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The Odyssey (2026) Movie Review · The K.B. Radio Network

• 0:03
  Hello everyone and welcome to the concession stand here on the KB radio network I am your host Kevin Reed and welcome everyone to the review of the epic action
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  film the odyssey which is written and directed by
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  Christopher Nolan who is fresh off of his Academy Award winning efforts with Oppenheimer and
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  he is adapting homer's ancient greek epic the odyssey in the film stars matt damon as odysseus and chronicles his long imperious journey home after the turlian war and
• 0:46
  his encounters with these mythical beings as he attempts to reunite with his wife penelope who was portrayed in this film by the beautiful Anne Hathaway also in this stacked
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  all-star cast of just hall of famers if if you will tom holland who we are getting uh back-to-back tom holland's just in a couple of weeks we're getting him in spider-man but before we get him in spider-man he pops up in here along with robert pattinson lapida niango uh
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  samantha morton zendaya uh charlize theron and the list goes on and on john bernthal it's a plethora
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  of of a cast here uh travis scott yeah i figured i threw that throw that in there travis scott is in this movie uh this is a review of one word you know it's only one word i can describe certain elements of this film not
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  because i'm dodging spoilers it's just i have no other way to describe it when you say what was the odyssey how was the odyssey
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  my immediate response would be masterpiece and when you ask me about christopher nolan my immediate response will be genius this
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  is one of the most satisfying exciting theatrical experiences i've had in god knows how long i have never
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  uh well i'm not gonna say never but i cannot remember a time when i finished watching the film walked out of the theater and wanted to go back to the box office get another ticket and
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  go sit right back down even though this movie is three hours long i didn't care it was amazing it is everything that i
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  expected and more i expected this to be a entertaining film a thrilling film because i'm a huge fan of christopher nolan and if you're a fan of christopher nolan films this is the movie for you he is in his bag in this film he is directing
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  the piss out of this movie i i cannot i cannot express how thrilling this movie was
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  I'm sitting in this theater with reclining seats.
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  Everybody in the theater were,
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  you know,
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  they're chilling,
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  you know,
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  got their feet cocked up and lean back,
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  you know,
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  comfortable and happy watching the movie.
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  I did not recline my seat.
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  I was literally sitting up in my seat on the edge of my seat.
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  When you hear that expression,
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  edge of your seat excitement,
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  That was me.
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  that it was it was a picture of me watching the odyssey i was on the edge of my seat from start to finish i could not sit back i was just hypnotized
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  by what was going on on screen everything was absolutely beautiful let's start with the cinematography here
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  And I cannot pronounce the cinematographer's name.
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  I apologize.
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  Just look him up.
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  He's worked with Nolan a number of times,
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  worked with him on Oppenheimer and whatnot.
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  But these are some of the most beautiful landscapes.
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  I really felt like we were in ancient Greek.
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  They filmed this movie in Scotland and Morocco.
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  They also filmed in Greece as well.
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  But
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  Italy and the Sahara
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  Desert and all this.
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  they were all over the world this was a global effort to bring this film to life but it really felt like i was an ancient
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  Greece and ancient uh at least those times you know uh forging out and oh my god it was so beautiful it was gorgeous the way this film looks and you know this
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  is the first film I believe that was shot entirely with IMAX cameras and you could tell it
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  I mean the scale of this was bananas it It was like,
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  watching an old the only way i can compare this movie as far as scale i have to go back to the
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  50s and 60s like to ben-hur to uh the ten commandments you know biblical epics like that where where they made these big epic uh uh large-scale films with uh thousands of extras and stuff of that nature it that's the only the
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  most recent i should say
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  uh films i can reach back to to compare to this film they don't make movies like this no more this looks absolutely gorgeous on screen you need to see this in the biggest screen possible if you don't have a 70 millimeter screen
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  which they shot this on which there are none around me which which kills me but uh i i did see it in uh ibex and it was
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  it was good it was satisfactory but i wanted to see in 70 millimeter but uh see it in the largest screen you can see it it's worth every penny i know it's a little extra i i get it you know times are hard it's
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  worth every penny i felt like i owed the theater money after i left out of i left out of this movie it looks amazing but not only with the large shot
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  the large scale shots,
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  you know,
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  the wide angle shots,
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  even with the close up,
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  the personal moments,
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  the way
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  Nolan and his cinematographer captured the face of our lead actors,
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  especially Matt Damon,
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  when he was going through what he was going through.
