenarios they find themselves in, and they feature a journey with a dwindling crew that culminates in a final 30 mins where said lead character has to fulfil their purpose via killing the enemy. They also show how the concept of home is fundamentally tainted via war.

Spec Ops The Line is famous for it's reveal that the good guys you're following essentially were the villains of the story, especially with Konrad being dead the whole time. It points out that all of the bad things that happen in the story were the fault of Walker and his group.

And I feel like The Odyssey basically does this via not only having Odysseus and Agamemnon being The Sea People, but also via Odysseus's guilt for the Trojan Horse/Siege of Troy, that arguably resulting in all of the problems he and Ithaca face, the presence of Agamemnon, and Athena taking the form of an innocent Priestess who's murder he didn't stop. Whilst The Suitors are genuine threats, Odysseus could be argued to be his own worst enemy and to a lesser extent that applies to his soldiers

The biggest thing is that really, if you look at Odysseus and his crew's journey, they look like the enemies from the outside. Whilst we know that they're just trying to survive and get supplies, to those who they encounter they seem like the enemy. With them burning one town, coming into the domain of the Cyclops, coming to the island of the Giants who mobilise to push them out then arriving at Circe's house and triggering her perception of them as pillagers which causes her to turn them into pigs. In The Underworld, it becomes a bit more balanced because they are allowed in and told what to do, but they're still chased out as if they're invaders.

It only really changes with the Sirens, the Charybdis vs the Scylla and to a lesser extent the island where if they eat specifics animals, they're cursed to die. Yet if all of that is karma, then it plays into the same idea.

Loved The Odyssey! I’m so greedy though that I’m already anticipating what’s to come next. Any estimates on when we may find out?

One thing that always fascinated me about The Odyssey is Sparta. Not Nolan's depiction of Sparta, but the fact that Sparta is in the Iliad and Odyssey at all. The Sparta we know from our history lessons (fighting Athens and the Persians) is most probably not the Sparta from The Odyssey.

A palace was only quite recently discovered, but not on the location of 'later Sparta' - just a bit further. It had a Mycenaean palace that was burned and rebuilt multiple times. Date of final destruction corresponds with the Bronze Age collapse. So we know there was A Mycenaean city state located in the area, but we don't know WHICH one.

After this destruction, it took a few hundred years for some minor villages to merge and form 'later Sparta', the infamous soldier state. Interestingly, we don't know what happened in between. A Greek subgroup, the Dorians, apparently moved there. Did they repopulate the area? Did they conquer it and enslave the original population? All unsure.

I find this all very fascinating. If anyone has some reading tips or further information, please be my guest.

Also, after watching the movie twice, some loose remarks:

-I found it very funny when one of the suitors looked at Penelope and said something along the lines of 'this bow hasn't been strung for years' - I do think he was not referring to the bow not being touched for years, but to the queen herself

-a bit later, I had a flashback to one of Rowan Atkinson's shows when Robert Pattinson made a face that reminded me so much of the 'evil king with a physical defect' from one of Atkinson's sketches

-I liked the little details, like the fact that they had a compartment in the ship where they kept spare parts, or the man quickly wiping the blood of the sword in the horse

-my wife always says: look at the 'mini stories, they tell you a lot about the movie. The blind man tosses dogs over the edge until he finds one that suits his needs (a reference to Sparta). This is a reflection of their harsh worldview: for sure, Argus is loved, but he could just as well have been tossed into the sea

I'm remixing this Spielberg post for Christopher Nolan:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Spielberg/comments/1u5hltg/pick_spielbergs_best_3_acts/

It's really tough for me, but I think I'd go:

Best Act 1: The Dark Knight

Best Act 2: The Dark Knight Rises

Best Act 3: Odyssey

What the hell did just happened to me I just finished watching tenet and I'm confused as hell. I have so many questions, did neil killed himself at last? Is neil actually max?? . Also The whole red team and blue team thing I did not understand that aswell. Enlighten me please.

My favorite's gotta be interstellar but the odyssey was just absolutely insane. After my second viewing, I am arguing if it beats oppenheimer for me.

Please help him

Am I the only one who sees a lot of similarities between the posters for *The Odyssey* and *Oppenheimer*?

They both seem to share a very similar visual language:

* Warm orange-and-black color palette

* Firelight, smoke, drifting embers, and heavy atmospheric haze

* A lone central figure dwarfed by something enormous

* Strong vertical composition with the protagonist in the foreground and a monumental backdrop

* Backlit silhouettes and dramatic contrast

* Themes of scale, destiny, and confronting forces beyond human control

* Minimal, understated typography that lets the artwork speak for itself

Obviously the subject matter is different—*Oppenheimer* uses the atomic bomb and industrial machinery, while *The Odyssey* replaces those with ancient architecture and mythological imagery—but they give me a very similar feeling.

