Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is urging the right to rethink its outrage over Christopher Nolans The Odyssey, arguing that ideological objections should not blind viewers to a genuinely impressive work of cinema.
According to The Daily Wire host, Nolan is unparalleled. Hes the best director working today, without a doubt. He just creates iconic movie after iconic movie, as he declared in a Friday YouTube review that sharply diverged from many on the right who pre-emptively trashed the film. Shapiro called The Odyssey the movie is a masterpiece, assigning it a score between 8.5 and 9 out of 10 and insisting it belongs among Nolans finest achievements.
The movie looks beautiful. Its well shot. The images are incredible and iconic, Shapiro said, praising Nolans visual craft and singling out the depiction of ancient warfare. There are images you cant get out of your head after having seen the film, particularly the fall of Troy.
He lauded the performances as well, saying Matt Damon is great and describing Robert Pattinson as an excellent antagonist. That enthusiasm contrasts with a wave of conservative criticism that hit the film months before release, much of it focused on identity-driven casting choices.
Matt Walsh, Shapiros colleague at The Daily Wire, blasted Nolan in May for casting Lupita Nyongo as Helen of Troy, a critique that Elon Musk publicly endorsed. Not one person on the planet actually thinks that Lupita Nyongo is the most beautiful woman in the world. But Christopher Nolan knows that he would be called racist if he gave the most beautiful woman role to a white woman. Nolan is technically talented but a coward, Walsh said.
Others on the right, including Newsmax anchor Rob Finnerty, objected to Nolans decision to cast trans actor Elliot Page as the Greek warrior Sinon, while countless X users mocked a leaked clip of Pages running in the film. Shapiro, however, pushed back on at least part of this backlash, arguing that the Nyongo criticism misses what Nolan is doing in the story.
Heres the thing: actually in the script, Nolan goes out of his way to explain that the war wasnt really launched over Helen being gorgeous, Shapiro explained, suggesting the film undercuts the traditional myth rather than simply recasting it for diversitys sake. On Page, though, he was far less forgiving, calling the choice an absolute puzzler from Nolan.
She is about 52 and 105 pounds soaking wet and has the voice of a woman, Shapiro said. It doesnt work. Even so, he argued that conservatives damage their cultural credibility when they dismiss an entire film over a handful of bad decisions.
I think theres a message here for conservatives. I know there are a lot of conservatives who are getting pre-whipped up about the film, because it is stupid to cast Elliot Page as a dude. Its just stupid, Shapiro said. But people on the right were saying Oh, its gonna bomb because of that. No, the movies not going to bomb because of that.
He continued, It turns out that when people want to be entertained, they are willing to entertain even bad flaws in the tooth, if the smile is nice. It turns out the people are willing to undergo some bad politics and some decision making if the film is great. But if conservatives want to be effective in the culture, you cant just label the entire piece of art bad because a decision in the art is bad. For Shapiro, The Odyssey is precisely the kind of incredible mainstream film conservatives should be prepared to praise when it earns it, and he argued the movie deserves to make a fortune.
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