The Odyssey (2026) Breakdown & Ending Explained | Full Movie Review & Film Analysis

[00:00] Paul. In this video, we're  breaking down the Odyssey. As I'm sure you guys know, I'm a massive  Christopher Nolan fan, and we've done countless  

[00:12] breakdowns of his films on the channel. Naturally,  when I heard he was doing the Odyssey, I got   really, really excited because it's one of those  stories that has transcended millennia. Thought to   be almost 3,000 years old, it's a Taylor's oldest  time, literally. So, when Nolan said he was doing  

[00:27] the film, naturally, I was very hyped as he's the  only person I'd trust to pull off something of   this scale. However, the last couple of months  have been uh pretty wild to say the least. I'm   sure you guys have seen the controversy around the  movie, and it's been almost inescapable. Whether  

[00:42] it's the casting choices, stuff the actors  have said, the lack of Grecian people in it,   the modern-day dialogue, the trailer getting  downvoted to oblivion, it's been a constant source   of controversy. Now, at the channel, I don't  really tend to touch upon that stuff that much.  

[00:56] Uh, and in my reviews, I try and go in and be as  objective as possible for how the film is itself.   So, that's what we're going to do in this video.  In this video, I want to focus on the movie itself   and judge it on its own merits. Now, the Odyssey  itself is one of those works that's been adapted  

[01:12] time and time again. Actually have um the Folio  Society book for it. Uh, and in case you don't   know, these guys are basically they're basically  famous for their artwork and also for putting out   whatever was in the first edition. So, like the  Bun books I have here, um, they don't have any of  

[01:27] the updates that they have in the newer versions,  and it's always whatever was first put out.   However, with this story being as old as it is,  yeah, it's not going to be that first telling. The   version I've read is the 1996 printing by Robert  Fagels, but there's been several adaptations  

[01:42] and interpretations of the S. There's also an  excellent version read by Ian Mckllen on Audible   and each translation and retelling comes with its  own alterations. Nolan has said that he's pulled   from lots of different sources, but ultimately  this feels like his own vision that changes  

[01:56] certain aspects of the oral tellings. As always,  Nolan doesn't tell things in chronological order,   and we have constant spinning plates and things  jumping back and forth. We pretty much have three   interlocking story lines that gradually collide.  And I've tried to structure this video to piece  

[02:12] all of them together to explain the movie's plot.  So that's how we're going through things. And the   first chapter is basically the man, the myth, and  the family he left behind. Opening Outside Troy,   we see Elliot Page's character, Sinnin,  who's been ordered to guard the Trojan horse,  

[02:25] killed by Trojan soldiers. Sinnon's final words  are, "It's a gift." Now, we learn later in the   film that Sinnin and Robert Patson's characters  switch places when being selected for service.   Adius ended up spotting this trick and decided to  look after Sinnin. Sinon went on to become a noble  

[02:40] warrior with him carrying around a token from the  lottery that Adysius later uses to talk Antinuous   with. But Sinnon was essentially sacrificed  to make the deception look believable. This is   something that later haunts Adysius and he takes  the character's name when carrying out a similar  

[02:54] deception. It kind of establishes the flaws in  the character too because it creates the defining   contradiction within him. He's brilliant enough  to end a 10-year war, but with this brilliance   comes a lot of downsides. In order to achieve what  he wants, he must manipulate and sacrifice other  

[03:09] people. This idea of deception is laced throughout  the film. And beyond the beggar, Adysius and his   gang later disguise themselves as sheep to escape  the cyclops. I think it ultimately plays into how   he tricks his opponents and appears a certain way,  so they lower their gods. Ultimately, we know the  

[03:24] Trojan horse isn't a gift, and it's this that  allows him to sack Troy. It's a gigantic, vast,   and incredible scene that shows what Nolan can do  at his best. But there's still a feeling that this   is a bittersweet victory as Adysius is haunted  by those whose lives cost victory. Now the second  

[03:40] major part of the story line comes in Matt Damon  basically doing a Jasonb born and not knowing who   he is. Living on a remote island with Calypso, he  has no idea about any of his past. He doesn't know   where he came from, why there's this grief within  him, and also this feeling of violence. I think  

[03:57] the stage very much represents him rediscovering  who he is and him returning to his quote unquote   home to redefine what that really means. Calypso  has basically fallen in love with him and she   gives him lotus flowers which soo his pain by  making him forget. Forgetting is ultimately  

[04:13] seductive because remembering means confronting  everything he did and everyone he lost. Feel like   Calypso gives Odicius a life outside of who he is  and the pressures that come with it. He doesn't   have to be a king, husband, father, soldier,  or leader. He can simply exist there with her.  

