My mom is in a wheelchair and my sister is disabled and both wanted to drive all the way to the movie theater to see it with me - which was a shock. My mom hasn't gone to the movies in at least a year, maybe longer. But about 15 minutes in, I was lost, and I knew she would be too. Both of them are left-leaning, had heard about the controversy, and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately, there is no coherent story. You can bring one in with you if you want or just be dazzled by the visual effects, but the story was, for me, incoherent.
Absolutely agree. This movie is a travesty and an insult to the Homeric tradition. More evidence that Hollywood is part of the effort to undermine the foundations of Western Civilization. Sadly, far too many people will remember this bastardized version of the Odyssey since they have failed to read the original in our pathetic excuse of an educational system.
Well, I read the Variety article on Hollywood "clawing back". They seem to make it only about the box office, not the quality of the movies, ironically.
My thoughts exactly. Same with Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender. It says something when all the buzz was literally accidentally forgetting someone leaked the movie.
"Christopher Nolan's audacity to gut one of the greatest stories ever told of its meaning, essence and character. . ." -- American Thinker July 21 Huck Davenport
The “mutiny” scene was most surprising to me. Odysseus’ crew decide they want to explore Circe’s island without him. Tell him to stay with the boat. He meekly agrees. What kind of leader is that? What would Maximus Decimus Meridius have done?
I love to go to movies but cannot bring myself to contribute financially to this one. I have heard all the DEI inserts and bad casting are due to the desire for Oscar awards. I think that nonsense needs to be starved in the crib; a cruel death but necessary.
Or at least draw attention to WHY these movies are failing. My father in particular enjoys The Mandalorian And Grogu, but I don't share his optimism. The whole movie was trite, from beginning to end.
Saw it and had the same reaction you had. Terrible acting. Strangely passive Odysseus; no anger, no fear, no passion. Big stars (Zendaya, Charlize Theron) dropped randomly into the movie with nothing to do. DEI casting to appease the Academy requirements, certainly not to adhere to the source material. The tale twisted in strange ways. Wooden dialogue. Nolan has a great marketing machine.
Keep in mind his previous track record, outside of Momento, being about Dunkirk and Batman.
Although I enjoyed The Dark Knight, I think part of the reason it sold tickets was only because of Heath Ledger admittedly nailing it as The Joker, but I feel when The Dark Knight Rises came along, the illusion began to shatter.
Didn’t see it. Can’t comment except about the source (feminist version of the Odyssey? Really?); and the casting (Helen, fair skinned blond or reddish hair, blue or hazel eyes represented by a woman of sub Saharan African extraction; a small woman, who thinks she is a man cosplaying as an Greek warrior); and the hype.
I'll do you one maybe not better, but just as good.
(Ahem.) It's 3:30 in the afternoon, and I chose to watch Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, and despite not being a fan of the series preceding it (original animated and Netflix Live-Action series alike), I felt it was a letdown. Allow me to explain:
The movie begins with Aang, now Avatar after the events of ATLA, when a group with the cliched moniker "The Denied" (basically non-benders, a precursor to the Equalists in The Legend Of Korra, which I'm also not a fan of), attack him and ALMOST kill him. However, their real objective (apparently) was a map that leads to a location in the Spirit World, so killing Aang was merely seen as a bonus, even with the botched attempt.
At any rate, Aang returns home for, what, a day? He keeps fretting that his 12-year-old self isn't letting go of Sozin basically pulling a Columbine on his fellow Air Nomads 100 years ago (To be fair, the Netflix show makes an effort to clarify those events whereas the original animated series didn't, as hollow as said efforts were.), and Katara says "It's OK, babe. Get some sleep.", only for Aang to wake up at midnight (I think) and message EVERYONE, even former arch-enemy Fire Lord Zuko (Apparently Phoenix King Zuko was too badass for him.), and everyone gets their assigned pigeon messages. And they read them with some of the weirdest-sounding voice acting I've ever heard, and I don't even like the voice acting in the main series, either.
What's more baffling, at least to me, is that when Aang is inevitably rescued after recovering the incapacitated/cryogenically frozen body of precursor Avatar Tagah.
No, Avatar Wan does not make an appearance, but if Korra is to be believed, he was one of the original Avatars, but someone seemed to preceed Yangchen, who is given very little screentime and is little more than an alleged figurehead not unlike Aang's tutor, Gyatso. Anyway, the whole movie is about Tagah wanting to bring back Air Nomads from the dead with the power of a powerful staff that seems to be connected to the Spirit World that is rather bizarrely explained in the original ATLA series, often to mixed results.
Also, I'm not a fan of Sokka or Toph, but they try to preserve their personalities from the cartoon. It's too bad they only emphasize how overconfident they seem to be, even going as far as to reference what was done ten years before the movie (Hilariously, they insist it's justified to keep their fans happy, but for the rest of us, it doesn't work.). Mind you, they make no effort to establish anything that would've clued people in without the ATLA comic mini-series The Promise, The Rift, The Search and Smoke And Shadow (all written for and published by Dark Horse, who I think do some solid tie-in comics, such as their work on Halo, despite Escalation being a little rough around the edges). In other words, the worldbuilding is left as a secondary detail that isn't discussed in the movie whatsoever. And I don't think Avatar has top-tier lore, but it seems very sparse, even with the original cartoon and Legend Of Korra taken into account.
