On my trip in Utah and my way back, I had less time than you’d assume. Didn’t finish a single book, alas, but I did find time for a few films.
First off, I revisited Zombieland and Zombieland: Double Tap. I saw both of them back around when they came out, but that’s been a good 6-7 years now. I liked them then, and I still liked them now. I mentioned in my last post that I was going to try finding something a bit more escapist for my plane ride home. These were just what I had in mind. Not lots of thinking necessary, and portraying a world that is decidedly worse than a plane ride. They’re funny, and I like the rules set up. (Main character has designed a series of rules he follows to keep himself safe once the zombie apocalypse arrived.) Other than that, they’re pretty standard zombie comedies. (Is that something that can be standard?)
The bigger news is that I got to go see The Odyssey in IMAX. And I most definitely have thoughts on this one. I really enjoyed it in ways that surprised me during the actual movie. As I was watching it, I started to think “man, this has gone on for a while,” particularly focused around the “Odysseus is on a journey” sequences. Additionally, the bits about the Trojan War seemed to be a distraction from what felt like the real meat of the movie: Penelope and the suitors. But as we reached the climax, all of that snapped into focus for me at the same time. Odysseus’ journey was long. That’s kind of the point. It was difficult to go through, and it lasted far longer than it should have, and in a way, having that depicted in the movie made a lot of sense.
But more important than that, I loved how the Trojan War, which felt extraneous, ended up being essential to understanding who Odysseus was and what he was going through. (I’m trying to avoid spoilers here, which is difficult, considering the subject, so I’m just going to do this:
SPOILER WARNING
DON’T READ ON IF YOU DON’T WANT A 2,700 YEAR OLD PLOT SPOILED
Okay. With that out of the way, I loved how the “threat of the people from the sea” turned out to be Odysseus himself. How the act of the Trojan Horse ended up undermining civilization in a way that resonates to the present day. It’s hard to watch Nolan’s film and not see the political connections to today’s society. How upending social niceties can be an appealing choice for immediate problems, but can end up having far reaching consequences that cause even greater problems.
Ultimately, I really loved the movie, and I strongly recommend it. (I will note that its R-rating felt tacked on to me. It was far from necessary, and felt like Nolan threw in a few elements to ensure an R rating, despite the fact that the subject matter and general approach didn’t call for it in any meaningful way. I know this isn’t something that upsets many, but it’s a pet peeve of mine. I’ve got nothing against R-ratings when they’re called for, but I like things to be as widely viewable as possible.)
(Now, one final note about IMAX. I’m honestly not convinced about the need for the format. For years, there’s been a war between screen formats. Originally it was between the widescreen format of film and the more square-shaped format of classic television. Back in the day, many films would be edited to fit the square shape of broadcast TV, resulting in infamous “pan and scan” edits where viewers missed out on much of what was originally filmed. In the last decade or so, widescreen formats seemed to prevail, and it appeared that all was over and done. Now you’ve got IMAX galloping into the fray, touting once again how incredible it is to have more of the screen viewable . . . on an (essentially) square screen. Watching Nolan’s Odyssey, I couldn’t help but think it felt an awful lot like watching something in the classic television aspect ratio. It makes me wonder how long it’ll be before we have a “Widescreen IMAX” format that touts how it’s even better. Personally, I think we should just settle on widescreen and do away with all of this froofrah, but whatever. It was cool to see on a big screen, but it would have been even cooler to see on a big, wider screen.)