[04:30] However, in doing this, the character loses who  he is. It's a complete trade-off of his identity,   and ultimately he won't ever find fulfillment by  just living in this life where he doesn't feel   the cost of anything. Now, the third interlocking  story line takes place at Ithaca, which involves  

[04:45] Penelope and his son. Odicius has been gone for  roughly nearly 20 years and it's about 10 years   since he first fought in the Trojan War with the  next 10 being him assumed to be lost at sea. Now   in his absence, a large group of suitors have  effectively occupied his palace. The poem has a  

[05:01] great section about how lavish their lives are now  and everything that comes with it. They eat the   food, drink the wine, abuse the servants, don't  hit the thumbs up, and treat Odicius's household   as though it already belongs to them. to this  that we really see Penelopey who's played by Anne  

[05:16] Hatheraway and she's under the constant pressure  to accept that Odicius is dead. In doing this,   she must choose her new husband and they  will then gain claim to Ithaca. Now,   that's where Robert Patson's character comes into  it and he's basically basically a perfect villain.  

[05:30] He's manipulative, entitled, and though he  presents himself as refined enough to be a king,   there's just a cruelty within him. He has no  qualms about terrorizing Adysius's son, Tmicus,   inside his own home. And Tmicus is of course  played by Tom Holland. Tmicus only knows his  

[05:46] dad from the legends and we see that he's grown  up without a father or daddy as they say. Instead,   he's raised by Uanius who's played by John  Leguismo. He's pretty much been a surrogate   father and it's through Tmicus that we get a lot  of the information as he travels to learn about  

[06:01] Adysius's past and basically he acts as a way  to connect all the stories. But at the moment,   he's a prisoner inside his own home. Now, if you  know the story itself, then I'm sure you know   the significance of Odicius's bow and how he's  basically the only one capable of stringing it.  

[06:18] The sound it makes and the feat he pulls off with  it by shooting it through the axes that sort of   becomes his signature and it's a way to terrify  those that stand on the other end. So, yeah,   those are basically the key things that we need  to know before getting to the ending and we'll  

[06:31] discuss the rest of it after a quick word from  our sponsors. The Odyssey is of course one of the   biggest epics of all time and history is littered  with these kinds of figures and our sponsors   Heroes of History allows you to collect legendary  figures from across history and mythology. Heroes  

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[08:00] use that code, and that will get you all those  things. And huge thank you to Heroes of History   for sponsoring the video. Now, let's get into  the rest of the breakdown. Now, that takes us to   Before the War. Here, Odysius is summoned to join  the Greek campaign by Agamenon. Sailing to Troy,  

[08:14] they want to retrieve Helen for her husband,  Menaaus. Bicius doesn't want to leave Penelopey   and their young son, but he's bound by duty in  politics. He shares a heartfelt goodbye with   his wife and tells her that if he does not return,  she is allowed to remarry. The way it's presented,  

[08:29] though, I think it's more Adysius trying to  acknowledge the possibility that war will   consume the rest of his life. Penelopey then gives  him a totem of Athena to carry with him, and this   very much represents her love, his connection to  his home, the past identity he's leaving behind,  

[08:43] and also Athena's protection. The pair also touch  upon the possibility of leaving this all behind   which at the time just seems like a fantasy.  Instead of kingdoms, wars, responsibilities,   and gods, though they imagine simply setting off  sail together. That fantasy becomes extremely  

[08:59] important by the end, and it comes with  Odysius realizing what home really is. Now,   we then see his Tmicus leaves Ithaca to search  about the truth of his father's fate. It leads him   to several different characters, including John  Benthol's Menaaus. And let me tell you something,  

[09:13] Red. He's living with hell in the truck. Now,  I know uh when the trailer was shown that that   people made fun of Leita for not being the face  that launched a thousand ships, um which is how   she's described in the book, but this is actually  important as time and war have left their marks  

