Masterpiece Claim Triggers Right Revolt

Ben Shapiro called Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey a “masterpiece” — even while admitting he hadn’t seen it yet and calling one of its casting choices “incredibly stupid.”

Story Snapshot

Shapiro told right-wing critics they are “dead wrong” to dismiss The Odyssey, praising it as a masterpiece before seeing it himself.
Conservative commentator Michael Knowles reviewed the film and documented specific changes from Homer’s original story, including altered character motivations and a new guilt narrative.
Knowles also flagged the casting of Elliot Page as a Greek soldier, arguing it was a deliberate woke statement linking trans identity to deception.
Mainstream critics like IGN and Chris Stuckmann praised the film, though IGN noted a choppy emotional arc and underdeveloped themes.

Shapiro Calls the Film a Masterpiece — Without Seeing It

Ben Shapiro publicly defended Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey against right-wing critics, calling the film a “masterpiece” and saying those who dismissed it were “dead wrong.” The problem? Shapiro made that declaration before he had actually watched the movie. That’s a shaky foundation for such a strong claim. Praising a film you haven’t seen — while telling others their criticism is wrong — is hard to take seriously, no matter who says it.

Shapiro also called the casting of Elliot Page as a Greek soldier “incredibly stupid” and “a dumb kind of woke acknowledgement.” So Shapiro thinks the film is a masterpiece, but also thinks one of its casting choices is stupid. That internal contradiction gives critics plenty of ammunition — and mainstream media has not been shy about using it to dismiss the entire right-wing debate over the film.

What Conservative Critics Actually Found in the Film

Michael Knowles reviewed The Odyssey and laid out specific, detailed complaints. He found that Nolan changed Odysseus’s character so that he succumbs to forgetfulness in the lotus-eating episode — a direct reversal from Homer, where Odysseus resists. Nolan also adds a guilt storyline about the Trojan horse breaking Zeus’s law of hospitality, which does not exist in Homer’s original text. At the end, Odysseus exiles himself — another major departure from the source material.

Knowles also took issue with Lupita Nyong’o being cast as both Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra as twins. In classical tradition, they are sisters — not twins — and Helen is the singular cause of the Trojan War. Knowles argued Nolan’s version reframes the war as driven by male ambition, which he sees as a feminist rewrite of the story. These are not vague ideological complaints — they are specific, documented changes to the source material that any fan of Homer can verify.

The Elliot Page Casting Debate

The sharpest culture-war flashpoint in the film is the casting of Elliot Page as Sinon — a character who tricks the Trojans into accepting the wooden horse. Sinon does not appear in Homer’s Odyssey at all. The character comes from Virgil’s Aeneid, where Sinon is a master deceiver. Knowles argued that casting a trans actor as a character defined by deception is a deliberate and provocative choice — what he called an “on the nose” DEI statement.

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Whether that reading is fair or not, it is a legitimate artistic question worth asking. Nolan built the film using real boats, real water, and practical effects shot on location — a genuine technical achievement. But technical brilliance does not automatically make ideological casting choices above scrutiny. Mainstream critics from IGN gave the film an A rating and called it a “must-watch epic,” while also noting its emotional arc was choppy and its thematic ideas underdeveloped. That mixed picture is closer to the truth than either “masterpiece” or total dismissal.

The Bigger Pattern at Play

This debate fits a pattern that keeps repeating in the culture wars. A conservative commentator praises a big Hollywood film while also criticizing parts of it, and the media uses that contradiction to paint the whole right-wing critique as confused or dishonest. It happened with Shapiro and Disney’s Snow White casting, where his comments were widely labeled “bigoted.” Now it’s happening again with The Odyssey. The lesson here is simple: if you’re going to call something a masterpiece, watch it first — and pick a lane.