The Odyssey and Obsession are the two most hyped movies of 2026. In the last week, I saw them both, and have some STRONG thoughts.

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These two movies are polar opposites. The Odyssey had a $250 million budget, a dozen extremely famous actors, and was a 3 hour epic / drama about Odysseus’s stunning journey home which I saw in IMAX. Obsession had a $1 million budget, less then a dozen characters in the entire movie, and was a 100 minute horror film that I watched at my friend’s house.

Obsession was awesome.

The Odyssey kinda sucked.

Let me tell you why. SPOILERS COMING.

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Story

Odyssey: ⭐⭐ – It’s hard to fault the Odyssey for its story because it was written 3000 years ago and it’s considered one of the greatest stories mankind has ever produced. But forgive me, I just didn’t care. The scenes are long, drawn out, and extremely predictable. An hour in the Gods tell you what’s going to happen (the trip to Hades, the whirlpool, don’t eat the cows, etc.) and it just… happens. I was rarely emotionally or intellectually engaged. The most interesting piece was Odysseus’s remorse for the war and being the one to facilitate the end of the golden rule. But they talk about that for like 5 minutes at the very end of the movie.

Obsession: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- This isn’t the first movie with a premise like this, but it’s unique. Every scene has you on the edge of your seat. The intensity slowly ramps up, the engagement between characters is exciting, and I wanted to see what happened next. It didn’t do too much. It didn’t over-explain things. The story draws you in from the very first scene and the development / execution throughout is phenomenal.

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Acting

The Odyssey: ⭐⭐⭐ – I’ll say it. Damon was average. I didn’t find him compelling, if anything he took me out of it a little bit. People are going nuts over Pattinson. He was fine? Hathaway and Holland were good.

Obsession: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Nikki was excellent. I can understand if some will say Bear was too awkward / cringey but I thought he was great. Ian and Sarah did what they were supposed to do. At no point was I taken out of the experience because of bad acting.

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Tasteful Humor

The Odyssey: ⭐ – Every attempt felt forced and unbelievable. The best example is when Damon says something like “did you think if you ate quiet enough the gods wouldn’t hear you?” when his men are eating the cow. And it falls completely flat. It’s such an out-of-place comedic attempt. Honestly I was insulted.

Obsession: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – The two best examples are when Bear calls the number on the back of the wish box and when Bear barges in to the Voodoo store. The placement and delivery of comedy was excellent throughout

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Absurdity

The Odyssey: ⭐ – I know it’s Greek mythology. The giant arms plucking his men from their ship? Pretty stupid. But the worst part of this whole movie was the fight scene at the end. I GET IT, when this story was told 3000 years ago it went something like “then Odysseus fought 20 men all by himself!“, but this was so hard to watch. Just a brutal way to spend 15 minutes at the end of the movie.

Obsession: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – The build is great. The cat shrine is innocent enough. It starts to get out of hand with the cat sandwich, defecating on the floor, the poem at the party (which is awesome), then peaking with the car scene. You can say no one would have stayed as long Bear does, but you believe that he’s wanted this so bad and for so long that he tolerates it all until it’s too late. This is usually my bugaboo with scary movies (see Barbarian post), but this toed the line well.

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Audio / Visual

The Odyssey: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Let’s throw the Odyssey a bone here. The movie itself is stunning to see. The Cyclops screaming is cool.

Obsession: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Though about 1/1000th as grandiose as the Odyssey, the use of music to start / break tension is great and the way the scary scenes are shot make you… scared.

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The Ending

The Odyssey: ⭐⭐- The last 45 minutes you’re waiting for Odysseus to reveal who he is to everyone. That build is exciting. FINALLY he strings the bow and we get the worst fight scene of all time. Then they sail off and Holland is king. I know this ending is unavoidable, but again, I just didn’t care.

Obsession: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I thought this would be a hard plane to land. Sarah being set up on the chair was disturbing. Bear attempting to kill himself only for Nikki to make a wish of her own was pleasant. For a minute I was happy for them. Then Bear dies and we’re left with this gruesome scene and real-Nikki coming-to in the worst situation possible. It was a fantastic ending.

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Scariness

The Odyssey: N/A

Obsession: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This was the exact amount of scary-ness that a scary movie should have. The 3:00am night time scene is terrifying. The car scene is doubly terrifying. Real-Nikki saying “please kill me” repeatedly is haunting. The ending left you with a really unsettling “what happens now“. And they weren’t cheap scares, they were done right.

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There’s plenty of meat on the bone for Obsession. I saw the theory that Nikki is actually embodying his cat, which I kind of buy because I think Melon would do the same thing to me if he took on a human form.

Maybe I’m too much of a curmudgeon on the Odyssey. My feelings when leaving the theater could be summed up in three words – not for me.