If you have been waiting for a Christopher Nolan flick to challenge your current top 3 favorite, the time has come. While he has never made a small movie, The Odyssey is arguably his biggest one to date with its nearly three-hour run time. This marks the director’s first film to be shot entirely on 70mm IMAX film cameras, and the result was well worth going that extra mile. Nolan transformed Homer’s poem into a thrilling, beautifully engineered spectacle that was easy to digest, regardless of whether you were familiar with the ancient work the film is based on. In fact, if you haven’t read the story, you’d probably enjoy the film more without nitpicking what was and wasn’t included.
Matt Damon anchors the film as Odysseus, the Ithacan king trying to find his way home after the fall of Troy, and by every account, he’s earned it. It’s surely one of the actor’s career best roles, and he delivers a performance worthy of praise. While he plays a mythic hero, there is something so human at his core that truly works in the film’s favor. Anne Hathaway shines as his wife, Queen Penelope, giving us some of the more emotional moments throughout. She is a major part of the plot as she is being forced to find someone to remarry, with the idea that Odysseus has died. Tom Holland as their son, Telemachus, was a solid casting and gave audiences a way to see what the actor can do when placed within an ensemble cast. It’s no secret he is best known for his portrayal of Peter Parker, but this role is by far the most mature entry in his filmography.
There were two standout performances worth noting, and two that just fell a bit flat for me. John Leguizamo as Eumaeus was perfection and daily surprising, given that we don’t get him in these more serious, wise roles. His loyalty to Odysseus and his dog offered lots of warm moments that made you look forward to their reunion on screen. Charlize Theron as Calypso was one of my favorite characters, as she was not someone I thought would have as much screen time as she did. Every turn she got, she stole the show with her soft and gentle care for Odysseus. On that note, I felt quite the opposite about Zendaya’s (Athena) screen time, as I was extremely surprised at how little she appeared. It was literally the first thing I said out loud as the credits rolled. Sure, she had a role in guiding Odysseus, but given that Nolan crafted this project with his own vision in mind rather than adapting the book entirely, I simply thought she’d have a larger role. The same can be said about Lupita Nyong’o, but her case is slightly different, given that Helen of Troy’s role in the text is small as well. My singular issue with The Odyssey is that, with as established as Zendaya and Nyong’o are in the industry, I just thought they would be utilized far more than they were.
Robert Pattinson, as the scheming suitor Antinous, brings a coiled, unpredictable menace that steals every scene he’s given, but some of it was over the top and reminded me of some of his previous roles, like The Devil All The Time. His feud with Telemachus felt like real high-school bullying, and it took me out of those moments. I found myself distracted by his interactions with Holland, thinking about Batman and Spider-Man (I know I’m not the only one).
Where The Odyssey is genuinely staggering is in its craft. Nolan’s commitment to shooting as much as possible in-camera to depict a storm-lashed sea crossing, a standoff with a cyclops in a cave, reminds you why theatrical spectacle still matters in an age of streaming. Some elements would slightly categorize the film as a horror, and it was absolutely amazing.
Nolan has always been a filmmaker of creative ideas and stunning visuals, which served Inception and Interstellar so well. There’s so much to enjoy, and the setting changes so often that you never get too comfortable in one space. This right here is what made the almost 3-hour run time not drag. It’s a film that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen you can find, and one that will likely dominate the technical categories this awards season the way his films usually do.
The Odyssey is Christopher Nolan at his most visually commanding, with a story so well translated that you’d forget it was an ancient piece of work. It can easily be said that the entire cast brought their A game, while there were a few that could have been cast as unknowns and would not have affected the film (Mia Goth as Mélantho and Jon Bernthal as Menelaus). It slides right to the top of Nolan’s best work to land within his top 3 for sure, for achieving such a masterpiece that you will enjoy differently with every rewatch.
The Odyssey Rating: 9.5/10
