Could this be the most Nolan film ever made? Grown in a lab after years of research and dozens of clinical trials? Scientists are still debating that one, but in the meantime I'll write some nonsense about it here. As someone who has not actually read the story because it, uh, wasn't in my highschool's curriculum, I'd say I was more or less the target audience.
I should admit up front: I did not watch this movie as our lord David Lynch above, god rest his soul, intended. I watched on a pedestrian screen in a rather dingy little theater. "So you watched it in a closet" as a friend very succinctly put it. Yes. No IMAX, no 70mm. Take that as you will.
That said, I would urge you to do so if you can (I'm considering a second, proper viewing myself), as the biggest strength of this movie is far and away the cinematography and visual atmosphere. Shot on location with only 70mm IMAX cameras, as all the hype material says, and it shows (from what I could see).
A little pale, a little dreary. I've heard complaints to that effect and about the "grit" modern Hollywood adaptations love so much, and that I could complain about elsewhere, but frankly I think it works with this story. The Journey is bleak and fraught with terror and death, so I can buy the grey Eastern Europe filter they put on everything. There's a persistent fog over the landscapes that serves to hide lurking danger, but also to give an eerie dream-like effect to The Journey, which tracks since technically it's all flashbacks. The age-old appeal of taking fantastic tales and terrifying creatures and making them as realistic as possible on screen wins yet again. Who knew?
Speaking of which, let's talk about the monsters. We love them, we want to see them be awesome and kill people; and that they do. My personal favorite scene in the movie is "the boys get trapped in a cave with Polyphemus". Giants, Sirens, Charybdis, Scylla, Circe: the gang's all here and they're all awesome encounters in their own right, though we do spend a bit more time with Circe on her Island of Exotic Cats a little longer than anywhere else. The time spent on the beach with the giants is pitiful and left me wanting to see more of them.
This brings us to one of the weaker aspects of the movie: pacing. How can it be possible? The movie is three hours long! Yes it is, and unfortunately you can feel it. The Journey has its place, though it feels very condensed and is broken up into a series of, for lack of a better term, flashbacks. In between we get some meandering at home, some meandering on the island, and a smattering of Nolan's proprietary "show pieces of an important scene interlaced with dramatic quotes" over and over and over until the end.
The casting and the acting. What a disaster. Controversial casting decisions aside, almost everyone in this movie seems to be auditioning their hearts out for a prestigious spot in the Home Depot lumber aisle. Combine that with this odd dialogue aesthetic which is as if they wrote a hyper-modern, 2026 translation into American English, and you get pulled right out of an otherwise strong atmosphere on multiple occasions.
Our shining star Matt Damon, while not the worst, still carries this rather uninterested tone and demeanor throughout The Journey while he watches his men die, encounters horrors from beyond, talks to literal gods...you know, regular everyday stuff. Tom Holland definitely takes the Board Award by a mile. Completely devoid of human emotion even when fighting for his life. Genuinely impressive stuff. He does get carried through some scenes though by a very bitter and morose but kind of believable Anne Hathaway. The one golden exception here was Robert Pattinson, playing a rather despicable villain for the first time I've seen. He and Tom Holland speak with an American accent though! Why!
I'm not even going to talk about John Leguizamo. You can't make me.
It's a pretty good movie. Gorgeous through and through, and action-packed where it counts. The actual invasion of Troy is awesome. The thing with the bow is a neat and very satisfying motif. Costumes border on goofy but I like it, especially the ridiculous getup they cooked for Agamemnon. And the music...I think it was good. I don't really have an ear for film scores that aren't mind blowing like your Hans Zimmer, though Nolan did get Ludwig Göransson of Sinners fame. I think overall if you can just turn your brain off and go for a ride on the scary boat, it's a pretty good time. Fans of the original story will probably hate it.
I'll give it a 3/5. At least it wasn't Tenet!