Oh, and Tagah? Bless David Bautista's heart, I don't think they did him well with his dialogue (also implying that he hates Katara because she's too protective over Aang is hilariously stupid, considering did most of the work in the original series, anyway). His motivation is equally insipid, because he decides to go back on his word and help the Denied take over (and presumably attempt to destroy) Republic City, and I couldn't care less. Not even the lame "You just got denied!" Quip from Sokka (as if his original personality in the cartoon was any better), and tl;dr, Aang ends up losing Tagah over a literal shouting match and some thrown hands, but ultimately is back where he started. To say that he lost another person he was trying to help while failing his original mission is an understatement. But it's OK, because he picks the one girl The Denied have in their roster who doesn't try to kill him. And now she's an Airbender. That's it.
Rank: C-
Verdict: No wonder this got moved to Paramount+. The people who thought this deserved a theatrical run are short-sighted, if not outright nostalgia-blinded by an OK kids' show that just so happens to be dark for the sake of being edgy, again to mixed results. Unless you have Paramount+, or get it used physically, I can't say you should support Avatar Studios officially, lest give credence to the original show being hailed as Shakespeare-esque when it's clearly not.
I was worried in the first 15-20 minutes because the dialogue was muddled, the music was too loud and it just felt weird. I thought "uh oh, 3 hours of this?"
But, even though I can't really argue with any of your criticisms, I actually got into it and enjoyed it. The DEI casting fit for the aesthetic that Nolan was going for. As for 'Elliot' Page's two scenes, I thought the first one was ridiculous but the second one worked.
What I thought was most weird was how completely asexual the whole movie was. Odysseus and his men were practically monks. The casting of the female roles pretty much didn't matter at all since no one was even close to getting it on at any point!
My mom is in a wheelchair and my sister is disabled and both wanted to drive all the way to the movie theater to see it with me - which was a shock. My mom hasn't gone to the movies in at least a year, maybe longer. But about 15 minutes in, I was lost, and I knew she would be too. Both of them are left-leaning, had heard about the controversy, and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately, there is no coherent story. You can bring one in with you if you want or just be dazzled by the visual effects, but the story was, for me, incoherent.
Absolutely agree. This movie is a travesty and an insult to the Homeric tradition. More evidence that Hollywood is part of the effort to undermine the foundations of Western Civilization. Sadly, far too many people will remember this bastardized version of the Odyssey since they have failed to read the original in our pathetic excuse of an educational system.
Well, I read the Variety article on Hollywood "clawing back". They seem to make it only about the box office, not the quality of the movies, ironically.
People attracted by the hype went, but that will soon peter out. Of course, it totally lacks quality.
My thoughts exactly. Same with Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender. It says something when all the buzz was literally accidentally forgetting someone leaked the movie.
What book version did you read ?
'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer'
BY JOHN KEATS
Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star'd at the Pacific—and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
Thanks for seeing it so I don’t have to!
Was going to go tonight.
Just get it used on Blu-Ray. Don't buy it from Universal directly.
"Christopher Nolan's audacity to gut one of the greatest stories ever told of its meaning, essence and character. . ." -- American Thinker July 21 Huck Davenport
I'm starting to think Oppenheimer is just as pretentious.
The “mutiny” scene was most surprising to me. Odysseus’ crew decide they want to explore Circe’s island without him. Tell him to stay with the boat. He meekly agrees. What kind of leader is that? What would Maximus Decimus Meridius have done?
He would've had them follow his lead.
I love to go to movies but cannot bring myself to contribute financially to this one. I have heard all the DEI inserts and bad casting are due to the desire for Oscar awards. I think that nonsense needs to be starved in the crib; a cruel death but necessary.
Or at least draw attention to WHY these movies are failing. My father in particular enjoys The Mandalorian And Grogu, but I don't share his optimism. The whole movie was trite, from beginning to end.
Saw it and had the same reaction you had. Terrible acting. Strangely passive Odysseus; no anger, no fear, no passion. Big stars (Zendaya, Charlize Theron) dropped randomly into the movie with nothing to do. DEI casting to appease the Academy requirements, certainly not to adhere to the source material. The tale twisted in strange ways. Wooden dialogue. Nolan has a great marketing machine.
Keep in mind his previous track record, outside of Momento, being about Dunkirk and Batman.
Although I enjoyed The Dark Knight, I think part of the reason it sold tickets was only because of Heath Ledger admittedly nailing it as The Joker, but I feel when The Dark Knight Rises came along, the illusion began to shatter.
Didn’t see it. Can’t comment except about the source (feminist version of the Odyssey? Really?); and the casting (Helen, fair skinned blond or reddish hair, blue or hazel eyes represented by a woman of sub Saharan African extraction; a small woman, who thinks she is a man cosplaying as an Greek warrior); and the hype.
