奧德賽

本身對電影都相當有期望，因為都見到好多好評，但睇完就有啲覺得到喉唔到肺嘅感覺，樣樣都好，但又未至於好出色。我本身好鍾意睇Oppenheimer, 好鍾意睇個種人性嘅爭扎，反而對Dunkirk 嘅喜愛一般，始終太過平鋪直敘，故事感比較弱。而Odyssey 就完全結合咗兩者，所以我有啲覺得一開始主角嘅爭扎位唔係好突出，係後面3分1先開始戲味濃。係睇嘅時候唔知點解諗起life of pi, 可能因為主角回家路上遇到嘅奇幻旅程，加上電影有掂到信仰嘅爭扎。雖然我畀電影唔係最高評分，但仍然想入場睇imax 版，好好欣賞高技術嘅拍攝技巧。

本年度最矚目之一的電影《奧德賽》未上映先有大幅關注，對於DEI爭議個人先不討論，今天我想集中在Christopher Nolan對於重拍希臘同名神話的定位取向，劍走偏鋒不走大路方向拍出一段段歷險旅程，而是將重心放在一個被自我反噬的史詩式故事，接近三個小時去剖析一個男人的高山低谷心路歷程，將每一段奇幻旅程輕輕帶過，大部份文戲之下仍然能拍得鏗鏘有力，正正是Nolan的魔力之處。貫穿電影的重心在於宙斯法則(Zeus's laws)，主人必須熱情地款待客人，因為敲門的客人可能是神喬裝，客人則不能喧賓奪主，互相尊重維持文明的基本秩序。文明與野蠻之間的分畀線在於主客分明，奧德修斯離家而去多年後，一眾求婚者欲迎娶皇后Penelope掌握皇位，求婚者們一直霸佔奧德修斯的家甚至對於其子Telemachus惡言相向，打著宙斯法則的旗號去滿足一己私慾，扭曲神的旨意，打破人與人之間的關係的平衡；奧德修斯一行人戰勝後凱旋欲歸家時，強行擄掠途中的村落，搶掠之餘更火燒其家園，奧德修斯主動打破宙斯法則。由此可見人性醜惡並非單一偶發性事件，而眾神早就料到人性的醜陋，但諸神並未有對人類作出直接的懲罰，耗上十年時間讓奧德修斯深深體會到自己正正就是人所避之的「海上來的人」，再由奧德修斯親手整頓文明，再讓他為自己的罪孽作出補償。奧德修斯擁有過人的智慧及領導才能，無疑地特洛伊戰爭的確靠他的計謀才取得成功，但成功背後卻隱埋著對西農的謊言，犧牲戰友的性命去換取第一個成功，人性早就在這一此作出改變，勝利和成功逐漸沖昏頭腦，甚至認為自己可以與諸神作對，一步步被自我反噬，最後回望自己才是預言之下打破文明的那群人的首領，一個男人的高山低谷Nolan都拍得淋漓盡致，正正就是電影《奧德賽》的魔力。對於網民對於電影的爭議多多少少在於DEI、對白過於淺白、將歷險過程草草帶過，我個人認為對白上未見有太大問題，反而劇情在前段略顯拖沓不乾脆，令觀眾未能早早進入節奏之中，Tom Holland飾演的Telemachus劇情部份最為拖沓，可能因為這個角色前半段的作用主要在於透過問話去呈現出奧德修斯出海經歷予觀眾 ，發揮不大並感難以承接每個回憶片段之間的接駁位。