[09:28] on the character. They even joke that her face  maybe launched 500 ships instead of a thousand.   And Helen actually represents the complexities of  war and the realities of them as well. It's clear   that she was used as an excuse to go to war. And  really what the Greeks wanted was land, money,  

[09:43] and power. I think it really elevates things  quite a lot as many of us. We often suspect wars   are launched with it not being exactly for the  reason that the politicians tell us they are. But  

[09:55] what's made clear is that this was never really  about Helen of Troy and she was just some [ __ ]   excuse to go to war. War is often romanticized  as well. And I think that's what we see with a   Trojan horse itself. The men are trapped inside  of it for two days with no room or air. There's  

[10:09] piss and [ __ ] everywhere, people drowning in it,  people suffocating, and it's far from the romantic   image of heroic warfare that this stuff's often  sold as. There's also the mental stress as well,   as they don't even know if the plan's going to  work. But eventually, they are taken inside. It's  

[10:25] a grand and epic conflict, but Menaaus makes  it clear that it's built on misery and human   sacrifice. It's quite emotional for Tmicus as  well, as this is the closest thing he's actually   got to meeting his father, and it complicates the  legend. Tmicus and Menaaus and do archery in the  

[10:40] former clearly sits with the idea that his dad  might be dead. So he may have to become the man   that ethic needs. The film is really complex  in tackling the cost of war as not only does   it leave fatherless sons but the victors also  become shadows of their former selves after the  

[10:55] victory as well. Adesius's men are far from being  noble heroes and they basically do what they want.   They think they're this [ __ ] and there's pissing  [ __ ] everywhere. It's through this though that   we really get some deconstruction by Urukusa  who's played by Haish Patel. Now though he's  

[11:11] loyal to Adysius, he's not blindly obedient and  he kind of becomes the voice of the crew. To him,   Adysius risks angering the gods and he feels that  he's pushing the men too far and their conquering.   This eventually leads him to face down against  the Cyclops which allows Nolan to really dip his  

[11:27] tone to horror. There's two major major horror  sequences in the movie and Nolan goes next level   with both of them. The Cyclops to me though kind  of represents the terror that these soldiers bring   and their almost loop-like behavior. They arrive  somewhere, conquer it, and leave it in ruin with  

[11:41] the people there fearing what they could do next.  Now, that's basically what the Cyclops represents,   and when the caves blocked by an enormous boulder,  the men cannot leave it. The Cyclops then arrives,   eats one of the men, goes to sleep, wakes up, and  then repeats the process. Now, if you've ever seen  

[11:57] Jaws, which it's Jaws, mate, you've seen it. Uh,  but it kind of reminded me of the speech about the   USS Indianapolis. Soldiers were stranded at sea  with sharks coming to feast on them throughout the   day, which is just so horrifying to think of. It's  pretty much that same feeling of terror here, but  

[12:14] they can't kill a Cyclops as he's the only one who  can move the boulder. So, they wait. Eventually,   they then use deception once more and manage to  get out the cave by disguising his sheep. The   men finally reach the shore. And though they're  alive and they could simply leave, Adysius cannot  

[12:28] let the humiliation and deaths go unanswered.  He then fires an arrow into the Cyclops's eye,   which blinds him. Adysius then justifies it by  saying the creature murdered his men. But the   crew sees something else. It already escaped, and  Adius did it for revenge rather than for survival.  

[12:42] He needed the monster to know that Adysius had  defeated him. This is where his heroism, pride,   and obsession with control becomes impossible  to separate. And his victory again comes at   an unneeded cost. And this is something that  continues throughout the film. It's very much  

[12:57] a sort of sort of heart of darkness tale where  Adius encounters things that reflect and challenge   him. That's also seen in the giants in armor whose  name I will definitely butcher if I say so I won't   say it but they completely decimate Adysius's men  who've assumed themselves to be the most dominant  

[13:13] force out there and suddenly they experience the  other side of the conquest. They are slaughtered.   This leads to the crew blaming Adysius, and they  connect their suffering to the decision to blind   the Cyclops after they had already escaped.  They believe Adesius's arrogance brought  

[13:26] divine punishment down upon them. To them,  this is no longer simply bad luck. The gods   are responding to his pride, which is something  he has to grapple with. Upon reaching Cersei,   many have already considered abandoning him, and  Cersei plays with them psychologically. played by  

