I am very angry at this movie. You might ask, \u201cWhy would someone get angry at a movie?\u201d and you\u2019d be right to wonder\u2026 But when you take one of the greatest epics in human history and turn it into a film that amounts to very little, I can\u2019t help but feel frustrated.<\/p>\n
The film tells the story of the final chapter of Homer\u2019s extraordinary epic, The Odyssey. It\u2019s a tale I\u2019ve read and deeply loved, chronicling the adventures of the famous hero and warrior Odysseus as he struggles to return to his island kingdom of Ithaca after the Trojan War. In The Return, the focus is on what happens after Odysseus finally reaches Ithaca.<\/p>\n
Odysseus is played by Ralph Fiennes, while Penelope, his wife who has waited for him for years, is portrayed by Juliette Binoche. I won\u2019t go into detail about where the movie diverges from the original Odyssey because I don\u2019t want to spoil either work. However, I can say that The Return offers a very different interpretation of Odysseus.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s precisely why I\u2019m angry. The Odyssey is one of humanity\u2019s greatest literary achievements for specific reasons\u2014it contains structural elements that have laid the foundation for literature itself. If you\u2019re going to reinterpret this work and its hero, you need to do so cleverly and with a reverent nod to the original.<\/p>\n
This film failed to evoke any of the feelings and emotions I experienced when reading the book. At the very least, they could have stayed faithful to the source material, allowing me to enjoy seeing a story I love brought to life. Moreover, I think this may feature some of the worst casting I\u2019ve seen recently\u2014though, of course, I don\u2019t mean the lead actors. But the supporting cast is so terrible that Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche\u2019s performances feel like Shakespearean actors stranded on a small-town community theater stage.<\/p>\n
I do wonder how those unfamiliar with the book view the film. Yet the narrative flaws, awkward dialogue, costumes that stray far from Ancient Greek authenticity, and inconsistent production design all contributed to my sense of detachment from the movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am very angry at this movie. You might ask, \u201cWhy would someone get angry at a movie?\u201d and you\u2019d be right to wonder\u2026 But when you take one of the greatest epics in human history and turn it into a film that amounts to very little, I can\u2019t help but feel frustrated. The film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n