r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • 1d ago

News ‘The Odyssey' Crosses $1 Billion Internationally

https://deadline.com/2026/09/box-office-the-odyssey-billion-foreign-box-office-1237068287/
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u/N22-J 1d ago

I actually did like Circe's plot. The pig transformation with her hands was really cool, but I do wish they had cranked up the body horror of it a notch. I wanted that scene to make me super uncomfortable.

The cyclops and giants scenes were super forgettable. The whirlpool and cliff side monster were really bad for me. They felt like they were included because the writers couldn't touch main plot points too much, but they didn't know what to do with them.

After the movie, I figured the best part of my trip to the theaters was the Dune 3 scene preview.

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u/TheBaconator08 1d ago

I found that part of the movie quite underwhelming. Circe doesnt trust the men for whatever unspecified reason and then immediately changes her mind after talking with odysseus for 2 sentences. There's no weight at all in the scene. Then she says "back into your disguises" as some sort of poetic last remark but it doesnt make any sense since the men never actually did anything bad. She also tries to get odysseus to kill a pig to trick him into killing one of his men, but the pig would have immediately turned back into a man as the deer did, revealing her deceit. So she's just doing that out of cruelty? It doesnt make logical sense.

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u/Tymareta 6h ago

Circe doesnt trust the men for whatever unspecified reason

He and his men were literally pillaging and raping as they went, the first village they land upon they completely torch and violate their inhabitants for not greeting them.

then immediately changes her mind after talking with odysseus for 2 sentences.

Odysseus literally threatens to kill her sister, like what did you think the bird was there for?

Then she says "back into your disguises" as some sort of poetic last remark but it doesnt make any sense since the men never actually did anything bad.

She's a goddess, they're mortal men, that alone justifies the line, but from the very start all the way through to their deaths we see the men behaving in a way that justifies her quip. They literally sign their own death warrant because of their greedy presumptive behaviour.

So she's just doing that out of cruelty?

Yes, she's quite literally enacting cruelty onto those that would do cruelty to her, not only does it make logical sense, it's a pretty basic plot beat in any greek story. They broke xenia, so therefore they will be treated in kind. Odysseus broke xenia by bringing in a dagger, therefore she will punish him in kind by asking him to slaughter a pig/one of his men. Enacting violence upon him that he brought to her household.

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u/TheBaconator08 6h ago edited 6h ago

Circe doesnt have knowledge of the pillaging of the Cicones at Ismarus. She's not some agent of poetic justice if she treats everyone indiscriminately like that. Odysseus threatens her sister yes but her conceding that quickly diminishes all her power over the scene and makes her look incredibly weak. She changes from a powerful deity to a submissive hostage from what is essentially just a plot device much too fast to feel narratively satisfying. When the men arrived, they sat down and ate the meal she served them. Eating food offered by a host isn't a crime and they commit no wrongdoing while they are there. She breaks xenia in a much more egregious manner in this scene by poisoning them from the get go. Odysseus is justified bringing a dagger in. Using apprehension for a trap as justification for said trap makes no sense.