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  It was magic.
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  It was pure magic.
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  And speaking of Matt Damon,
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  this is a perfect segue into our performances here.
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  Every performance worked.
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  Every single act.
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  brought their a-game it's starting with the lead here matt damon this is probably the best matt damon i've ever seen and i love matt david matt damon i mean this is jason bourne man you know this is will hunt yeah yeah he is he is a he is a phenomenal performer but
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  this performance by him in this movie is hands down his best it's not even close
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  he had he had the responsibility of holding down this grand story putting it all on his shoulders this was his movie and we went on this ride with him from his perspective from his pov and
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  every single emotion that he was feeling this character of odysseus was feeling you felt it through his performance whether he whether it was through spoken word or facial expressions or or
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  just his mannerisms you felt it the way he walked you know how he walked in the beginning of the film versus how he walks at the end of the film it it tells a tale it tells a story and that arc is
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  so satisfying it's so good and you know just to say i should have said this to start off the review like millions of others out there i'm pretty sure we all had to read Duh.
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  Odyssey in high school.
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  And this is the one thing in high school that I actually enjoyed and retained throughout my four years of high school.
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  I love the Odyssey.
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  I love Greek mythology as a whole,
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  but
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  I just love the Odyssey.
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  And
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  I already knew the story.
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  So I already knew how it was all going in but I can honestly say I sat there and it felt like
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  I didn't
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  like i never read it it felt so new and so fresh and that goes to the writing here by christopher nolan his direction and the performances do not be shocked if you uh hear matt damon's name around
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  award season at the beginning of next year or the end of this year whenever they start announcing that but he he he was phenomenal in this film as odysseus uh but
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  he wasn't alone he wasn't the only one cooking there were a lot of chefs in that kitchen uh the other one would be ann hathaway as penelope uh ann hathaway
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  She wasn't just the lowly wife sitting there waiting for her husband and woe is me and blah
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  There's pain in her performance.
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  There's also strength in her performance.
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  And her character wasn't just a one note character sitting at a chair weaving this shout.
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  And no,
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  it wasn't that.
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  It wasn't.
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  It was so much more to her character,
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  even though that's all she's basically doing throughout the film.
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  But through her performance,
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  man,
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  Anne Hathaway,
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  my God,
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  I didn't know she had that gear.
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  And kudos on her.
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  Tom Holland.
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  Tom Holland was good.
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  Tom Holland did not compare to anybody else in here.
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  I think everybody was great,
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  but Tom Holland was good.
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  And that's not saying that Tom Holland did a bad job.
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  It's just that he wasn't on the level of Damon and Hathaway in this film.
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  And another performer who I'm going to get to.
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  Because he had kind of a big role here.
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  And it didn't,
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  even though he had some scenes,
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  it came in spurts.
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  And I don't think it's his fault.
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  That's why I'm not really harping on him too hard.
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  I don't think it's his fault because this wasn't.
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  technically his story but i left away from the film wishing i had a little bit more from him you know it and like i said it wasn't it wasn't that he left something on the table i just i was interested in his character his his character was really good a very uh
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  uh important character for this film for this role for this story and
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  I just wanted a little more,
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  but I know we couldn't spend too much time with him because we had to tell we had to fully flush out Matt Damon's performance.
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  But
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  I enjoyed Tom Holland in this film.
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  There are two performances that are kind of scene stealers or movie stealers,
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  maybe,
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  depending on how you look at it.
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  And I can see best supporting.
