Year: 2026
Director: Christopher Nolan
The latest in Christopher Nolan’s one-man mission to Save Big Cinema, after Barbenheimer ruled summer 2023. Where better to go for another Big Story than one of the oldest Big Stories of them all. We went en famille, so had in the car to bring our youngest son up to date with the prequel story ‘When did the Iliad come out?’.
Nolan’s preference for non-linear storytelling goes a bit like this: the present day is his seven-day long weekend with Calypso (Charlize Theron) eating the lotus flower and generally chilling like Bond in Thailand before M gets on the blower one more time. Flashbacks to The Iliad itself are chiefly to two central episodes: the selection of soldiers to sail to Troy, which sets up a la Hunger Games Sinon taking the short straw actually given to R Patz’s cowardly Antonous; and the Trojan Horse sequence.
Intercut with the fall of Troy is the voyage home and the whittling down of the crew to the Final Man found by Calypso. A friend who saw this too commented these are generally find an island/encounter a monster/run very fast back to the beach. So we have the Cyclops, the Laestrygonians, Scylla and Charybdis, and a brilliant sequence with Samanta Morton showing proper acting as Circe, turning the crew into swine.
While all this going on a parallel story unfolds in Ithaca, Odysseus’ home kingdom. Penelope, his wife, fends off suitors including Antonous by sewing her . Odysseus’ son Telemachus (who has never met his dad) leaves Ithaca to find him.
At the centre of all of this is Matt Damon as Odysseus. Craggy and with his beard length denoting where we are in the story, he’s perhaps more muscular and less crafty than the original, but now he’s entering his Obi Wan Phase he’s got enough gravitas to hold the whole thing together.
The heart of the film is the fall of Troy. As a piece of pure visual storytelling the sequence where the horse is left, found by the Trojans and taken as a peace offering into the city, where Odysseus men descend like ancient special forces to open the gates is up with the best Nolan has ever done. This of course leads to the sack of the city – amidst the burning, raping and massacring Damon realises they have broken the law of Zeus and this is no victory but the start of something much more terrible.The other brilliant sequence is Odysseus’ descent into Hades, to speak with the dead to find his way home.
From this point all unfolds according to the will of the Gods, who decree that only Odysseus will make it home alive. Despite all his efforts to defy this prediction, only Odysseus survives to wash up on Calypso’s beach.
Nolan one hundred percent succeeds in making this 3000 year old story vital, and in its depiction of the emptiness of victory contemporary. Inevitably certain sequences are stronger than others, with episodes like the giant cybermen the Lystrogonians appearing to come and go without contributing much to the narrative. He holds up on the whole all the narrative threads in the air, to come down in the return to his court and the final showdown with the suitors. It’s here Damon, by now with a beard to his knees, goes full Obi Wan/Darth Vader with a cloak and hood and I Am Your Father mode engaged.
We saw it on an IMAX screen, which gives the repeated ultra wide composition of a beach, sky and sea its full due. He several times introduces a key image – Sinon on a beach with the Horse as its discovered by the Trojans; Odysseus on some steps as the fall of Troy rages – to return to it later when it’s full significance is made clear. Compression means that the origins of the war are difficult to grasp without prior knowledge – a Star Wars narrative crawler text was no doubt contemplated – and the role of the Gods is reduced to Athena, who comes to Damon to provide wisdom and motivation; and never-seen Poseidon who whips up a storm or two once Damon has crossed him.
Producing a definitive version is beyond the mortals, but Nolan produces an Odyssey for our times that’s as good as we’ve any right to expect. He finds a few twists – not in the main narrative, but in the character relationships, that are very satisfying. The action never flags over almost three hours, the acting from Damon, Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson pretty good, and it is visually astonishing. Makes me wish he did do the Iliad first though.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
Nolan’s canon, beards, skirts and sandals…
It is also, in the IMAX projection, very loud at times. I left my shiny new hearing aids at home and had no trouble in hearing everything.
Fantastic movie, very possibly his best so far.
Only real criticisms are that Tom Holland, giving his best Michael J Fox, is badly miscast/outgunned, and the film’s themes are a little muddled at times. Otherwise, fine performances all round, plenty of visual spectacle and a handful of all-timer set pieces. Plus, anyone who enjoys the spectacle of men fleeing for their lives while shouting “launch the boats” is in for an absolute treat.
