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The Woke Translator Behind the Odyssey Even Thinks That the Movie Is Terrible

Joseph Chalfant
Joseph Chalfant  |  July 27, 2026 10:00 PM

The much-anticipated release of Christopher Nolan’s rendition of the Odyssey is finally here, and it has been a huge box office success. Droves of people are storming theaters to go watch it, but there’s a problem: even some on the Left think that it’s garbage.

I’ll preface much of this conversation with the fact that I haven’t actually seen the film. I have no plans to unless it somehow fell into my lap for free. I don’t believe that the destruction of classical Western tradition and literature should be rewarded financially.

That being said, I’ve obviously seen the clips uploaded online. I’ve read the reviews. Some were surprisingly supportive of the film, even from those firmly on the Right. Perhaps after being force fed terrible superhero movies for the last 15 or so years has lowered the bar pretty significantly.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that Emily Wilson, the woke feminist classical translator whose work the movie based its script on, thought that the movie was essentially unwatchable slop. (To Wilson’s credit, I have read her translation of the Iliad and don’t entirely hate it despite it erasing much of the poetic style from the story.)

“It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbors,” Wilson told Variety. “It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words.”

Ouch.

Much of the criticism prior to the release came from the casting choices. That was for good reason as it was entirely nonsensical. There do seem to be much larger issues at play, however. Much like Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, the narrative of the Odyssey appears to be told by someone who seemingly hates the source material.

Nolan said as much himself, stating that he changed the ending of the story because he was disturbed by the “grim” and "misogynistic" nature of it.

Instead of giving money to support this trash, I’ll give Troy another watch. While it may not be the best movie about a Greek myth, at least it doesn’t hate itself.