The Odyssey Review
Christopher Nolan adapts Homer's The Odyssey into a sweeping mythological epic that prioritizes Odysseus's emotional journey over his legendary exploits.
Matt Damon in The Odyssey. Credit: Syncopy / Universal Pictures
Christopher Nolan’s latest film The Odyssey adapts Homer’s ancient Greek epic, chronicling hero Odysseus’s long journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War. As Odysseus struggles under the weight of his actions during the war, the movie becomes a compelling companion piece to Nolan’s Oscar-winning Oppenheimer. I haven’t read Homer’s original work, so I can’t speak to how faithfully it adapts the source material beyond its broad themes, but I also don’t think it matters. Nolan's real interest lies less in Odysseus' exploits than in the man who returns home from war.
Nolan depicts Odysseus as a man exhausted by the consequences of victory rather than simply a cunning hero. Every encounter, every obstacle, feels colored by the weight he carries from Troy. Even when Odysseus succeeds, there's a sense that he's simply surviving one more day on a journey that has already taken too much from him.
Though deeply personal, The Odyssey never loses its sense of scale. Nolan shoots on location with practical effects whenever possible, and it pays off on the big screen. Despite its massive production, the film has a paradoxically stripped-down quality. At times it feels almost abstract, like a myth existing outside of time. That feeling also comes from Nolan's choice to use stylized armor and ships that are intentionally anachronistic. It reinforces the sense that this isn't history so much as legend.
(L-R) Mia Goth and Anne Hathaway in The Odyssey. Credit: Syncopy / Universal Pictures
The cast is outstanding. Matt Damon is magnetic as Odysseus, but the supporting ensemble as a whole is even stronger. Anne Hathaway as Penelope, John Leguizamo as the blind Eumaeus, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, and Zendaya as Athena are all highlights. Bigots be damned, Lupita Nyong’o is fantastic in her brief appearance as Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra. This casting made exactly the people you’d expect mad. Respectfully, they can get fucked.
Tom Holland is fine as Odysseus' son Telemachus; however, I couldn't get over him calling Odysseus “dad” in a movie like this. That's on Nolan, not Holland, but it’s still hard to swallow. My favorite sequence belongs to Samantha Morton as Circe. Odysseus's men suffer the consequences of her hospitality in an inspired burst of body horror that’s one of the film's most unforgettable moments.
I saw The Odyssey on 70mm film. Unfortunately, the projection at my local AMC was seriously underlit. Even so, it's obvious the film is gorgeous. The Odyssey is the first narrative feature shot entirely on IMAX, and Nolan's intended format, 70mm IMAX, isn't screening in San Diego. It’s only available in 25 theaters nationwide. Locals will have to settle for IMAX with laser projection, which is where I plan to see it again.
The Odyssey is another rousing success for Nolan. It's his best film since Inception, and, like Oppenheimer, it's less interested in triumph than in the burden of living with what its hero has done. This is Nolan’s most mature work, and I expect it to be in the running for all sorts of awards next year.
The Odyssey
The Odyssey finds Christopher Nolan at his most thoughtful, using Homer's epic to tell a story less about legendary deeds than the burden of surviving them.