[13:41] Samantha Morton. She's a haunting figure who's  in tune with the moon. Seeking refuge with her,   it becomes clear that other men have been here,  too. And all that remains is their armor. Uh,   which something not a bit strange about all  this here, mate. But Cersei offers them food,  

[13:55] which they welcome due to being starving and  exhausted. How about this comes with an addiction   as they chow down on it, they can't get enough,  and Cersei physically reshapes them, and we get   another really strong horror sequence. They turn  into pigs, which comments on what the soldiers  

[14:09] have become. These are conquerors that are driven  by an appetite that they'll never fulfill. They   enter foreign homes and consume whatever they  can, and this gluttony has now led to their   end. Adysius realizes this when hunting after he  kills an animal, and it's revealed to be one of  

[14:22] her victims. He then refuses to eat the food and  manages to borrow his men's forms back. She also   has a bird with her that appears to be her sister.  And though it doesn't overexlain this, it simply   shows that in Cersei's world, transformation is  a way of life. Directed to the underworld, Adius  

[14:37] comes across several of the people he encountered  before and during the war. Agamenon is there and   we learn he was murdered by his wife who just so  happened to be the sister of Helen, having never   forgiven him for sacrificing their daughter so he  could sail to Troy. He returned as a king but was  

[14:50] then killed by her who'd been waiting for him at  home. Obviously draws lots of parallels to Adysius   and foreshadows the fact that even managing to  get home does not guarantee salvation. Cenon   then comes into and basically brings to light the  deception Odicius used there. He was placed there  

[15:06] because the Trojans needed to believe that someone  had been left behind to present the horse as a   gift. Odicius argues the lie was necessary, but  it shows how callous the apparent hero is. Now,   this is one of the clearest examples of the  difference between the legendary version of  

[15:20] Odysius and the actual man. The legend says he  devised a brilliant plan that ended the war,   but here we see the dead remember who paid for it.  eventually fleeing. They then managed to get away.   And at this point, I kind of want to touch upon  Athena and her role throughout the movie. In it,  

[15:34] Adysius has conversations with the character  that touch upon things like the cost of war, the   difference between destiny and choice, and if he  really wants to return home. To me, the big thing   they grapple with is whether an identity outside  of all this war and violence is even possible for  

[15:49] the character. Athena is kind of like a divine  protector, but in being this, she also kind of   wants to protect the man he should be, to me at  least. Now, a big reveal comes with who's playing   Athena and um we do see in the movie that her  statue has her head cut off. So, we get a constant  

[16:05] tease about her identity. Turns out Sandai  actually also plays a part of a random woman who   was beheaded because of their brutal conquest. So,  Athena takes the appearance of this woman because   it's symbolic of the constant guilt that he feels.  Now, in general, the movie treats Greek mythology  

[16:20] like a religious horror on an epic scale. The gods  are not comforting and instead they're forces that   can reshape nature and destroy human lives. The  ocean might be Poseidon. A storm might be Zeus.   And a change in the wind might be Athena. The  people here cannot separate the natural disasters  

[16:36] from divine punishment. And this is what makes  the wrath of the gods even more frightening.   It's a world where every terrible event might  have intention behind it. And ultimately,   this plays a big part of the film's ending, which  we'll talk more about when we get to the end of  

[16:50] the video. But next, Adysius's ship must pass  the sirens. The crew seals their ears with wax,   and this is so they cannot hear the song, but  Adysius wants to experience it, and we don't   receive a clear, glamorous look at the sirens.  But I do like how Nolan keeps them distant. The  

[17:06] fragmented and psychologically threatening and  kind of something off in the distance that could   pull you to your doom. The song instantly  overwhelms so who hear it as well. And the   sirens reach into Adysius's guilt and force him  to question whether he even wants to return home.  

