Critics Call Elon Musk’s AI the Odyssey “Zombie-Like” After First Episode

Few movie feuds this year have been as unusual as Elon Musk versus Christopher Nolan. Over the summer, Musk repeatedly criticized Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’, objecting to casting choices such as Elliot Page as Sinon and Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, and vowed that his AI tool Grok Imagine would deliver a full-length version of Homer’s epic that was historically accurate and true to the source.

Nolan’s film, meanwhile, became a juggernaut. It has earned more than $1.78 billion worldwide, the highest-grossing film of the director’s career, and the filmmaker has been outspoken about generative AI, telling The Telegraph in July that younger audiences are quick to recognize and reject AI slop.

Now Musk’s alternative has finally arrived, at least in part. On October 23, the Grok Imagine account on X released a roughly 7-minute first episode of its ‘Odyssey’ series, made in collaboration with AI specialists Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker, and Musk shared it with his followers that night.

The reviews have been brutal. The Telegraph’s Ed Power described the footage as so unsettling it makes your eyeballs twitch, arguing that its glassy-eyed characters and flat voices give the episode a zombie-like quality.

Power also pointed out that Penelope looks completely different from scene to scene, concluding that this take on the tale of Troy deserves to be buried forever. He did offer one compliment, noting that the battle sequences capture some of the epic feel of Zack Snyder’s ‘300’, and joked that it’s one of the few films this year without Tom Holland and Zendaya, who both star in Nolan’s version.

Watch Episode 1 of our Odyssey series made with Grok Imagine. Let us know in the comments if you’d like a full breakdown of how it was done! Creative collaboration with @WonderStudiosX and director Dev Walker @glumlot_ https://t.co/xpgpkqSCpq

— Grok Imagine (@imagine) October 23, 2026

The Telegraph was far from alone. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave the episode just 1 star, likening it to a meaningless laptop screensaver, while AV Club’s Olivia Singh said it felt more like a choppy sizzle reel than the start of a cohesive feature.

Consequence’s Liz Shannon Miller called it lifeless, noting the episode never explains why the Ithacans are seeking vengeance on Troy. Critics also flagged that the dialogue isn’t in Greek and that the episode shows the Greeks landing at Troy, events that take place before Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ even begins.

The response on Musk’s own platform hasn’t been much kinder. The most-upvoted reply beneath the official post bluntly dismissed it as bad, while others criticized the lack of the promised historical authenticity and the characters’ limited emotional range.

The final trailer for Christopher Nolan’s ‘THE ODYSSEY’ has been released. In theaters on July 17. https://t.co/xn42TcX4aG

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 1, 2026

Not everyone rejected the experiment outright, however. Some viewers praised the footage’s relative photorealism as a sign of how quickly AI video generation has advanced, and Wonder Studios celebrated the release by joking that Homer didn’t have Grok, but they do.

The release still falls short of what Musk originally announced. In July, he promised a full-length movie before the end of 2026, but the first installment is being presented as Episode 1 of an ongoing series.

Even Grok seemed skeptical back then, predicting low odds of a coherent, feature-length film by year’s end due to the challenge of maintaining continuity. The project has also faced earlier stumbles, including a $100,000 contest winner whose AI-made ‘Odyssey’ scene featured a 3-eyed Cyclops.

The episode lands amid a broader debate about AI filmmaking. Just this week, China’s first fully AI-generated theatrical feature, ‘Sanxingdui: Future Past’, also struggled to win over audiences.

For now, Musk’s ‘Odyssey’ looks more like a tech demo than a challenger to Nolan’s box office giant. Whether future episodes can win over critics remains to be seen, but the first chapter has made an unmistakably rough start.

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