Nolan is very clearly working his way through the various genres in which Kubrick operated. Watching a couple of sequences in the Odyssey suggested that when he makes his Shining – which I sense will be sooner, rather than later – it has the potential to be glorious.
Big wide landscape shot,…and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, dream sequence, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, weird stuff, …and then, …and then, …and then, Redrum, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, another dream sequence,…and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, more weird stuff,…and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny! …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, …and then, entire real hotel complex burns to the ground …and then.
That’s the storyboard sorted. Now just damp down the colours, play some temporal games with the editing and render 5% of the dialogue inaudible due to mumbling and you’re playing proper Nolanball.
Why do these big films nowadays always have to be around 3 hours long without an interval? A rather high percentage of the cinema going audience is over 60, should we wear diapers/nappies?
Yes. Nolan has been very clear on this in interviews.
On diapers?
Lol, as they say.
ahem
allow me to be of assistance…
https://runpee.com/
@dai to faithfully reproduce this film in 3 hours is a solid achievement. To do it in less than that would have necessitated leaving some very important parts out.
The scholars have already got their knives out for Nolan. Unfairly in my opinion as he did a remarkable job.
I’m very tempted by this, but I’ve been hurt before. Does he rein in his tendency to do Important but Dreary (Interstellar, Oppenheimer) and Clever But Incomprehensible (Inception, TENET) at the expense of a good time?
I would say yes (although I do love Interstellar). Will be interested to hear the views of others.
Thanks Bingo. I’m being a bit unfair on Interstellar in retrospect although that ruins the neatness of my previous post. Insert Dreary Nolan movie of your choice.
Interstellar is a very marmite movie, to be fair. I’m with you on Oppenheimer – nowhere near as good as the book on which it was based.
It is comprehensible – a bit of background on the causes of the war won’t hurt.
Helps someone else write the first draft of the screenplay. Dreary? There are murky candlelit interiors. And no gags – no change there for Nolan.
Hey, spoilers!
I’m watching Titanic next. Not a word.
I think he’s a very good director with interesting ideas (although his obsession with time and cutting between different timeframes can be a bit wearing. And don’t get me started on the near-empty beaches in his Dunkirk …)
However, despite his track record and the almost unaminous glowing reviews, The Odyssey just doesn’t interest me. I know it’s one of *the* big stories, and it’s being retold by an A-list cast and crew, but there’s something a bit cold and clinical about Nolan’s style that puts me off seeing his version of an ancient epic.
As a writer/director, I’m not sure that emotional storytelling is his strongest suit (although I’m sure people can immediately come up with numerous examples to prove me wrong). If I’m going to be swept up in a saga like the Odyssey, I think I’d rather it was with, to pick a name, Steven Spielberg.
Still, I expect I will get the blu-ray as soon as it’s available, just to see what the fuss was all about.
I have a few friends who find Nolan’s movies overly cold and clinical, and who have respected rather than truly enjoyed The Odyssey. Think it’d definitely a fair observation, and it’s accurate for this movie.
That said, if you’re going to watch it I wouldn’t wait for the blu-ray. It’s a film that massively benefits from being seen on the biggest possible screen and with a crowd. It’s built for cinema.
I’ll have to give it a miss, as Matt Damon is one of those actors I find incredibly irritating. I just don’t think he can act. In fairness, he’s gone full-on method this time: he’s grown a beard.
The same goes for his twittish other half, Ben Thingy.
Have you watched ‘The Martian’? It’s almost entirely Matt Damon on screen and I thought it was a riveting, entertaining film.
Agreed. Worthy version of the book.
An exemplar of the rule that second rate books/plays make first rate movies – Everybody Comes to Rick’s being the most famous example.
Are the big song and dance numbers any good ?
I especially liked the sirens as they tried to lure Odysseus to his doom by swimming Busby Berkeley style round Odysseus’ boat.Charlize Theron singing ‘Jump in the Line (Shake Senora ) was another highlight.
I think I agree with the radio presenter who said she can’t face three hours of bearded men hitting each other. I’ll wait for Netflix.
Samantha Morton definitely doesn’t play a bearded man. I checked.
Also, and this isn’t’ a slight on Netflix, it’s a big, big film, and needs a big, big screen. I imagine that would be like listening to Astral Weeks on your phone.
And Calypso, as portrayed by Charlize Theron, definitely doesn’t have a beard.