[17:20] Returning home means remembering who he is and  carrying everything he's done back with him. The   sirens very much offer surrender and he can give  up who he is, simply swim to them, surrender all   that and be like the men they bewitch. Part of him  wants to stop fighting too as this will rid him  

[17:37] of the guilt and pressures of leadership. They  also encounter Silah. This creature creates a   moral choice between going close to that or a  giant whirlpool. The idiom between Siller and   Jaredus was created because of this story and it  means to be caught between two equally unpleasant  

[17:50] fates. But once again must choose to sacrifice  his men to avoid the ship being destroyed and   it's kind of like the trolley conundrum. I also  know people don't like the design of it in the   movie and I did wonder if things were impacted by  either Nolan's sensibilities or later retellings  

[18:05] of the tale. In Ovid's metamorphosis, Sila gets a  tragic origin story, and we learned she was once   a beautiful nymph whose bathing pool was poisoned  by Cersei. This then transformed her into a beast,   and it added some complexity to the story. But  they press onto the sacred cattle of Helas, the  

[18:20] sun god. Warned right from the off to subscribe  and not eat the cattle. They're well aware that   divine punishment will come from not doing either.  But the men are exhausted, and when Adysius isn't   watching, they kill and eat the cattle. Now,  this is the breaking point. Up until now,  

[18:34] the crews accused Adysius of bringing punishment  upon them through his choices. But now they   knowingly commit the violations themselves. And  with this comes the punishment showing that the   noble hero's hubris has come too far. A gigantic  storm wrecks them with Adysius then ending up as  

[18:49] the sole survivor. This then takes us to Calypso  where he's lost basically everything. His army,   his life back home, and now his sense of identity.  However, the Lotus allows him to be a blank slate.   But with this, he's also incomplete. Adesius is a  man who can't escape what he's done and the past  

[19:05] begins to resurface. He starts to remember things  and though Calypso offers him a life where he   never has to return to responsibility, age, or do  anything that comes with a cost. In this though,   Adius still chooses his immortal family. Now that  takes us back to Ithaca, which sees Antinas also  

[19:20] realizing that Tmicus is the greatest obstacle  when it comes to claiming Penelopey. So he sends   his men to assassinate him. But Adysius comes  to the rescue. Presenting himself as a stranger,   he journeys back. seeing what's happened in his  absence and how the home he was so desperate to  

[19:35] defend has been left as a shell of itself. Much  like him, he was nothing without it and it's   nothing without him. Adopting the identity of  Sinnin, it's very significant as he's carrying   the name of someone he sacrificed in order to  return home and restore things. Now throughout  

[19:49] we've had Argus, who's Adysius's dog who he  saved when he was a puppy. The dog represents   the resilience and passage of time that's passed  since its master left. One of Antinineas's men   is particularly abusive towards it and nearly  kills the dog. Antonius then orders the dog to  

[20:03] be removed from the palace, dumped in dump. And  basically, he does this because he understands   that Penelopey's husband dog and killing that  would damage his chances of winning her shows   how cruel he is as even his restraints calculated.  Upon returning, the dog recognizes Adysius. And  

[20:20] even though he's changed, lost weight, grown  a beard, and disguised himself as a beggar,   his old pal knows him immediately because he's a  bloody good doggo. This becomes the emotional key   to Dmicus, realizing the truth, and it shows that  Adius can return to the man he used to be. Odysius  

[20:35] has been transformed by age, grief, violence,  and this disguise. And though the humans struggle   to recognize him, the dog does. That's because  Agros knows that the essential person Odysius is  

[20:47] hasn't changed even though the outer shell has. It  answers one of the movie central questions which   is is any part of the man who is left still alive  and August doing this shows that the answer is   yes but barely. Like the dog that old version of  Adysius has survived just long enough to complete  

[21:02] the homecoming. And this unites him and Tmicus  with his revelation. They then prepare to destroy   the Sudas. Using tactical planning once more,  they hide all their weapons, armor, and shield.   Unlike the horse, sheep, beggar, and so on, the  deception is on once more. How about this time,  

[21:18] the deception's happening inside his own walls,  so he will allow the sitters to believe he's weak   until the moment of escape becomes impossible.  We also see how they act with him as well. Zeus's   laws of hospitality instruct that beggars and  strangers are supposed to be treated with kindness  

[21:32] and dignity, as they may be gods in disguise. The  people themselves that treat them badly also may   require the mercy of another house, too. And  this story has all been about how conquerors   have suffered for their actions. Onius has seen  firsthand how bad karma is and how the tables can  

[21:48] be turned. All civilizations depend upon people  respecting guests and hosts. And Ithaca must be   restored to that as well. The suitors have already  violated hospitality by occupying Adysius's home   and consuming his wealth. And now they prove  that they also abuse the powerless. They are  

[22:03] failing the most basic moral test without also  realizing that the beggar they're humiliating is   the king whose home they've stolen that Adysius  appears before Antinuous and gives him Sinn's   totem to unsettle him. It's also a cruel irony  to it because Adysius played a direct role in  

[22:19] Sinnin's death. He's then using a relic of the  man he sacrificed and his name to psychologically   unsettle him. It's a classic manipulation  technique by the hero to throw them off their   game and again using an object that could be  seen as a gift to tear something down. Speaking  

[22:33] with Penelopey, he then poses as the beggar once  more, and the pair's conversation becomes deeply   existential. They discuss a possibility that  Adysius is alive, but Penelopey raises a much   more painful question. Even if he is alive,  would it even be worth it for him to return?  

