You know that feeling of complete physical exhaustion? The sensation you get after you’ve worked out super hard or maybe eaten a huge meal, and you feel totally spent, but still somehow perfect? That’s the feeling Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey provides. It’s a movie that’s so massive, so comprehensive, so emotional, and so overwhelming that it feels like more than a movie. It feels like an experience.
Which is pretty much exactly what audiences have been hoping for. Ever since the news broke that Nolan would be bringing his Oscar-winning, billion-dollar talents to Homer’s legendary story, expectations couldn’t have been higher. And The Odyssey definitely delivers on those. It takes audiences on an incredible ride. A ride that, we believe, happens to be a little smoother in some places, and a little bumpier at others. In the end, it’s an awesome, fully satisfying film, but one that’s just a tad less than the perfection we’re all expecting.
Written and directed by Nolan himself, The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus, played by Matt Damon. He’s the King of Ithaca who is called to war with Troy. That story, most of us know, is partially told in Homer’s The Iliad. The Odyssey is the next part of that. It’s the story of Odysseus trying to get home after the Trojan War. But to make sure we have all that context, Nolan has to weave in multiple timelines, from decades before Odysseus is called away, the Trojan War itself, and, of course, its aftermath. So, even from a basic story standpoint, and before you get to what it all means, there is already a lot going on.
And, for the most part, Nolan handles this beautifully. Early on in The Odyssey, the movie oddly feels like jazz. We watch one story, and then a word or a name will trigger a need to go to another story, and Nolan will cut there. Then, it’ll happen again, not in any specific order, and while the flow of time and location should be disjointed, it isn’t. It’s lyrical and gives the film an engrossing momentum that sets up everything to come. Ludwig Göransson’s varied, ethereal score helps keep that tone and pacing, too.
As the story goes on, however, Nolan is almost forced to turn that style off. When Odysseus and his men go into battle or encounter a new foe, Nolan focuses on that, and it feels like a different movie. A very good, very engaging, very beautiful movie, but a new movie nevertheless. The story and characterization he’s built by weaving everything together set up the singular set pieces, but the set pieces can’t help but feel a little more constrained because everything leading up to them has felt quite the opposite. When one 10-minute stretch weaves and flows, linking multiple decades across the ages, and then the next section is 20 minutes all in a cave, there’s an undeniable contrast that makes the film feel a hair uneven.
Honestly, though? That’s it. That’s the only real gripe we had with The Odyssey. Every scene is awesome, but some are just a little less awesome by comparison. Beyond that, there’s so much to like and so much to take in that it’s hard to even praise it all. But we’ll try.
Case in point, we’ve gone this far into the review and not mentioned the film’s other lead characters. Specifically, there’s Odysseus’s wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and their son Telemachus (Tom Holland). A huge part of understanding and connecting to Odysseus’s story is knowing what he’s fighting to come home to. And, back home, his wife and son have been alone for 20 years as hundreds of suitors stay in the castle hoping to marry the would-be widow. It creates a ton of tension for them all, especially as one suitor in particular, Antinous (Robert Pattinson), begins his treacherous scheming.
Penelope and Telemachus’ story is crucial because we get to see the pain Odysseus’ absence has caused and, obviously, set the stage for what could happen if he returns. It’s also where we get some of the film’s best supporting performances, such as John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, an Odysseus loyalist, and Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, the king of Sparta whom Telemachus visits.
Bernthal’s character bridges both stories, however, as it was his brother Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) who started the war with Troy over the abduction of Menelaus’ wife, Helen (Lupita Nyong’o). And just as it feels like we’re just dropping in superstar, Oscar-winning names out of nowhere in this review, The Odyssey can also feel like that at times. In seemingly every role on screen, you see someone you recognize. Charlize Theron shows up for a while as Calypso, a nymph who captures Odysseus. Zendaya is the goddess Athena, who appears to Odysseus in times of peril. Elliot Page is Sinon, a solider whom Odysseus keeps under his wing. And Himesh Patel is Eurylochus, Odysseus’ most trusted ally. Thankfully, from top to bottom, the cast knows the assignment and brings their A-game.
Then there are a few characters who only appear for a scene or two, but make an impact that resonates throughout the film. The best example is Samantha Morton, who plays Circe, a witch who does things to Odysseus’ men that allows Nolan to play in a genre he’s never done before: Horror. Bill Irwin then plays Polyphemus, a giant cyclops who traps Odysseus and his men. Each performance is staggering, and even though these are two of the scenes that feel so much more contained than the rest of the film, scenes like these give The Odyssey its adventurous scope. Yes, it’s true. Eventually, even that small gripe we had with the film goes away.
Nolan makes it all work filming in 70mm IMAX, which is the format I happened to see the film in. Basically, what that means is that from floor to ceiling, you’re almost completely immersed in the moment, which is both hugely overwhelming and, eventually, oddly invisible. Nolan’s previous films switched between a standard aspect ratio and a full IMAX screen, which made those IMAX scenes stand out. Here, though, everything is in IMAX, so once the story hooks you in, you almost forget just how big and beautiful this all is. That is, until you look at a mountainside the size of a mountainside, or you fear for your life that a fire has broken out in the theater, but it’s just because Nolan captured a fire so far away from the center of the frame, it feels like you’re living it.
All of this leads to the film’s final act, during which—3,000-year-old spoiler alert—Odysseus does make it home. And while this section of the story lacks some of the magic, creatures, and scope of the rest, it’s by far the most rewarding and exciting section. Early on in the film, it’s often a little unclear what Nolan wants to say with this adaptation. We watch it, we’re in awe of it, but it’s just kind of happening. However, here we realize he’s built out the story so carefully in so many ways that at the end, everything comes rushing in all at once like a wave. We learn Nolan’s thoughts on life, loss, regret, sacrifice, and more, all while the narrative pays off each of its relationships and conflicts on a level befitting the rest of the epic. There will be cheers. There will be tears, and it’s all quite wonderful.
Which is how I feel about The Odyssey in general. That exhausted feeling you may have after is because you just watched something that engaged you on every level. It leaves you thinking about its implications. It leaves you reeling from its intensity. It leaves you ready to go on the journey again. It works on every single level, even if at times, those levels are a teeny tiny bit uneven.
The Odyssey opens everywhere on July 17. See it in 70mm IMAX if possible, but see it however you can.
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