Christopher Nolan's Oscars hopes could be tarnished as The Odyssey faces backlash over 'jarring' accents and premium IMAX prices - with even the film's translator joining the pile on

Christopher Nolan's new movie The Odyssey has received mixed reviews since it landed in screens on July 17. 

The ancient Greek epic has been hotly anticipated for years, with an all-star cast including Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope. 

Tom Holland features as the couple's son Telemachus, while his wife and Spider-Man co-star Zendaya is playing the goddess Athena.

Robert Pattinson plays the villainous role of Penelope's suitor Antinous, with Charlize Theron and Samantha Morton respectively as the goddesses Calypso and Circe.

Jon Bernthal plays the Spartan king Menelaus and Benny Safdie has been cast as his brother Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae.

While Nolan has been praised for part of his all-star cast, his directorial choices have faced widespread criticism. 

The big-budget movie has surpassed $650million (£489million) globally after just two weeks of release.

And there's plenty where that comes from as fans are still battling to secure tickets to see the film on a 70mm IMAX screen in one of the 41 cinemas in the world. 

Movie-goers have been complaining about the premium IMAX price and scarcity of the screenings, given the high demand for the best possible viewing experience.

Even before the film was released, Nolan faced backlash over the 'woke' casting and was also accused of fuelling 'brutal repression'.

And the latest fury has come from translator Emily Wilson who has ripped apart the movie entirely.

While Nolan's The Odyssey is tipped to be a major awards front-runner, some critics have argued otherwise...

The Odyssey translator slams 'abysmal' screenplay

Translator Emily Wilson has given a rather negative review of Nolan's movie as she criticised his adaptation for lacking 'psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth'.

The author, who is also a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, also added that Nolan's film has 'nothing convincing to say'. 

'I had hoped that Nolan’s affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters. 

'But The Odyssey features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality... the film’s vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas – although it is very good at conveying big bangs and big giants', her scathing review reads. 

She added: 'Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great. 

'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. 

'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. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.'

She concluded of Nolan’s film: 'I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.'

IMAX outrage 

Nolan became the first director to use the highest resolution 70mm IMAX film with a specially designed camera to shoot the whole of his epic movie about ancient Greek hero Odysseus.

With the high demand for the best possible viewing experience, it's meant movie-goers have been struggling to grab tickets.

Only 41 cinemas in the world are able to project Nolan's special 70mm movie and the prices are of premium scale. 

Some IMAX theatres have been booked out weeks in advance, with extra shows even being put on at midnight.

Fans have been complaining over the struggle to grab a ticket. Users wrote on X: 'This isn’t fair,'

'Only a few people will get to experience Nolan’s true vision,'

'I think the obsession with IMAX is a hindrance. Multiple issues with focusing and some shots on the beach were way underexposed,'

'Unpopular opinion, maybe, but Nolan has to stop using IMAX and go back to regular cameras. It’s just so irritating how every dialogue scene is shot with extreme close-ups of the actors’ faces and way too much background blur.'

'Jarring' accents

Nolan has faced criticism over the actors' accents and modern dialogue.

The accents in The Odyssey use contemporary American English rather than traditional British theatrical dialects.

The choice has sparked widespread online debate on social media, which Nolan was already prepared for.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times ahead of the movie's release, Nolan said he wanted to prioritise 'language that has emotional not intellectual meaning to people'.

'I was maybe being naïve, it might bite me on the ass, but I wanted an earthy narrative. To me it was a no-brainer,' Nolan said of his decision. 

Casting backlash 

Elon Musk, the owner of X, was among the public figures to express his opposition to Lupita Nyong'o, 43, being cast as Helen of Troy in the film. 

Helen is the ravishing daughter of Zeus whose 'face launched a thousand ships', in that her seduction by Troy's prince Paris resulted in the Trojan War. 

Lupita, who won an Oscar for the 2013 historical drama 12 Years a Slave, also features in the film as Helen's sister Clytemnestra. 

Her hiring provoked a fierce response on X, including from conservative pundit Matt Walsh, who fumed that nobody 'on the planet' regards Lupita as the world's greatest beauty but that Nolan 'knows that he would be called racist if he gave 'the most beautiful woman' role to a white woman'.

Elon responded to Matt by writing: 'True,' eliciting pushback by outspoken liberals like Alec Baldwin and Jimmy Kimmel.

Speaking to Elle, Lupita refused to be drawn into the backlash narrative, stating: 'I'm very supportive of Chris's intention with it and with the version of this story that he is telling. Our cast is representative of the world.'

She added: 'I'm not spending my time thinking of a defence. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.'

Nolan addressed the casting controversy in a TIME interview by drawing a parallel to his approach on his film Interstellar. 

'For 'Interstellar,' you're looking at: What is the best speculation of the future? When you're looking at the ancient past, it's actually the same thing,' the film-maker said. 'What is the best speculation, and how can I use that to create a world?'

He added that he expects some disagreement. 'Hopefully they'll enjoy the film, even if they don't agree with everything,' he pointed out. 'We had a lot of scientists complain about Interstellar. But you just don't want people to think that you took it on frivolously.'

Accusations of fuelling 'brutal repression' 

The Odyssey was last memorably adapted for the silver screen by the Coen Brothers in their 2000 satirical musical O Brother, Where Art Thou? starring George Clooney.

Yet it is Nolan's adaptation that has been accused of fuelling 'brutal repression' by filming in Morocco-occupied Western Sahara.

Last year, the film was shot for four days near the city of Dakhla, part of a region that the United Nations has designated as a 'non-self-governing territory' since 1963.

Western Sahara, which has become a magnet for big-budget film sets, is not legally a part of Morocco.

The US and UK are among Western governments to recently endorse the North African nation's claim over the land, as per Deadline. 

The Western Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara) allegedly called on Nolan at the time to halt shooting in the region. 

'Dakhla is not just a beautiful location with cinematic sand dunes. Primarily, it is an occupied, militarised city whose indigenous Sahrawi population is subject to brutal repression by occupying Moroccan forces,' the festival said.

'By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory billed as a "news black hole" by Reporters Without Borders, Nolan and his team, perhaps unknowingly and unwillingly, are contributing to the repression of the Sahrawi people by Morocco.'

In a statement, FiSahara continued: 'We are sure that were they to understand the full implications of filming such a high-profile film in a territory whose indigenous peoples are unable to make their own films about their stories under occupation, Nolan and his team would be horrified.

'Morocco routinely touts Sahrawi cultural expressions as uniquely Moroccan. They created a film festival in Dakhla to counter ours, and produce high-budget films that portray Western Sahara as part of Morocco. However, Sahrawis trying to make films about their lives are persecuted and must work clandestinely and at great risk to themselves and their families.'

The Daily Mail has contacted Universal for comment.