"7-Minute Zombie Horror Show" Gets Humiliating One-Star Rating... Musk's AI Odyssey Takes Aim at Nolan

Musk, who criticized the casting in Nolan's film
Releases seven minutes of his AI-made "The Odyssey"
International media: "Robotic voices, zombie-like atmosphere"

A video of an AI-generated “Odyssey” that Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would make better than director Christopher Nolan’s film “The Odyssey” has been panned by international media.

On October 27, the British newspaper The Guardian gave it one star out of five, saying, “It is hardly surprising that AI ‘Grok’s’ interpretation is as pointless as a laptop screensaver.” The previous day, the British newspaper The Telegraph and U.S. magazine Wired also published reviews criticizing the video’s production quality and historical accuracy.

Slams Nolan's casting, vows to make a feature film with Grok

A scene from the AI-generated “Odyssey,” which Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would make better than director Christopher Nolan’s film “The Odyssey.” X

On October 23, the first seven-minute episode in the “Odyssey” series was posted. The official account for Grok Imagine, an AI video-generation tool operated by xAI, posted it on X (formerly Twitter) in collaboration with AI video production company Wonder Studio and director Dev Walker. Musk shared the post. The story follows Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who pretends to be mad to avoid going to war in Troy but eventually heads to the battlefield.

Musk made the video in response to Nolan's “The Odyssey,” released this year. Even before the film's release, he shared a series of posts criticizing Nolan's casting. He agreed with a conservative commentator's post disparaging the appearance of Lupita Nyong'o, a Black actor cast as Helen, saying, “Correct.” He called Nolan “anti-white racist” and claimed the director changed the race of a character because “he wants awards.” He also shared a meme mocking Elliot Page, a transgender man cast as Sinon. In July, Musk vowed that “before the end of this year, Grok Imagine will make a feature-length ‘Odyssey’ film that is historically accurate and faithful to the art of Homer.”

Before the film's release, Nolan said little, remarking, “Nobody knows what the movie actually is yet.” “The Odyssey” went on to earn more than $1.78 billion worldwide (approximately 2.3561 trillion won), setting a box-office record for a film he has directed.

“Zombie-like atmosphere”... Production quality and historical accuracy both under fire

A scene from AI Odyssey. X

International media first criticized the video's production quality. The Guardian said, “Like any AI video, this one is ponderous and lifeless,” comparing its visuals to those of “Call of Duty,” a war game set in the ancient world. It added, “Perhaps worst of all is the limp audio and digitally robotic voice acting,” noting that “every character speaks in a flat yet overly emphatic declamatory tone.” Addressing Musk, the paper said it was “time to make a dishonorable retreat from this shoddy AI ‘Dull-yssey’” - a play on “Odyssey” that suggests the video is dull. The Telegraph called it “a creepy, bizarre AI horror show that makes your eyeballs feel like they are twitching for seven straight minutes,” adding that “the characters' unfocused stares and flat, emotionless voices give the entire work a zombie-like atmosphere.”

Reactions from X users were also largely negative. One comment on the post sharing the video called it “pure garbage,” while others pointed out that Odysseus' wife Penelope looked different from scene to scene. Some, however, said it should be viewed as a sign of progress in AI video technology.

Reviewers also said the video failed to meet Musk's stated goal of “historical accuracy.” Wired reported, “When we asked Grok to assess the video itself, it replied that it was ‘not historically accurate.’” The review cited the characters' use of modern English with British accents and the appearance of cavalry in battle scenes, despite cavalry not existing in the Bronze Age. Wired wrote, “Almost everyone, except Musk and a small group of eccentrics, understands the creative freedom involved in adapting legends from thousands of years ago,” adding, “Even Grok would admit that its owner had made another impossible promise in a fit of pique, as he so often does.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.