Odysseus and the Isle of the Mists (2008)

Director:

Terry Ingram

Writers:

Brook Durham (writer)
Kevin Leeson (additional writing)

Release Date:

12 April 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Cast

Arnold Vosloo	...	Odysseus
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mike Antonakos	...	Christos
Steve Bacic	...	Eurylochus
JR Bourne	...	Perimedes
Randal Edwards	...	Homer
Leah Gibson	...	Penelope
Sonya Salomaa	...	Athena
Jeff Sanca	...	Crewman #3
Stefanie von Pfetten	...	Persephone

Also Known As:

Odysseus: Voyage to the Underworld (USA)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

UK | Romania | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Plinyminor

Homer blinded himself to avoid seeing this.

I didn't think SciFi Channel could broadcast a worse myth-&-monster movie than MINOTAUR. I was wrong.

It's okay to make a movie on the cheap; not everyone has access to a big budget, and amazing things can be done with a little imagination and talent. But there's very little of those commodities here. Acting is at a high school level. Direction is worse. Dialogue is trite. Scenes lurch from one dull monster attack to another, with occasional babe (er, goddess) interludes to break the monotony. The goddesses look and sound as it they're reading cue cards at a second-rate beauty contest.

Why must the makers of such movies mess with Greek myth, about which they clearly know (and care) nothing? Here, Homer the tale-teller appears as part of Odysseus's crew. That's an okay idea. Except this Homer (played by the worst actor of the lot, which is saying something) scribbles notes (with a feather quill!) and fawns over the heroes like an embedded reporter in Iraq. Legend tells us that Homer was blind, and recited his stories from memory. There is great power in that idea, a hearkening back to a prehistoric, preliterate age of traveling bards and oral tradition.

A magical movie could be made about Odysseus, and Homer, but this is not it.