TODAY IS THE DAY!
When it was announced in October 2024 just 7 months shy of the oscar glory of Oppenheimer that Nolan was writing & was hoping for a film in Summer 2026, i automatically knew this would be my numebr 1 pick for the year, the most hyped for film. The film i would have to see no matter what. The film was teased a little over a year ago when the fancy BFI tickets for that IMAX went on sale along with the teaser exclusively for cinemas. & ive waited & waited & waited… & here i am, heading off to crawley as i couldnt see a midnight opening as my app glitched out, so am seeing the 10:20 screening of the Odyssey. To say i am hyped is an understatement. There is a reason for saying in Nolan we trust & i hope today he proves it again.

10:20 am this screening was. I got there at about 10:15 went to the bathroom & had a look around before entering at about 10:25 Id say there was already about 50 people sat. I can tell you that in my row which was old out next ot me on my left were 2 gen z males 1 of which kept looking at his phone so much so his friend stole it & the other was excited as this was his first ever imax, to my right millennials group of 4. All of the rows in my sections that i could see were full around me in the centre. Im not sure about the wings but looking at the number of people leaving yea there was a lot in there.

Trailers, Digger (ahhh if thats in imax ekk) werewolf (maybe) The new Ridley Scott which i thought we werent getting for ages but apparently its august, pressure which is andrew scott so duh & then the ploughman which the room went silent for. We have no Dune Prologue in our imax but i guess its not the super imax like in london.

& then after the imax graphic the film started… Damn you Nolan!

Please remember i am not just Nolan biased, i am Damon biased as well. Any how…

IT WAS PHENOMENAL!!!

& thats that bye…
Joking

I know theres been a joke going round that seeing this in IMAX as Nolan intended is what you should do, but seriously… you need to find the biggest screen showing this near you that you can afford. That is not a Joke. We cant all get to those super IMAX screens that are in those major cities that charge like £35 per ticket & i know in a cost of living standard IMAX at £22 is a lot but it is worth it. Its not just the size & the clarity & seeing even more, its the way that score feels. Its the way you forget to breathe. ITs the way you grip your chair. It is worth the money. See this on the biggest screen you can get to & that you can afford.

I am often sat here going oh the sound, but with this… Ludwick! Fuck a Duck! like to do this score & Mando in the same year, insane. Its wonderful. & it sets it all up to go & be so much more. It is its own character, the urgency, the soft moments, the violence, the mystery. It all falls into place & the fact i am mentioning this before any of the actual acting shows how impressed i was.

Everyone brought it for this film. I mean to open with Travis Scott doing that song & monologue, brave move but it sets the tone. We are tellign this Nolans way & he wants you to know we are going to tell you the tale but you will understand. Even when people had like 2 scenes or minimal dialogue, they delivered. (i can hear the haters now) Elliott Page had what 2 scenes in the film & owned them both. I genuinely kept forgetting about Charlize & Zendaya being in it until they were needed & when they did appear it felt right.

Matt finally got to lead a Nolan movie & you could tell he grabbed it & ran with it head on (metaphorically & literally) & i know i am a massive Damon fan, but i was just so proud of him. I know he can act like this & he just delivered. Genuinely was sat there even watching the flash back in the film going hang on does he get out of this. Even though i know hes recounting it from memory.

Tom Holland acted, really really acted & damn that man (cos hes not a kid anymore) he gave this look at one point in a scene that was the calm before the storm which actually made me cry. Thats twice hes done that now then & infinity war. It was such a touching unspoken moment but you saw him grow in this film as an actor & it was incredible & its honestly hyped me up even more for spider man in 2 weeks time because he did that after this so i believe hes going to bring this energy to Peter.

Anne, queen of everything, shes just owning it at the moment & we still have 2 more performances of hers to come this year. That bloody weaving did take a long time but i hate sewing too so thats believable. Also how she would go from calm to incensed in seconds, amazing. Also there was a brilliant bit of cinematography taken through the weaving which made all my hairs stand on end.

I hated Robert Pattinson. That says a lot. Ive been liking him & his work recently so that shows how good he is. Although lets be honest hes always been good & playing a bit of a wimp & coward so…

John was good but i heard people in recent days say he should be up for supporting actor. I mean hes got to hope to get that. This isnt like RDJ for Oppenheimer where everyone left going fuck, he was good dont get me wrong & i really felt for him but i was expecting it to be a never before seen performance.

So you know the say “its not all men but its always men” well Christopher Nolan put that sentence metaphorically on an imax screen multiple times. Showing that some men are sex pests, misogynistic, power hungry, greed & also pigs! (that one is deeper than you realise & i thought i was watching a body horror for 90 seconds). Again not all men but always me.

The taking of Troy! Phenomenal.
Lets be honest every fight, every escape, every brush with potential death, it was choreographed to a tea. I mean damn that kid going stranger danger when they came in peace. But even with the monsters (one of which made me jump in my chair) the puppetry on it &the way it was used to scare & to manipulate fear, stunning. How Nolan crafts these ideas & then gets them to happen i have no idea. & its all bloody real.

That dog!

The Horse… the Trojan Horse. Fuck off!!! like i felt the weight of that being pulled & how it was set up & dealt with it was amazing. The beach shots obviously stunning, but even in the city at night, majestical. My back hurt looking at it & i didnt even have to pull it.

The film flew by, there was only one point when i looked at my watch &was like bloody hell were 2hs in already. Its flow was good. However, much like Project Hail Mary, i believe there is about 30 minutes on the cutting room floor for us to watch. I would like those please. I want more. I mean i learnt so much about greek mythology today than i ever did at school & they loved to talk about that.

The film got violent & bloody when it needed too. It never felt over the top. It was brutal & chilling & put you on edge when you needed it. Be it on a boat or in battle or all those people or all the left over armour buried on the beach. It showed you true horror often mythology trys to take you away from. Sometimes fables arent all rainbows & sunsets on the horizon.

Shout out to the shore of my own subconscious.

The only lotus flowers i will ever touch now are my lego ones. If someone offers me a real one, im saying fuck off.

There are so many visuals in this that will stay with people, but there is one, after some gates are opened that i leaned forward to watch, because i was hooked. More than hooked. It will become iconic. & the more i think about it the more i think its up there with Hardy looking at that burnt out plane.

I know im biased i said that at the top, but with the year long full on hype about this, i was worried i might sit there at the end of it going oh thats a shame especially as greek mythology was never something i really got on with. Instead here i am writing this less than 8 hours after it finished because i need to get my raw emotions & words down. You wont see this for a few days or weeks but when you do, know that its taking a lot of will power to not hit that bloody golden buzzer.

It was intense & wonderful & there is a reason why we say in nolan we trust, because he delivers (& remember this is the girl that has Interstellar 2nd to last on her Nolan list & still has it at 5 stars).
& i have just booked my second viewing for tuesday standard screen this time might save imax again for next weekend.