The Dark Knight Rises was also overhyped. It felt anti-climatic, honestly.
Agree. Such a lame film.
Thank you.
Great review! I refuse to see this film. Why impose modern, mopey ideals on Homeric characters?
Emily Wilson agrees with you, especially about the writing.
Emily Wilson, London Review of Books July 28, 2026
I'll do you one maybe not better, but just as good.
(Ahem.) It's 3:30 in the afternoon, and I chose to watch Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, and despite not being a fan of the series preceding it (original animated and Netflix Live-Action series alike), I felt it was a letdown. Allow me to explain:
The movie begins with Aang, now Avatar after the events of ATLA, when a group with the cliched moniker "The Denied" (basically non-benders, a precursor to the Equalists in The Legend Of Korra, which I'm also not a fan of), attack him and ALMOST kill him. However, their real objective (apparently) was a map that leads to a location in the Spirit World, so killing Aang was merely seen as a bonus, even with the botched attempt.
At any rate, Aang returns home for, what, a day? He keeps fretting that his 12-year-old self isn't letting go of Sozin basically pulling a Columbine on his fellow Air Nomads 100 years ago (To be fair, the Netflix show makes an effort to clarify those events whereas the original animated series didn't, as hollow as said efforts were.), and Katara says "It's OK, babe. Get some sleep.", only for Aang to wake up at midnight (I think) and message EVERYONE, even former arch-enemy Fire Lord Zuko (Apparently Phoenix King Zuko was too badass for him.), and everyone gets their assigned pigeon messages. And they read them with some of the weirdest-sounding voice acting I've ever heard, and I don't even like the voice acting in the main series, either.
What's more baffling, at least to me, is that when Aang is inevitably rescued after recovering the incapacitated/cryogenically frozen body of precursor Avatar Tagah.
No, Avatar Wan does not make an appearance, but if Korra is to be believed, he was one of the original Avatars, but someone seemed to preceed Yangchen, who is given very little screentime and is little more than an alleged figurehead not unlike Aang's tutor, Gyatso. Anyway, the whole movie is about Tagah wanting to bring back Air Nomads from the dead with the power of a powerful staff that seems to be connected to the Spirit World that is rather bizarrely explained in the original ATLA series, often to mixed results.
Also, I'm not a fan of Sokka or Toph, but they try to preserve their personalities from the cartoon. It's too bad they only emphasize how overconfident they seem to be, even going as far as to reference what was done ten years before the movie (Hilariously, they insist it's justified to keep their fans happy, but for the rest of us, it doesn't work.). Mind you, they make no effort to establish anything that would've clued people in without the ATLA comic mini-series The Promise, The Rift, The Search and Smoke And Shadow (all written for and published by Dark Horse, who I think do some solid tie-in comics, such as their work on Halo, despite Escalation being a little rough around the edges). In other words, the worldbuilding is left as a secondary detail that isn't discussed in the movie whatsoever. And I don't think Avatar has top-tier lore, but it seems very sparse, even with the original cartoon and Legend Of Korra taken into account.
Oh, and Tagah? Bless David Bautista's heart, I don't think they did him well with his dialogue (also implying that he hates Katara because she's too protective over Aang is hilariously stupid, considering did most of the work in the original series, anyway). His motivation is equally insipid, because he decides to go back on his word and help the Denied take over (and presumably attempt to destroy) Republic City, and I couldn't care less. Not even the lame "You just got denied!" Quip from Sokka (as if his original personality in the cartoon was any better), and tl;dr, Aang ends up losing Tagah over a literal shouting match and some thrown hands, but ultimately is back where he started. To say that he lost another person he was trying to help while failing his original mission is an understatement. But it's OK, because he picks the one girl The Denied have in their roster who doesn't try to kill him. And now she's an Airbender. That's it.
Rank: C-
Verdict: No wonder this got moved to Paramount+. The people who thought this deserved a theatrical run are short-sighted, if not outright nostalgia-blinded by an OK kids' show that just so happens to be dark for the sake of being edgy, again to mixed results. Unless you have Paramount+, or get it used physically, I can't say you should support Avatar Studios officially, lest give credence to the original show being hailed as Shakespeare-esque when it's clearly not.
Will not watch. Coming from the islands that claim Homer’s birth I can’t do that to my ancestor.
He wouldn’t forgive me…
I was worried in the first 15-20 minutes because the dialogue was muddled, the music was too loud and it just felt weird. I thought "uh oh, 3 hours of this?"
But, even though I can't really argue with any of your criticisms, I actually got into it and enjoyed it. The DEI casting fit for the aesthetic that Nolan was going for. As for 'Elliot' Page's two scenes, I thought the first one was ridiculous but the second one worked.
What I thought was most weird was how completely asexual the whole movie was. Odysseus and his men were practically monks. The casting of the female roles pretty much didn't matter at all since no one was even close to getting it on at any point!