The harshest things critics are saying as Musk’s ‘AI Odyssey’ is panned

Elon Musk promised his AI version of The Odyssey would rival Christopher Nolan’s Hollywood epic.

The first seven minutes have now landed – and critics have mauled it.

Musk’s Grok Imagine released the opening episode on Friday, October 23, after months of hype and repeated digs at Nolan’s blockbuster.

But instead of a Hollywood killer, reviewers say they got wooden voices, strange-looking actors, jerky movement and a story racing along at breakneck speed.

One critic called it “one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen”. Another branded it “sloppy gruesomeness”. Viewers went with “pure garbage”.

Here are some of the most brutal reactions.

‘One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen’

Forbes critic Erik Kain went straight for the jugular.

His review declared Musk’s Odyssey “one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen”, despite acknowledging how quickly AI video is improving.

That is a bruising verdict for a project Musk positioned as a direct challenge to Nolan.

And it was far from the only one.

‘Sloppy gruesomeness’

The Telegraph said viewers could feel their “eyeballs twitch” during what it called the episode’s “sloppy gruesomeness”.

The clip was made by Wonder Studios using Grok Imagine, with director Dev Walker involved.

The team was tiny and the turnaround rapid, but critics showed little mercy.

‘Dullest, most pointless’

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it the “dullest, most pointless riposte” to Nolan’s film.

He took aim at the robotic voices, lack of emotion and uncanny visuals, even comparing some of the action to shapes drifting around a laptop screensaver.

His wider point was simple: impressive technology does not automatically make compelling cinema.

‘Pure garbage’

Viewers piled in too.

One reaction highlighted by Euronews simply called the episode “pure garbage”.

Others mocked the characters’ glossy, artificial appearance and strange movement.

Another viewer said it showed “how little AI understands art or humans”.

‘Soulless’ and ‘wooden’

Rolling Stone highlighted two words cropping up repeatedly in the backlash: “soulless” and “wooden”.

GamesRadar also attacked the “stilted line deliveries” and uncanny AI actors.

Its verdict on the battle scenes was particularly brutal, suggesting they were more likely to send viewers to sleep than get their pulses racing.

Even Grok questioned Musk’s claim

Then came perhaps the most awkward review of all.

Musk previously said his AI Odyssey would be “historically accurate and true to the art of Homer”.

Wired asked Grok whether the first episode actually met that standard.

Its answer was effectively no.

The chatbot pointed to modern dialogue, creative liberties and details that do not cleanly fit either archaeological evidence or Homer’s work.