The Odyssey: Wut I Thunk

I think Professor Emily Wilson is essentially correct: Nolan's film takes the archetype of the crafty man of "twists and turns" and turns him into a generic Joe Action-Man.  But I guess I'm also more forgiving in other respects.  The performances are great (Leguizamo has to be an early favorite for supporting actor).  The set-pieces mostly work (Circe's Island being the best).  And sure, we could all be a lot nicer to one another.  But I'm going to stretch a bit and suggest there's another, larger message to the film: people in power and "leadership," one of the most powerful and meaningless words of our age, are toxic, corrosive forces that will lead you down a path where you might succeed, but the entirely expendable people under you will all die horribly.  That strikes me as about as zeity-geisty-2026-y as you can get.

Four underused Zendayas out of five!