[22:48] Would the man who left 20 years ago still exist?  And would it be possible for one person to return   to a marriage carrying that much war, death, and  grief? Now, though Penelopey suspects something,   it's clear he's not there emotionally yet and  is carrying everything he's been through. So  

[23:02] Penelopey announces that she'll finally remarry.  However, she creates a challenge and brings out   his bow. Now the man who wishes to marry her must  one string the bow and two fire an arrow through   the aligned axes. It's the exact feat established  in act one and the suitors then attempt it. No  

[23:19] one can do it because this is an object that  represents his identity. Odicius is tied up in   this bow and when it comes to do it, it will be  something that seizes not only his wife and his   home, but also the man he lost the moment he left.  And doesn't even seriously attempt the challenge  

[23:36] either. And whether it's out of arrogance,  suspicion, or fear of humiliation, he refuses   to expose himself as incapable. So the beggar asks  for a turn. And though the suitor's laugh, he does   it all first time. Nothing but net. Even before  they can say you're a there's an arrow through one  

[23:53] of the guy's necks and everyone understands too  late that the man they've been insulting is the   king they've assumed was dead. The doors are then  sealed. The weapons are gone and Adysius has them   trapped which becomes a slaughter of the suitors.  Even though he's older, injured, and outnumbered,  

[24:08] he's still Odysius and he spent the last 20  years fighting armies, mythological beings,   gods, and all the elements. These spoiled men  have spent all those years drinking his wine. And   it feels like all the violence that Adysius has  carried since Troy finally explodes within him and  

[24:23] he unleashes it on them all. Tmicus also takes  down the suda played by Logan Marshall Green.   Throughout the former has been treated like a weak  child, but he bests him even after being nearly   killed. In this he proves that he is capable  of protecting Ithaca and Tmicus is no longer  

[24:38] simply Adysius's son. He's become the future king  which is such a big moment. In the end though,   it boils down to Adysius and Penelopey. Their  return is not about pretending nothing's happened,   as neither can really change things. They cannot  simply return to the way things were. Too much  

[24:54] time has passed. Adius is no longer the man who  left, and Penelope is no longer the woman who   waited at the shoreline. Tmicus is no longer the  child he left behind either, and the old home is   gone. But in this, they can choose something else.  Deciding to go off together like they fantasized  

[25:10] about at the beginning, they sail away without  the obligations that held them. At the time,   Adysius was bound to Agimenanon, and Penelopey was  responsible for Ithaca. But after 20 years of war,   waiting, trauma, and loss, they finally choose the  life they really longed for. The dream comes true,  

[25:26] but only after almost everything else has been  taken from them. In the end, it's not a return to   their youth. It's too old. Change people choosing  what remains of their future. Tmicus then remains   in Ithaca, and he takes a throne and becomes its  ruler. This completes his coming of age story as  

[25:42] at the beginning he was living beneath the legend  of a father he didn't know. But he believed return   might solve everything. By the end, Adysius does  return and helps to destroy the immediate threat.   But Tmicus still has to become the man capable of  governing after him. Adysius's journey ends by him  

[25:58] leaving the throne behind whereas Tmkus' journey  ends by accepting it. Now on the surface, the   Odyssey is about a warrior trying to get home, but  the movie keeps complicating the meaning of home.   Adysius spends 20 years believing that Ithaca  is a fixed destination waiting for him. But it  

[26:14] isn't really. In the time he's gone, Penelopey  has ruled without him. Tmicus has become a man,   his dog has grown old, and his legend has become  larger than the truth. So though he can physically   return to Ithag, he cannot return back to the  life he left. That is why the ending requires  

