The Odyssey is a 2026 fantasy/action film directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and Robert Pattinson. I could continue to list actors names here because this film is truly just a who’s who of the upper echelon in current Hollywood. Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, and Mia Goth all have decently big roles in this film as well, but the first 4 I listed I would say are the “stars” of the movie. This is obviously based on the classic epic Homer’s Odyssey, the ancient Greek novel about the story of a veteran of the Trojan War ‘Odysseus’ and him and his men’s journey home after the war and the many perils they face, and lessons learned along the way. There’s a lot of opinions and loud internet trolls already upon the release of this movie, but they seem like the minority. This movie currently sits at a 95% from critics and 97% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.2 on IMDb. I mean it’s early so those numbers could continue to fluctuate for a little while, but I doubt they move much if they are already SO highly in the positive direction. It’s a good sign. So, let’s get into it!
This is actually the first time this story is being brought to the big screen which is absolutely insane considering how old and how influential of a piece of literature it is, but that’s the exact reason I think it’s never been adapted. It’s a daunting task to try and tackle a project like this. This is like one of the oldest pieces of living literature outside of some religious texts so that should tell you something. A lot of people have read this story through school or at the very least know about it and people really into Greek mythology and Ancient Greek history hold this in the highest of regards. So if you’re going to go for it then you better really go for it, and if there’s anyone currently working that may be up for the task it’s Christopher Nolan. This guy heads a different direction in just about every movie he’s ever made. He has sci-fi films, action films, war films, superhero movies, historical biopics, and now an ancient fantasy epic brought to life, and all of them have been done well and made and shot beautifully. He’s one of the filmmakers that actors just want to work with because he’s proven at this point and one thing I really appreciate about Nolan is his want to keep everything as real and practical as he can in his movies. Like I said, he’s proven by now, so he gets to shoot these movies in beautiful live locations all around the world and that really adds to the beauty and reality of the film, this film being a perfect example of that, and he prefers practical set pieces and real stunt work as much as possible just to keep the movie as real as he can make it.
For example, in this movie there’s a scene with Odysseus and his soldiers being trapped in a cave with a Cyclops monster ‘Polyphemus’ and it was incredible, arguably my favorite scene in the film, and the Cyclops work was all practical. A 60-foot puppet monster controlled by people. He just as easily could’ve done it in CGI, but that’s not Nolan, and the scene was all the more incredible for it. Everything is probably a bit more of a pain and a bitch while filming with him, but the end result is always worth it because he’s old school and he doesn’t cut corners when he makes his projects. The performances all around were very well done as well, every single person made you feel what they wanted you to feel from them throughout the movie whether that be good or bad, but that should be expected when you have an entire cast of A-listers practically. Well, and Travis Scott for a very short scene that people seem to be complaining about online. If I’m being honest, I didn’t even really pay attention to the fact or notice that it was Travis Scott when he was on screen, so the overblown criticism is pretty hilarious. It may be the cheap answer to give, but I think Matt Damon as Odysseus was my favorite performance all around. At the very least, I was the most interested and invested into the scenes and story when he was around, but that could also be for the simple fact that he had a lot of the scenes involving the heavy action sequences and the ancient mythology.
There were all kinds of ancient creatures and monsters in this film along their journey back home and I was very invested in those scenes. Some of those moments almost felt like horror in a way with the elements they were dealing with and how things played out for them. Maybe that’s why I liked them so much. They battled giants, a Cyclops, a witch, sirens, and even more creatures and beings along their travels. Another peak scene for me was their journey into Hades. The heaviness of Odysseus having to face seeing how many of his men he sent there through actions in the war, but also the creepiness and eeriness of the environment and how it was shot. Again, Nolan being Nolan, there were people coming up out of the ground in Hades to speak to Odysseus and those actors were actually shallowly buried underneath the ground during that scene to make the effect of them climbing up out of the dirt more real, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t work. I’m mainly talking about the journey home here because those were my favorite parts of the movie, but everything else was well done as well. Anne Hathaway really showed off her chops as Queen Penelope. Her portrayal of all her pent-up grief and anger and frustration of her situation while still trying to maintain her Queenly image was very well done on her part. Tom Holland as their son ‘Telemachus’ was really good also, although frustrating at times with just how uncapable and in over his head he felt and was, but that was the character themselves and not Tom. Robert Pattinson was so good and so hateable as that little power-hungry snake ‘Antinous’ as well. I know everyone says it, but he really has come so far from being the heartthrob in the poorly acted ‘Twilight’ series to becoming one of the best working actors in Hollywood today.
A small gripe of mine would be that some of the intense action moments are shot so chaotically that you can’t always see or tell what’s going on because the camera moves around so much and the actors are moving so intensely that it’s almost impossible to keep up with what’s happening. There’s 1 scene in particular near the end of the film that you’ll know what I’m talking about if you see it. It was meant to be shot like that though or it wouldn’t have been, just not necessarily what I would’ve preferred in that moment I guess, but I’m not Christopher Nolan either so. If you’re a fan of his work as a director, or you’re a Greek mythology fan, or you just like big-budget beautifully shot films then definitely go check this one out in theaters. It’s a lengthy one so prepare for that, about 2 hours and 50 minutes, but that’s to be expected. Not just because it’s Christopher Nolan, but because it’s ‘Homer’s Odyssey’ and if you’re making that into a film it’s going to be lengthy and detailed and epic because it has to be. Box office projections are already through the roof for this movie, and it has potential to bring in close to $100 million at the box office its opening weekend, so it looks like the internet trolls are going to take another big fat L on this one but go see it for yourself and formulate your own opinions on it. Don’t be a loud voice on the internet without any actual knowledge of what you’re talking about.
That’ll just about do it for this one though folks! Thanks for taking some time out today to read along with me. Make sure to like the page on social media or come back to the website often to see new weekly posts over new films, horror movies (both old and new), pro wrestling, and more! Thank you and until next time, be good to one another!