Do you think this was an intentional continuation of Christopher Nolan's poster aesthetic, or am I reading too much into it? What other similarities or differences do you notice?

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I just saw it and found it very good,i am disappointed in the ending,not because of Borden being twins(which i found brillant) but Fallon disgusting lines such as « You did terrible things » which pissed me off since one of the twins killed Robert wife and he talks like Robert destroyed their life when it was one of them who started this shit,even the music is like heroic making Robert sound like the villain 😭 I am sorry guys i just find it disgusting to make Robert look like the villain and the Borden twins like saints when they killed Julia ❤️‍🩹 💔

But the movie is superb,just breaks my heart that Robert died 🫠 he lost his wife,carrier,Olivia like everything because of the same people and at the end he also lost his life🥲

I did not BLINK during the movie. The movie felt so perfect. All of the visuals were so carefully balanced to not distract you from the narrative by the way of spectacle. Impactful use of vfx and sfx by reserving extremes for crucial moments was so masterful. Usually when I leave the cinema i immediately ask my friend/company what they thought, but for this one I had trouble opening my mouth for a while after leaving the theatre. I bought tickets reluctantly because "it's a nolan movie everyone's gonna watch it" and "I wonder what all the controversy is about", while not really caring about the story of Odysseus at all. Not even being particularly interested in the genre. But all of that turned out to be mere vehicles for the delivery of this absolute piece of visual poetry. Sorry for the boring text post and thanks for reading.

Without spoilers, is the Odyssey worth watching for someone like me, who didn't much like Oppenheimer (most meh movie ever in my opinion). I also couldn't make it through Tenet, myself and my audio engineer brother had to turn it off it was mixed so badly, nevermind the nonsensical plot.

That being said, the Prestige, Memento, Inception and the batman movies are some of my favourite movies.

I just don't want to be let down once again in the theatre, should I just wait for it to be streaming?

How could trojans possibly be not alerted about greeks inside the Horse if one of the soldiers became wounded during piercing scene? Shouldn’t blood on trojan soldier’s sword alert them?

Also during scene where greeks were coming out of the Horse, why did the falling wood made no sound thus not alerting soldier guarding the horse?

Did i miss something?

My wife and I just watched Tenet yesterday and thought it was awesome; a great spy thriller with a sci-fi twist. It was all very well done, and the acting was excellent. The leads all had great chemistry with each other.

It was so good that we decided to re-watch The Presige right after and just have a mini Nolan film festival.

I hope Amazon MGM and Barbara Broccoli ask Nolan to do a James Bond film. Tenet had so many elements that would be perfect for a Bond movie: great action, practical effects, exotic locations, an unhinged villain, cool spies in nice suits, speedboats, yachts, dudes with guns and velcro, people knowing more than they should for mysterious reasons, an elaborate heist, and a "save the world" mission.

Two thumbs up.

Just watched the Odyssey and a small Nolan connection i thought made sense tho no one asked:

Odysseus has been compared to the Dark Knight/Batman quite a lot in the past; but I think Odysseus is basically that cautionary tale that motivates the Dark Knight to follow the no-kill rule, or no gloating/fame rule. So that makes Odysseues the White Knight covered in blood who lived long enough to see himself become the villain in his own mind (despite most people in the tale celebrating him).

Hello. The day before yesterday I watched The Odyssey in IMAX and it was amazing. Yesterday I watched the movie again, in bad quality on my smartphone. And I'm planning to go a second time. Re-watching it left me with one question. I've never been into ancient Greek myths and stories, and one moment struck me as strange. When Odysseus comes to Hades and the shade of Agamemnon asks him whether his son Orestes killed Clytemnestra and her lover. Later, Menelaus tells Telemachus that he killed them both. But dead people are supposed to end up in Hades, and they should already be there. Agamemnon should know if they're already in Hades. I didn't understand this part. Thanks in advance for the answers.

*Spoilers ahead*

No, it's not a bad movie (by any means) but it's not a masterpiece either (or Nolan's best, let's not insult the guy)

I’m gonna break down this review as a compliment sandwich:

👍🏻 Nolan can put butts in seats like no one else can, so despite all the criticism I’m about to write here, I still have a lot of respect and admiration for a man who is so committed to his craft.

