Classicist Criticizes Nolan's 'The Odyssey' as Gimmicky and Lacking Depth
Emily Wilson, a noted translator of Homer's epic, called Christopher Nolan's film 'The Odyssey' gimmicky and poorly written, while acknowledging its impact on renewed interest in the ancient poem.
Classicist and translator Emily Wilson, who produced the first complete English translation of Homer's "The Odyssey" by a woman in 2017, published a 4,200-word review of Christopher Nolan's recent film adaptation. Wilson described the movie’s narrative structure as "gimmicky" and its writing as "abysmal," adding that the characters lack convincing motivation. She also said the visual spectacle overwhelms the story, noting that every moment is "jam-packed with incident, lights and noise, and nothing is ever at a human scale."
While Wilson expressed admiration for Nolan’s earlier works such as "Following" and "Memento," she criticized the director’s approach to the adaptation, calling it a "very good short story writer who's always writing a 400-page novel" and saying the film shows "no restraint." She further argued that the casting choices, described as "race-neutral," did not advance representation, with non-white actors serving primarily to support the white protagonist.
Regarding the film’s dialogue, Wilson agreed with Nolan that contemporary American speech was used to convey emotional meaning, but she found the resulting dialogue "humourless and flat." Despite these criticisms, she acknowledged the film’s role in reviving public interest in the ancient epic, noting a 76 percent rise in sales of printed editions and a more than 300 percent increase in audiobook streams after the movie’s release.