[26:29] him to leave again, but this time with Penelopey.  His first departure was forced by obligation,   whereas his final departure is a choice.  his and Penelopey's choice and it's one   that doesn't require manipulation, deceit, or  strategy. Throughout, we've seen how he lied  

[26:43] to Sing's character because the strategy required  a sacrifice. He blinded the Cyclops after already   escaping because the character needed revenge.  He repeatedly pushes his men forward because   he believes he can control the consequences.  Adysius survives almost everything, but his men  

[26:59] do not. So, you have to ask whether the cost  was even worth it. He has lost not only them,   but also himself. Sure, he can outthink monsters.  He can survive gods. But he cannot defeat time.   All they have now is the future and the time  that they have ahead of them. The real victory is  

[27:16] accepting that the past is gone and now they can  choose what life remains. That is why Adesius and   Penelopey leave together and that is why Tmicus  stays. Adysius finally stops trying to become the   man he was and he accepts he needs to be the man  he needs to become. Damicus also finally stops  

[27:33] waiting for his father to rule in his place. And  the old king sails away while the new king takes   the throne. And after 20 years, Adius's journey  home ends with him understanding that home was   never only Ithaca. It was also Penelopey. Anyway,  we have loads of Odyssey inspired shirts at the  

[27:49] merch store below, including a full lineup of old  Odyssey artwork based on the legend. Beyond that,   we've got lots of t-shirts for this year's biggest  movies like Obsessions and Back Rooms. Plus,   if you pick up more, you get more discounts and  save more money. Now, reviewing this movie is a  

[28:03] bit weird because there's there's just so much  negativity and also hype around it. Even now,   there's people going at each other's throats on  Twitter about the quality of the film and neither   group have seen the movie yet. So, you have lots  of uninformed opinions flying around about stuff  

[28:18] and it's difficult to decipher actual thought  from the culture wars. But even me, I have to say,   the the daddy dialogue and stuff, I was a bit  like, uh, I don't know. Everyone knows ancient  

[28:31] Greek sounds better in English, old English in a  British accent. You do not understand that. Yeah,   there's been lots of strange things about it.  And even the studio recently announcing that  

[28:44] they weren't allowing influencers to see it first.  Uh, and then them definitely seeing it first. That   was its whole own thing that just caused lots  of noise. And yes, I will die on the hill that   influencers did get to see it early as last week  I had lots of makeup artists on Instagram posting  

[28:59] about how they just watched the movie and they  do not review films. They're simply just makeup   Instagrammers. We also had a lot of the focus  on the marketing, not really centered around   Adysius either. I'm not even kidding, mate. I  couldn't even tell you [ __ ] about how they were  

[29:12] approaching Adysius as no one really seemed to  bring it up in the marketing. Instead, we had lots   of stuff with Elliot Page and then Lupita Nyongo  saying stuff about how she'd like to ask Homer how   he felt about the screen time given to women and  she's in the film for like 10 minutes. So, yeah,  

[29:28] why don't you ask Nolan as well? Um, but this just  created a lot of noise that's distracted from what   the actual film is. Sean Chandler said in his  review, it was just a lot of nontroversies and   yeah, I think that's the best term to describe  them cuz when you're sat there in the cinema,  

[29:43] it all strips away. I do think that Nolan really  delivered on the promise of creating a grand   soaring and often oporadic tale that's the sort  of film that you just don't see anymore. Even   something as recent as Moana is filled with  CGI backdrops and stuff that is clearly all  

[29:58] made on computer. But this is to the other end  of the scale where it's very clear they did as   much of it as practically as they could. There's  so much effort that they put into the movie that   it's difficult not to get sucked into the vast and  epic scale of it. I compare it a lot to Lawrence  

[30:13] of Arabia where you're just blown away by the fact  that they actually filmed some of this stuff and   that happens over and over and over. I know the  term seed an IMAX is very overused and when it's   stuff like the Mandalorian and Groku, yeah, I I  kind of get it. But for this, there's not really  

[30:29] any other recommendation you can give. The scope  and sheer scale of it is incredible and I don't   know how long it'll be before we get another  film like this. Now I don't think it's perfect   and though it's upper tier Nolan I still think  Inception Prestige and the Dark Knight up films.  

