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Bad news, MAGA: Ben Shapiro thought “The Odyssey” was a “masterpiece.”
On Friday, the right-wing pundit published an 18-minute review of Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic poem on his YouTube account, and he thought it was “terrific” despite an onslaught of MAGA backlash.
“On a scale 1 to 10, where does this movie lie? Somewhere for me between an eight and a half and a nine,” Shapiro said at the top of his review. “It’s really, really, really good. It’s a terrific movie.”
He later added: “Nolan is unparalleled. He’s the best director working today, without a doubt. He just creates iconic movie after iconic movie,” Shapiro said.
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The Daily Wire co-founder also didn’t shy away from the elephant in the room — which was, to put it very plainly, MAGA was really upset about the casting mostly based on race. This specific outrage was shared by Elon Musk, who agreed with a post that conservative commentator Matt Walsh published in May about actor Lupita Nyong’o playing Helen of Troy.
“We’re told that we shouldn’t object to Helen of Troy being portrayed as a black woman,” Walsh wrote on X. “And yet if a major Hollywood studio made a film set in Africa and cast a white woman as ’the most beautiful woman in Africa, those same people would literally riot in the street. If, say, Sydney Sweeney was cast in the role, they’d be driven to murderous violence. We all know this is the case.”
“Absolutely true,” Musk wrote in response. “Such hypocrisy in Hollywood.”
The film features a star-studded cast that also includes Matt Damon (Odysseus), Anne Hathaway (Penelope), Tom Holland (Telemachus), Robert Pattinson (Antinous), Charlize Theron (Calypso), and Zendaya (Athena). Rapper Travis Scott also has a small role as a bard, and transgender actor Elliot Page plays the role of Sinon.
Shapiro dismissed the race-based casting outrage by essentially calling it ignorant.
“I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions about the film based on a bunch of sorta online rumors,” Shapiro said about not jumping on the right-wing backlash. “I wanted to see it, then review it. I know, a weirdness, an oddity.”
He later shut it down completely by making one simple observation about the cast as a whole. Referring to some people on the right who complained that Nyong’o, Zendaya and Scott weren’t Greek and shouldn’t be cast to play ancient Greeks, Shapiro said, “No one in the movie is Greek.”
“Literally no one,” Shapiro said, although it’s unclear if any do have some Greek ancestry. Regardless, Shapiro pointed out that none of the actors — even the white ones — look Greek to him, at very least.
“Matt Damon is of Nordic extraction. OK, Matt Damon is a very white guy. He is not Greek. Tom Holland does not look Greek. Anne Hathaway does not look Greek. None of these people look Greek. So, we can start with that.”
He added that he wasn’t “super bothered” by Scott playing the bard.
“It didn’t really take me out of the story in any significant way,” Shapiro said.
Buzz: Every Major Controversy Surrounding Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’
He then moved on to Nyong’o as 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,’” Shapiro said, referring to 2004’s “Troy” in which Kruger played Helen of Troy.
“I don’t know,” Shapiro continued. “Diane Krueger doesn’t look very Greek. She’s German. 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.”
Shapiro also gave rave reviews for Damon, Zendaya, Pattinson and Hathaway’s performances.
Buzz: Elon Musk Blasts ‘The Odyssey’ Over Casting Lupita Nyong'o As Helen Of Troy
The political commentator did, however, take issue with Page’s casting as Sinon. He called Page’s role an “absolute puzzler” before saying some pretty transphobic things about the actor.
“Does it kill the movie? No, of course not,” Shapiro said about Paige in the film. “It’s a stone in the shoe of the movie that is totally unnecessary and takes you out of it. And that’s annoying.”
You were so close, Ben Shapiro. So close.
