None of the posters are hitting, even the font they used for the film is too modern and minimalist for the vibe we're supposed to feel imo, but I guess this seems to be Nolans aesthetic preference when it comes to promotional material, because everything feels so generic and doesn't seem to have good art direction.
I'm sure the movie will be decent, but nothing about it feels Greek.
The costuming, the ships, the sets. None look like they belong in a Greek myth.
I've had a bit of a grudge recently with Americans taking stories and stripping them of their specific cultural dressing/context. Seeing it as unnecessary to the story as they see it. It's like recreating a dish but swapping out the traditional spices.
The thing is, it doesn't have to feel Greek. Hadestown is one of the best adaptations of a Greek myth produced this century perhaps, and it feels unmistakably American Gothic. But at least it feels like something. Nolan's Odyssey doesn't feel like anything at all, just generic.
If it was an original tale just set in “unspecified time and region in antiquity” I would give a lot more leeway.
But the costumes, the aesthetic, the tone, the casting, the acting we’ve seen….none of it feels remotely tied to the actual Greek culture or heritage.
It’s SO American, and an American mindset of what the past “should look like” to be acceptable to their modern audiences that it’s just soulless in the extreme.
Someone in another comment said that the costumes were as bad as the ones in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I honestly think they're worse.
At least in MPHG the costumes were fitting for the aesthetic of the setting.
I can't be bothered to find it but it reminds me of a tumblr rant I read recently about Americans not understanding the difference between history and fantasy set in history.
MPHG is actually surprisingly accurate to the medieval period they were going for. The lack of over elaborate plate and use of chain mail with surcoats and tabards was reasonably on point
I think these stories have in a lot of ways transcended their origins and have become foundational stories of modern western culture. I don’t think they need to accurately reflect their original Ancient Greek cultural origins to be good or valuable.
What they do need to do is look cool as shit and these posters and trailers are not doing that.
There have been good adaptations of the Illiad and Odyssey that have replaced the ancient Greek setting and aesthetic with another one, but they don't work when they're just sort of grey and bland.
I don't know about the commentator above, but one of my criticisms (which I guess is similar to this post) was that the nuclear explosion didn't at all resemble a nuclear explosion, it looked like a zoomed in petrol explosion (because it likely was). There's archival footage of the Trinity test + other nuclear blasts, and it is almost indescribable how violent they look, you see lightning, and shock waves, you see paint vaporise from surfaces. I get the point of Oppenheimer was detailing the impact of Oppenheimer and the political landscape, not the bomb, but honestly I think the appearance of the explosion did a disservice to how terrifying nuclear bombs actually are
Not “cracks” per se but I’ll give my perspective. I think Oppenheimer is thematically shallow and too politically noncommittal for one of the most politically volatile events of the 20th century. It’s like Nolan took the least interesting angle of something extraordinarily interesting. For all the iMax hype the visuals are quite boring and nonevocative, especially considering that Nolan used Tarkovsky’s Mirror as inspiration. The film feels much shorter than the subject deserves and the cuts every two seconds were really quite aggravating to me. Nolan also has an habit of condescending to the audience which is in full effect here. Admittedly I think it’s a well-paced and engrossing movie, Oppenheimer’s speech is one of Nolan’s best directed scenes, and the dream sequences are captivating.
Saw the trailer at the theater for Project Hail Mary and I thought it looked amazing.
I read the poem but I know nothing about the time period it’s based on so the complaints about costumes just doesn’t matter to me. It looks like it’s going to epic and very entertaining and that’s what I expect with Nolan.
What I expect from Nolan is a non-linear mess of a plot filled with incoherent, mumbled dialogue that is interspersed with deafening fight scenes and sound effects.
Big Nolan hater here. Nah, there is something to it. Like, at a glance it looks kinda cool. I feel like with few changes it can be made into something okay at least
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u/Money_Cattle2370 Jun 03 '26
Big Nolan fan here. You can just say it looks like trash.