Product: The Odyssey [VHS] (1997)
Rating: 4.0
Excellent Cast, Bizarre Direction, Cheap Special FX
I can't imagine a more perfectly cast movie than this. It should have been the best thing we have seen for about the last ten years, but the direction, editing and special effects competely sidetrack the performances.The actors are up to presenting Homer's epic - poetry is language elevated to it's highest standard - but the script was really bad, reducing character portrayals to cartoon level or worse, music videos. To give the screeplay a bit of credit, however, it's not easy to paraphrase a classic.Armand Assante sails through anyway, portraying the King of Ithaca with grand restraint. He never once lets 'what am I DOING in this thing?' slip through his characterization. One wonders if he is not imagining the Director in front of him as he swings his broadsword violently in one scene.The monsters were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, but these particular choices show how much we really miss his design genius. Lots of neoprene there, and it showed.The story is told reasonably faithfully (similar to Odysseus' marriage..) and you do get the Cliff Notes version of it from this. I'd buy it just for Assante's performance.