1) 很喜歡所有cast2)前段文戲有點慢悶3) 中後段有張力4) 最深印象係「豬群」5) 闖關有西遊記feel6) 略有牽強，但不影響觀賞度7) 3個鐘無瞓著

Since becoming Nolan’s biggest fan, I have always treated his movie as a sacred event. I took a whole day off, asked for a company leave, dressed up nice, and showed up for the first IMAX screening possible. And every time I’m rewarded with a transcending experience. Sadly, there comes the day where this has changed. The Odyssey might be his first one that I leave the theatre disappointed.And I really really want to love it, but at the end forcing myself to love this movie is futile. You just have to admit the movie as what it is — an impressive showcase with some great scenes but a very messy and lousy story.Even with Tenet, I like the pacing, the urgency and the action scenes. The Odyssey offers a glimpse into greatness, but ultimately feels too indulgent and lost its bearings with its IMAX limitations and handheld style.Let’s start with the good first. There’s a scene featuring witchcraft that stands out to be stuff out of nightmare, almost a cinematic fever dream, so visceral and raw and gritty. If I ever want to rewatch the film, it’d be because of this scene.I’m not familiar with Homer’s original text so I’m watching everything with a fresh eye. The Cyclops and Laestrygonians individually are all fun and thrilling sequences, Nolan’s commitment to practicality and tactile texture is unrivaled in the world. As Hollywood’s biggest modern filmmaker, he commands the right resources and pushes filmmaking to the next level, almost always never choosing the easy path.I also like the last act of the movie, it feels like the story finally has a spine to it and the journey finally means something for the characters. There’s a sense of classical theatricality in the last showdown, and that’s pretty fun to watch.As for my critique on the film, I find the 1st act very dull and lackluster. Oppenheimer has a bit of an overly choppy and trailer-like style of editing, but still manageable, Oppenheimer as a character is still a clear glue and soul of the movie. But with The Odyssey, this style of messy editing feels getting out of hand and the film bounces scene to scene with seemingly a weak thread. 1 hour in, I still find myself not caring much about what happened, and there’s never a feeling of a journey taken place, it feels more of a recollection of bits and pieces of what had happened, in a way that is not clear like The Imitation Game, it just feels messy and uninvestable. It’s not a problem of not understanding the story, it’s a problem of the storytelling not making it better for the viewer to engage or emphasize with what is happening.This time around I wasn’t as impressed with Hoyte’s imagery nor Ludwig’s pulsating score. The cinematography and music are both good to decent, but ultimately not on the same level as Oppenheimer, let alone Nolan’s best like Interstellar or Inception. The score has some nice motifs and interesting textures, but not nearly as ear-wormy or iconic as ‘Can you Hear the Music’ or ‘Cornfield chase’. I will give props to Nolan for going the more abstract and ancient route homaging the sounds of folk element music. Ultimately I still prefer more cinematic sounding and melodic score. The score is part of the reason I didn’t like this movie as the others.The cinematography produces amazing IMAX textures and gritty immersive imageries. But I start to have a problem with how 90% of the film are all handheld shots, sometimes to the point of losing focus and not having proper framing. In an interview, Nolan gave an interesting camera philosophy approach, treating the placement of the camera with the characters from a 3D spatial point of view, as opposed to framing a shot with 4 lines like a 2D picture in the traditional sense. At first, I find this applaudable, but as I’m watching the movie, I find this approach detrimental to the viewing experience.With less proper framing, a lot of the action heavy scenes just feel messy. Sometimes when it’s good, it’s immersive, but when it’s not, it really distracting and you can tell the editing is choppy because it’s hiding unusable shots. Tenet starts to have this problem because it’s an action heavy film, Oppenheimer is great because it does not have action scenes. The Odyssey finally exposes this problem to the forefront because most of the movie features some form of action in it. I wish Nolan can go back to a more disciplined route when it comes to framing action, cause this’d seriously affect the readability of his action scenes.Another point of contention is the depiction of gods in the movie. In an interview, Nolan already hinted that he would depict gods in natural forms of weather power instead of personifying them. I was hesitant but he gave me hope when he said there’s still tricks in the bag… but there is none. The depiction of gods in the movie feels like a big cop out. Because there is pretty much none. Kudos to the Circe scene for finally perfecting practicality in the supernatural storytelling. But that’s pretty much the best highlight of the movie.Controversy wise, are those warranted or not? Modern language… I give it a pass. I think it’s more important to understand the language than to risk making a convoluted film even more convoluted for the sake of language immersion.Costume? Some bad some good. For the most part I’m partial to the designs, hot take I actually liked King Agamemnon‘s helmet albeit it looking somewhat modern. Tom Holland has the ones I liked the least, his outfits do look out of place.Finally, the casting. Among the casting, I only like 3. Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson and Anne Hathaway are the only ones that really suited the roles. Matt Damon, Elliot Page and Jon Berthal are passable. Zendaya, Himesh Patel and Travis Scott have no business being in this movie, definitely feel out of place, does not feel like I’m watching a goddess, a soldier nor a bard. Maybe I’ll give Nolan the benefit of the doubt with Zendaya because there’s a clever story point near the end, though I’m still not happy with her casting. And obviously, Lupita’s casting is just so wrong on so many levels, people in my theatres chuckle whenever she’s on screen. Haven’t seen a more terrible casting choice than this in a long long time.Ultimately, I think The Odyssey is the amalgamation of Nolan’s best and worst tendencies as a genius filmmaker, but the material he chooses the direction with amplifies the worst from him. It feels like a movie without good discipline, the commitment on IMAX breakthrough may or may not contribute to the excessive handheld problem, and this put a toll on the messy editing. But the biggest still lie within the golden rule of storytelling, a good cast with good performances telling a good story. And The Odyssey suffers from all 3. It is the biggest movie, shot with the most ambitious format, but suffer from a problematic cast, a muddied story told by the greatest filmmaker blinded by his own likings and ambition.Verdict: 75

電影本身 .... 4⭐左膠不以常識去選角 .... -1⭐所以整體我只能比 .... 3⭐本人並非希臘神話專家，只略有認識，當中同原著有幾大分別我唔清楚。正所謂冇比較冇傷害，從一般觀衆角度去欣賞，仍然覺得本片唔錯睇，故事劇情流暢，主要演員演出不俗, 演譯同對白編寫具鬼佬文學 feel, 但不沉悶。奇幻大場面未至於非常精彩，但尚算不俗，有啲 production 睇下，不過木馬屠城過程設計有啲兒戲同唔夠浩大。以娛樂電影角度係可以一看，不過電影節奏再快啲會更好, 冇乜必要173分鐘。-1⭐係不滿電影唔用常識去選角，除最具爭議性黑人女演員色演希臘白人美女角色外, 其實好多唔顯眼群眾角色如士兵、宮女、平民都有唔少非洲裔、印度裔、亞洲裔老臨，試問古時交通咁原始落後，咁多不同種族點可能可以移民？而且當時咁講求種族、血脈同社會階級，外來種族點可能平等活於同一希臘文化國度？重可以同王帝一齊並肩出征？更可以入圍參加選夫大會？....唔好玩啦！做人請不要太左毒上腦，講下常識好冇！PS.• 好彩 Nolan 唔敢太放肆，避重就輕，啲左膠選角戲份唔多，又或只係群眾演員，未至於好影響整體觀影感覺，但唔支持以極左膠思維, 唔用常識去選角/拍電影，所以要懲罰性扣一⭐，已經好比面。• 如果第時荷里活開拍射鵰英雄傳，係咪可以搵香港嘅非洲王子做男主角郭靖？佢識講廣東話添呀！🤣🤣🤣 真係咁拍嘅話你收唔收貨？• 此作在奧本海默之下，亦唔覺有特別大嘅亮點

經典級神話，頭尾精彩，但中段有啲悶。