The AI-generated film Odysseus: The Fall has arrived as an ambitious attempt to prove that artificial intelligence can produce cinema on a blockbuster scale, yet the finished product falls well short of that claim. The 2.5-hour production comes from AI firm Fountain 0 and is written and directed by company cofounder Ash Koosha, who also lent his likeness to the title character and created all of the music. The film’s credits are notably short.
Fountain 0’s only previous work is an AI film called Dreams of Violets, which reached Tribeca earlier in the year. The Fall is a far more ambitious undertaking, billed as “the first completely AI generated film produced at the level of a Hollywood blockbuster.” In practice, the result does not approach that standard. The film is available to rent now for around £8 and, as far as can be determined, can only be watched via a web browser, with no dedicated viewing app for television.
Consistency Problems Undermine the Film
The production is plagued by two main issues, the first being consistency. The world of the film constantly morphs in a distracting manner. The height of the cyclops that traps Odysseus and his men changes from shot to shot, waves move in the opposite direction of the wind, and mouths do not match the words spoken, sometimes moving without producing any sound at all. Oars bend and twist as sailors row, and in one scene a fleet of boats races through the ocean with one vessel inexplicably moving sideways.
The AI-produced voice-overs can be incomprehensible, and at various points the names of both Odysseus and Zeus are pronounced incorrectly. The faults are so numerous that they can make it difficult to focus on anything else. During one viewing, a sword appeared to turn into a dagger, while an alien carcass could be seen roasting over a spit. The film illustrates precisely why script supervisors exist.
A Disjointed and Dull Retelling
While the AI-induced errors are distracting, they are also the most entertaining aspect of the film, because there is little else to hold the attention. Current AI models are only capable of generating scenes lasting a few seconds, so the movie feels like a disjointed collection of moments from the Odyssey stitched together with little order. Viewers unfamiliar with the source material would struggle to follow the plot, as the film explains very little of its own story.
The retelling arrives against the backdrop of renewed interest in the classic tale, following Christopher Nolan’s take on The Odyssey, which performed strongly at the box office and encouraged filmgoers to revisit classic literature. Odysseus: The Fall runs for two and a half hours and is available to rent through a web browser.
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Image: theverge.com
