Ben Shapiro posted an 18-minute review of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” to his YouTube channel on Saturday, in which he called the Greek epic a “masterpiece” despite the conservative outrage about the film’s cast and historical accuracy.
“Nolan is unparalleled. He’s the best director working today, without a doubt. He just creates iconic movie after iconic movie,” Shapiro said. He also had lots of praise for star Matt Damon, adding, “I think he’s great in nearly everything. He sort of disappears into the part in a way that he doesn’t in a lot of other movies. He’s great as Odysseus.”
He likewise gushed about several other members of the supporting cast: “Robert Pattinson as Antinous is an excellent antagonist. He’s sleazy and gross. Tom Holland as Telemachus is excellent, well cast. Anne Hathaway does a great job as Penelope.”
Shapiro also fired back at those who complained about Lupita Nyong’o playing Helen of Troy.
“So, I know a lot of people were like, ‘Oh my god, Lupita Nyong’o is supposed to look like Diane Kruger.’ I don’t know. Diane Krueger doesn’t look very Greek. She’s German,” Shapiro said. “Lupita Nyong’o is a beautiful woman. But here’s the thing, actually, in the script, Nolan goes out of his way to explain that the war wasn’t really launched over Helen being gorgeous.”
The political commentator did, however, take issue with Elliot Page’s casting as Sinon. He called Page’s role an “absolute puzzler” before pointing out that he is “about 5’2 and 105 pounds soaking wet and has the voice of a woman. It doesn’t work.”
Despite outrage from right-wing voices like Elon Musk, Nolan recently told The Telegraph that he’s unbothered by the noise. He explained that online backlash “comes with the territory” when making a blockbuster.
“Remember, I spent 10 years of my life dealing with Batman,” Nolan explained. “When I came on ‘Begins,’ writers and artists had been working on this beloved character for almost 65 years, and a lot of freighted thoughts were out there about what he represents. And what I learnt over my time on that trilogy is you can’t worry about any of that at all. What you have to do is honor the original text by interpreting it in the strongest way you personally can.”