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  for both of these performers uh i see a best supporting actor for one and a best supporting actress for another one in particular uh will be probably going to throw a lot of people off if it happens because she was only in one scene and
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  that is samantha morton oh man what a performance by her she paid she plays cersei and if you know cersei from the odyssey you know what she is
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  i'm not gonna go into spoilers here and who she is bro that scene that she's in number one that scene it turned very quick into a horror movie that's it went it went pure horror in that scene i
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  was so disturbed by that scene it blew my mind but uh she was amazing in that scene and
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  Man,
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  I wanted more than her.
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  I was mad that we only got one scene with her.
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  But I get it.
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  For the story,
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  yeah.
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  That's it.
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  That's it.
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  There was nothing else to tell about it.
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  But she was phenomenal.
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  The other standout,
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  the kind of scene stealer,
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  John Leguizamo.
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  I was,
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  I literally.
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  i every time he stepped on the screen he's not in the movie long and he's not in the movie much but every time he was on screen i was fully engaged in his character he was unbelievable
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  man and i i've seen john legrosamo in dramas and uh movies of of heaviness before so it didn't shock me that he could play a role like this but
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  Man,
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  this is,
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  once again,
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  probably his best performance ever.
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  I would not be shocked if his name is thrown in a hat for best supporting actor coming down the road here.
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  Robert Pattinson,
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  as the antagonist in this film,
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  as one of the suitors or would-be suitors for Penelope,
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  awesome.
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  Awesome.
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  Once again,
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  one of his best.
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  And I'm not just speaking in hyperbole when I'm throwing out bests and all this here.
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  I'm telling you this from my heart.
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  This is the God honest truth.
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  These actors in this film.
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  gave their best performances or one of their best performances of their careers in this movie robert pattinson here playing this slimy manipulative conniving
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  uh uh just con man i guess you could say and his character is compared to uh uh james wood's character in casino but
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  dialed to 11 that's him in this movie standing ovation for this wonderful wonderful cast and i must say if there is one flaw with the cast it would be lapita niango and
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  it's not for the reason all these clickbait people are doing you know just trying to get engagements and stuff all up she's black how can she be helena troy she's not that attractive All of it.
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  whatever whatever that's not the reason because lapita niyango is absolutely beautiful but it was because she wasn't in it much she wasn't all that whining people were doing all that crying people were doing because lapita niyango is playing helen of troy they
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  can go kick rocks go touch grass somewhere she is barely in this movie that's
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  That's my only problem with Lepida Nyong'o being in this movie.
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  But once again,
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  it's not her story.
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  This isn't Troy.
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  You want to go watch Troy,
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  the Brad Pitt movie,
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  go watch that.
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  It'll go more in depth with Helen of Troy.
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  This isn't that story.
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  But that's it.
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  That's the only problem I have with it.
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  She has two roles in this movie,
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  to be honest with you.
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  Both are interesting.
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  both are good she was good when she was on screen that that ain't the problem i'm just saying she wasn't in it enough so it just it just blew my mind i'm sitting there like people literally lost their minds probably not even gonna go see this movie because
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  she's in it as this character they're idiots and people are stupid but anyway moving on everybody else not one flaw as far as the cast are concerned not
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  one flaw uh the direction here i'm what can i criticize what can i say i don't know what to say other than the fact that christopher nolan is hands down the best working director currently
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  right now work it's it's not even close not even close i don't know anybody the only one who probably comes closest will be orion coogler that's probably that's the only one
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  and he is miles away from christopher nolan and i love ryan coogler but man this dude was firing on all freaking cylinders bro the way he told a non-linear story because
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  we're all over the place in the hands of any other director this movie would be pure hot garbage i'm talking with the same cast
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  same crew the same budget and you put a different director in the chair this movie is hot garbage but the mere fact you have christopher nolan who knows what he's doing who knows what he wants and knows how to tell a story made
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  this movie an instant classic he told a non-linear story like we we go in flashback mode we I'm
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  back into present time and back to the uh flashback and then the flashback will have a flashback and then we're back in the present time yeah it would confuse and throw anybody off on any given day but you followed this perfect
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  i mean it's no there's no lost point you know exactly where you're at as the viewer do you know exactly what's going on you when a scene starts
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  picks up or whatever and you you know sometimes you be in a theater and you be watching a movie or be at home whatever and you're like you're too busy trying to catch up from the previous scene and you and you but
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  and you miss what's in the scene that's playing now because you're trying to catch up with all of the back and forth and doing this that that that but not not the way christopher nolan made this movie he took his time it could
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  It's no rushing through scenes.