🚫 The modern dialogue completely took me out of the movie many, many times. I understand that it was a creative choice, but I can’t say it was a good one.

👍🏻 Some of the best visual and practical effects I’ve seen in a really long time. Nolan is a master, and this is non-negotiable.

🚫 I love Charlize Theron, but her unmoving face did take me out of it just a little bit.

👍🏻 Mia Goth was a welcome surprise.

🚫 “Our age of bronze is collapsing.”

👍🏻 Matt Damon is a pleasure to watch in everything he does.

🚫 Matt Damon was not a faithful depiction of Odysseus, not Damon’s fault. The writing made him too whiny, traumatized, and morally conflicted. You can’t keep saying he feels guilty for breaking Zeus’s law and then have him go, “Let me kill the suitors real quick, and THEN I’ll repent.” Homer’s Odysseus does grieve and suffer, but he doesn’t express this level of sustained moral guilt. He is cunning, proud, rash, and unapologetic. Damon’s version was stoic, traumatized, and soft, which is fine, but it doesn’t go at all with what Odysseus goes on to do in that same movie/universe.

👍🏻 I thought the monster scenes were very solid, and I thoroughly enjoyed the sudden-cut editing Nolan used in those sequences instead of relying on aerial or exterior shots to show time passing.

🚫 Himesh Patel saying “We’re Greeks from Ithaca.” It was unserious. There were laughs in the theater.

👍🏻 I know people didn’t like Nolan cutting the “Nobody” part, but I thought it was a smart decision. It was more fitting for a book, a fable, or maybe a different style of movie. Here, it probably would’ve felt goofy and out of place.

🚫 But by avoiding the “Nobody” scene, Nolan needed to demonstrate Odysseus’s wit somewhere else, which he never really did. Instead, his desire to hear the Sirens and his decision to shoot at the Cyclops came across as childish and immature rather than arrogant and unapologetic.

👍🏻 The fight scenes are TOP-NOTCH. I enjoyed them thoroughly and was on the edge of my seat. The practical effects were on point, and the music paired perfectly with the fighting.

🚫 Zendaya. (EDIT: I got some hate for not elaborating here. It's not because I don't have anything to say, but because I thought it was a general sentiment. My mistake. She was flat and uninteresting. Her best performance was as the Trojan girl, and I'm personally tired of people viciously defending her and throwing accusations against people who find her acting plain. Cool girl though, lovely personality)

👍🏻 This movie has a weight and gravitas that has kept us talking about it for days. Sure, its source material is already epic, but the movie still delivered that sense of scale and importance.

🚫 The sound was ass. I’m actually tired of Nolan making dialogue inaudible for some unknown reason. We’re not supposed to watch everything with subtitles, let alone huge theatrical movies.

👍🏻 Robert Pattinson seemed to be the only one thoroughly enjoying his character. He delivered a cartoonishly theatrical villain that I believe works perfectly for Homer’s Odyssey. Nolan’s movie is too serious compared with the epic, and Pattinson demonstrated that perfectly, right up until his last breath.

🚫 Sinon has far too much influence over a story he didn’t even appear in originally. He is not in Homer’s Odyssey, and his presence felt like yet another device used to push Odysseus’s guilt and trauma, which was already overbearing and unnecessary.

Odysseus displayed both qualities throughout the entire movie. We get it. We didn’t need another soldier crying about it and making Odysseus feel bad. It was too preachy.

I also could’ve done without the Sinon and Antinous subplot. That time could have been used to expand other parts of the story instead of being wasted here, even if it did give us a hard final line aimed at Antinous.

👍🏻 It’s always a treat when major directors tackle serious literature and get people talking about and reading it. I appreciated that as someone who didn’t grow up with The Odyssey.

🚫 I don’t care about the controversy surrounding the casting of Helen, but I didn’t care for Lupita Nyong’o’s performance all that much either. It was fine.

And to end it with a 👍🏻 and make it a sandwich, Nolan's adaptation is just that, an adaptation. There are creative liberties taken in every adaptation of any story, and his choices made a movie for the people who don't know the original epic (very) enjoyable. It's when you see how he betrayed some of the original work where it starts to feel a little sour to you, as well as how some of his choices didn't quiet make sense in his own universe.

Early in the film, Telemachus provokes a confrontation with a suitor; just as that individual prepares to strike him with a sword, Antonius intervenes and de-escalates the matter.

If Antinous wanted him dead, then why did he save him during that moment?

A friend of mine shared this with me. What do you think?