[30:44] I think some of the criticisms and worries that  people had are very valid as well and the dialogue   at times does feel I don't know a bit Nolany even  beyond the syntax. It's kind of like um when you   watch The Dark Knight Rises and Bane is like fro  you came back to die with your city and Batman's  

[31:01] like no I came here to stop you. It's like uh no  that that could have done with another look over   mate. It's just got the odd bit like that that I  think really will stand out on multiple watches.   Like I remember watching The Dark Knight Rises  in the cinema and thinking it was this incredible  

[31:16] film and then I got the Blu-ray and watched it  over and over and over and I started to quickly   see the flaws. Um so I don't know if maybe I'm  going to see more of the issues with this movie,   especially the dialogue if I watch it over and  over. Now on the flip side of that, it's also a  

[31:30] film that I actually think I'll enjoy a lot more  on a second watch. I think the thing with Nola   movies and their enjoyment for me is sometimes  hampered by the non-chronological storytelling. I   know that is the character's signature, but yeah,  on a first watch once you're trying to get your  

[31:45] head around stuff, I don't know, it just makes  you feel detached. For example, Batman Begins.   Really love it now, but the first couple of times  I watched it, I found the constant jumping back   and forth through time a bit difficult to connect  with. There's only once things lined up and went  

[31:59] in chronological order that I went with the  movie and really started enjoying it. And that's   kind of a similar thing here. Everything kind of  jumps about at first, which can sort of make it   as well. And because of that, when I was first  reading it, I did find it difficult to vibe with,  

[32:18] but once everything falls into place and starts  going in chronological order, it it really just   soarses. The last half hour is absolutely  incredible and Nolan is the god of going out   on a high note. I think a lot of his films strive  because the endings are often so good that you  

[32:34] walk away from the cinema just on a high and it  makes you kind of forget the issues that you had   earlier in the movie. I think as well knowing  how things work out and seeing it for a second   time that the issues I had with the jumping about  they're going to sit a lot better with me. Plus,  

[32:49] I'm someone who really loves Nolan's tone when it  comes to film making. I know he's criticized for   being sterile, but I think that he grounds things  really well and the takes like that with when   you're dealing with gods and mythic beasts, it can  be hit or miss. Obviously, you know, they need to  

[33:04] do stuff like the Cyclops and more supernatural  stuff, but they also kind of hold things back in   other directions. And actually, have to admit,  I think he balances the stuff really well. And   it doesn't feel like there's anything missing  here. Even if you know certain more grandiose  

[33:19] things are emitted, the fact it all feels real as  well just makes stuff like the Cyclops seem even   more terrifying than it would if it was just some  big big big CGI monster. Nolan's editing style as   well is something I really vibe with too. I'm  sure you've seen his movies where they'll have  

[33:34] a character talking and they'll mention something  and then cut to a shot of that for a couple of   seconds. And even like those little shots, you  that probably would have been like at least half   a day's worth of filming. You can tell they just  put so much effort in though, and I think if you  

[33:48] go in and shut off the noise, it's going to be  difficult to not be enamored by this film. Nolan's   delivered on his promise to bring us an incredible  Odyssey. He's once more showing why he's the best   filmmaker in Hollywood right now, and I think his  catalog's unmatched. This is a true true to force,  

[34:04] and Nolan has brought the Odyssey to give us  another absolute banger. It's a banger. Anyway,   I'd of course love to hear your thoughts on  the film below. And I know this is a shortish   breakdown compared to what we normally do. Uh  but we will be doing several videos on the film,  

[34:18] including a big big breakdown when it comes out  digitally. Please drop a like on this video though   want to follow us on Instagram and keep up to  date with what we're doing, then make sure that  

[34:30] you check us out at Heavy Spoilers. Did you know  as well that members of the channel also get early   breakdown a week, a week before anyone else. Cost  just 99 cents a month. It's less than $12 a year.  

[34:43] 25 cents a week for one big breakdown at least a  week, a week before anyone else. Uh, and it makes   a massive difference to the channel and means we  can just keep putting out these bigger videos. Uh,   and yeah, putting in as much effort as  possible. Huge thank you if you do that. Uh,  

[34:57] we really appreciate it. And if you want something  else to watch, guess what? There's another video   on screen right now. Go over watch that, mate.  Go on. I dare you, mate. I dare you, mate. I dare   you to go over there and hit the thumbs up. If  you do, you will be granted unlimited wishes. Uh  

[35:10] so thank you for doing that and uh make sure your  first wish is that you can watch this video again.