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  He really paced this out well.
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  But that brings me to the one.
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  and only flaw real honest to god flaw i have with this movie and that's uh at the end of this film in the third act it slows down and i mean all
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  the way down because up to the point we get up to a point where we had got our heart rate up to about
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  120 and then it's it kind of hit the brakes and
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  our heart rate dropped to like 40 do you know that's borderline heart attack you know it it slowed down and it slowed down for like 10-15 minutes at least it felt like 10-15 minutes it could have been five i don't know but i was so anxious
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  to get to the the climax my mind was going crazy but it just slowed a little too slow it went a little too slow oh but don't fret
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  when that when that motor gets running again we we picked back up and we we were full throttle to the end of this movie i really really really hope wish and pray all of you go see this in a theater this
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  is a theatrical movie through and through there there's no there's no oh i'll wait for it to come on streaming or i'll wait for it to drop on digital
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  you're not going to appreciate it the way it it needs to be appreciated uh back to nolan before we check out of here one thing about nolan that i did kind of have some trepidation about going in or some worries about going in was
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  the fantastical elements of it all you know because we're dealing with greek gods and you know uh witches and cyclops and giants and uh sirens and all this other good stuff.
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  Dad.
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  that actually worked he made it work it felt grounded which is odd it felt so real all of these fantastical elements that normally we've seen in the past in movies like this it's
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  just magical looking you know it's cgi written and all this other stuff i'm pretty sure you cgi in this but not much not much at all it's you
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  it's just subtle fantastical elements that he put in this film and it worked so real that's why i felt so real that's why i felt like ancient greek it just felt like this was a real story you
• 22:48
  know i i'm so impressed by this movie this was my most and highly anticipated film of the year uh going in coming into 2026 and it did not disappoint at all this was
• 23:03
  a masterpiece the odyssey gets a letter grade of an a plus yeah even with my little faux pas that happened at the end you know and it wasn't it didn't slow down and the story got stupid it was telling the story and
• 23:23
  it worked with the story i was it's more of a me thing that's i should have put that plain it's more of a me thing because i was so anxious to get to the climax
• 23:33
  i was like come on let's get on with it already it was like sitting in it was like sitting there at the beginning of the movie before the movie started with the trailers i'm waiting for this movie to start and i'm like okay that's it that's it for the trailers let's let's start let's get this party started you know and
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  it was pretty much the same thing in the third act i'm like okay let's get to it let's let's let's let's get to the climax here but this is an a-plus film perfect film uh masterpiece,
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  Christopher Nolan.
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  Mwah
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  Brilliant, brilliant filmmaker.
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  That's my humble opinion about The Odyssey.
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  I would like to know yours.
• 24:11
  Did you read it in high school?
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  Or am I tripping?
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  Or maybe I just picked it,
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  because I can't see myself just picking up the book.
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  I felt I had to be forced to read that.
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  So,
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  am I the only one?
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  Or maybe it's you.
• 24:26
  And what did you feel about the film?
• 24:29
  Come subscribe to the KBRadioNetwork.com.
• 24:32
  website where you can get updates on all new episodes here on the channel as well as youtube subscribe to the kb radio network channel on youtube like this video while you're there don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you
• 24:53
  are currently listening to the concession stand here on the kb Radio Network.
• 24:59
  Everybody,
• 24:59
  thank you for joining me.
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  for this review of Christopher Nolan's
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  The Odyssey.
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  Want you all to know that I love you.
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  Continue to love everyone.
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  And until we speak again,
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  you all be blessed.