Snitz mansplains, should you go see the Odyssey?

Did you love Iron Man I? Still clamoring for more Marvel Universe Movies to watch, but perhaps something set 2000 years ago? Want to feel what it's like to be on a rickety POS boat in a raging lightning storm for 3 hours with the Surround Sound speakers going full tilt so your ass is literally vibrating in your chair?

You're going to literally orgasm watching this! Because? You're retarded! Oops...that slipped out. This movie is a comic book version of a literary epic that doesn't translate well to the big screen. It also captures beautifully what's wrong with modern cinema.

Martin Scorsese in 2019 said it best of this breed of movie (in Esquire Magazine): “I don't see them. I tried, you know? But that's not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

So absolutely go watch it. What else do you have going for three hours? Plus you can watch about 15 movie trailers beforehand and burn up additional time you'll never get back.

‘I would be ashamed to have written any part of this’: Odyssey translator Emily Wilson attacks Nolan blockbuster

Wilson, whose work on Homer’s epic was praised by Nolan, said his film was grandiose and superficial with ‘nothing convincing to say’

Andrew Pulver, The Guardian

Mon 27 Jul 2026

Emily Wilson, the classicist whose 2017 translation of Homer’s Odyssey was cited by Christopher Nolan in early publicity for his hugely successful adaptation of the poem, has roundly criticised the film, saying “it has nothing convincing to say” and that it “lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth”.

"The Odyssey" World Premiere - Special AccessLONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 06: (L-R) Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton and Mia Goth attend the world premiere of "The Odyssey" at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 06, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

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In a scathing essay for the London Review of Books, Wilson writes: “I had hoped that Nolan’s affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters. But The Odyssey features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality … the film’s vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas – although it is very good at conveying big bangs and big giants.”

Wilson adds: “Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great. It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbours. It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.”

Wilson also noted Nolan’s admiration for the opening line of her Odyssey translation: “Tell me about a complicated man” – but added: “I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.”

Wilson, who is department chair and professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, also went on the attack in an interview with the Sunday Times, saying: “It didn’t land emotionally for me at all. Which I think is partly about the fact that, unlike Homer, it’s not very well written.”

The music in Nolan’s Odyssey is as well-crafted – and bloodlessly forgettable – as the film itself

“The characters don’t have the kind of depth the Homeric characters have. I felt, ‘Do I really care if this guy gets back to his wife?’ You haven’t given me any reason to.”

Why is it so hard to translate The Odyssey?

Nevertheless, Wilson acknowledged the impact the film is already having on cultural awareness of ancient Greek literature as well as cinema itself. Saying “the release of The Odyssey is still an event to celebrate,” she suggests: “This epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas … translations of Odyssey, including mine, are flying off the shelves … [and] perhaps the film will persuade a few college administrators not to cut their literature, language and history departments.”

“Nolan,” Wilson says, “is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful.”