Seven years with Charlize…
A bit of context: I have a Classics degree, I’ve read big chunks of The Odyssey in Greek, and I wrote my dissertation specifically on Odysseus. From a pedantic poem nerd POV it’s generally a very good adaptation. I had quite a few minor quibbles and was sad at some of the omissions, but almost all of all those can be ascribed to trying to fit a 12,000 line poem into one movie, even a long one. There is one terrible misstep at the end that had me wincing, but normal people probably won’t even notice it. Not super keen on the changed ending either, but I can see it works for the film. I thought the Underworld and Circe scenes were especially well done, but the whole thing is very impressive. and is a great spectacle. I will be going to see it again I expect. And I’m someone who as a rule doesn’t like Christopher Nolan movies.
How audible is the dialogue? Really struggled with Oppenheimer, think I missed about 30-40% of it
There were quite a few occasions when I thought “I wish this had subtitles”.
Our local shows films on Sunday night with subtitles.
Probably not much use to you.
We were at an open air production of a Shakespeare last week my wife said she missed hearing some bits properly I had no problems I had my hearing aids in.
Just checked. My local multiplex (10 mins away) is showing it 24 times a day, 4 of these showings appear to have closed captions (subtitles)
Saw it yesterday at FlixBrewhouse, so a couple of beers with lunch helped make the 3 hours fly by.
Enjoyed it a lot. But…but… some of the emotional heart for me didn’t land. Which, bizarrely, made Tom Holland’s performance all the more credible for me. He was clinging to an idea of a person he’d never met, as opposed to Hathaway and Damon hanging on for a person.
I don’t usually go to the pictures for flicks that go on for more than 90 minutes. Will there be an edited version for those of us who just want to see a good story, well told?
Well I’m looking forward to seeing it. In a decent cinema. With a no-kids audience. In those circumstances there isn’t much that beats a good old fashioned cinematic epic for an evening’s entertainment. And one thing I know in advance is that it must certainly be a better watch than the disappointing ‘Troy’ gore-fest.
We saw it this afternoon. On the plus side, it’s a great spectacle, the three hours flew by, and for once Damon isn’t too punchable.
On the other, the story is by its nature picaresque, and I should have done a bit of homework beforehand. In the earliest scenes in particular I spent a lot of time trying to remember who was who and how they were related to other characters. A brief scene-setting narration about The Iliad might have helped.
Oh, and while you’re there, can anyone tell me how that huge clumsy Cyclops managed to milk sheep to make cheese?
Edit – And a couple of points Odysseus’ men were fleeing for their lives back their landing bots, and another man would be standing in the water waving his arm in the direction of the boat. I think we can take it as read that the fleeing men know what direction they want to go in. And while we’re at it the dialogue is often tin-eared, but that’s standard for epics
Previously, on The Odyssey….
when asked, dim but good-looking bloke Paris decides Aphrodite is the hottest goddess, and in reward he gets off with the gorgeous Helen, who lives in the kingdom of Sparta, and runs off with her to the kingdom of Troy. Trouble is she’s married, and the husband Menelaus and his bonkers brother Agamemnon head to Troy to get her back. Hideous ten year siege war follows. Eventually, a cunning plan by the Spartan warrior Odysseus hides crack ninjas inside a wooden statue of a horse left outside the city gates, which the gormless Trojans then drag back inside the city. Out pop the ninjas at night, open the city doors and Troy gets sacked in a gory death-fest. Having put that one to bed, Odysseus finally sets off for home…
Translator doesn’t like it:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/27/odyssey-translator-emily-wilson-attacks-nolan-blockbuster
She is no doubt correct about inaccuracies but I feel she misses the point: it is a very decent movie. The fight at the end could have been half an hour [check this – Ed] shorter, mind.
Saw it today in the Imax. For a three hour film it fairly flew by – Nolan does some of the big scenes like the Trojan horse, Circe and the Cyclops really imaginatively; the big landscapes and seascapes look good; and the action is great. In this version of the myth Odysseus is war-weary and guilty about what he’s done and about the pointlessness of ten years of war and death – he is a very 21st century epic hero. But that’s ok – I really don’t mind what Nolan’s done to edit and change the original so long as he has made an enjoyable film that has its own integrity and he has certainly done that. My one criticism is that there is a lack of real emotional heft. But for someone who generally can’t stand big sword and sorcery epic cinema, I thought that this was great.