Quick Review: The Odyssey (2026)

I think if I were to choose a director that truly feels like the event director, it would have to be Christopher Nolan. Even if you don’t find his films that appealing, you can’t deny that when he releases a film, it does feel like a special occasion. Even people that watch 5 movies a year in the theater would most likely have a Nolan movie be part of that 5 if he’s releasing that year. His movies are always technically impressive to look at and you know that you’re going to get quite the experience when watching them. When it was announced that Nolan was going to adapt The Odyssey, I was very excited to see how this was going to turn out. Based on the tale from Homer and perhaps being one of the oldest pieces of literature out there, I think a lot of people weren’t sure if Nolan would be able to tackle this and were a bit worried. But for me, Nolan seemed like the perfect choice for this. One of the biggest directors tackling one of the most famous tales of all time seemed like a perfect match. I think though many like me wondered how he would tackle this and after all the hype surrounding the film, would it even live up to it? After watching it, The Odyssey may perhaps be the most important film in Nolan’s career right behind Oppenheimer and I believe is going to be looked back on as one of the great films of our time.

The story of The Odyssey feels grand and the almost 3 hours we indulge in is engaging from start to finish. We see two sides of the story as we see the side of Telemachus as he’s dealing with the conflict of suitors wanting to take the throne from the King Odysseus as he’s been gone for many years, but Telemachus and the queen Penelope defend it. We also follow Odysseus as he is recounting his time after the Trojan War and trying to remember his memories

The film is told in a familiar Nolan style as we are a bit lost as the story starts and then fed information through the rest of the film. While I haven’t read the story of The Odyssey, I can tell that Nolan did a great job at recontextualizing this story for modern audiences and doing enough that makes it feel fresh and unique. The first half of the film is on a much slower side of letting us get to know this world and characters and then the second half locks in so hard and makes for a thrilling experience. I especially liked the themes that he tackles in the story as it deals with war, power, and regret. It takes the story of The Odyssey and explores another layer to it all that works for this story. It feels like the perfect companion piece to Oppenheimer after what he took on in that film and having similar themes prevalent here. There’s so many memorable sequences of the film that I’m still thinking about that makes for an unforgettable experience. Not only that, but it takes on different genres in some sequences as well like with horror. There’s a couple sequences that have horror elements to them that I was not expecting, but very happy to see how they were implemented into the story. I was also surprised with how emotional the story could be as there’s moments that carry a lot of weight to them. The story here had me hooked and even being almost 3 hours, it felt like that time was flying by and I think they did a great job telling the story the way they did.

The cast of The Odyssey is very much an all star cast as there are so many familiar names attached in this film. I think it would be easy for some of the casting decisions to feel a bit distracting with how many familiar faces are in the film, but I think just about everyone does a fantastic job here and do what they need to do in the film. I think Matt Damon is fantastic as Odysseus and I think the conflict that he has with himself as he recollects his past is shown immensely well. Tom Holland while not doing anything too crazy as Telemachus does what he needs to do in the role and is exceptional here. Anne Hathaway is once again acting her ass off and proving how great of an actress she is as Penelope. The same can be said for Robert Pattinson as Antinous being a wonderful villain. I think John Leguizamo as well does a phenomenal job as Eumaecus and provides an emotional core to it all. Also shoutout Himesh Patel as Eurylochus who I wasn’t expecting to have that big of a part in the story, but was happy he did. Then we have characters in the film that while having a small part I think provide so much to the film and give it their all when it’s their time to shine. This goes for Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Elliot Page (who has one of the best scenes of the movie), Samantha Morton (same thing), Jon Bernthal, Corey Hawkins, and so many other names I’m sure I’m missing. This cast is absolutely stacked and it’s great that so many of them do a lot to provide something for the film.

One clear standout of the film in the technical aspect is the cinematography. It’s an achievement seeing a film being entirely shot on IMAX 70mm and just from what they show here, you can see they went all out in showing the scope of this world to the max. There’s a lot of shots of the film that I’m still thinking about as I write this. Even though I didn't see this in IMAX 70mm (I got tickets for Saturday though lol), I still think you’re getting so much of the imagery that’s impressive to see on screen and there’s a beauty to it all. It’s just insane seeing what they were able to capture for this film especially doing it all with the IMAX cameras. It’s a visually impressive film that deserves to be seen if you can on the biggest screen possible.

Another clear standout of the film is Ludwig Görranson’s score. Ludwig has been proving himself as being one of this generation’s defining composers and the score that he provides for this film only proves this sentiment. Every time I hear a Ludwig score, it always sounds different and unique and that’s what it feels like here. I would say it’s not as loud as what Oppenheimer was doing, but it still manages to elevate scenes in the film. I’ve been thinking about the tracks Penelope and Odysseus ever since I left the theater. Ludwig’s scores are amazing and I can’t wait to hear more from him in the incoming future.

I think you can basically say that everything that this film is doing is just an achievement on all fronts. I found the set design remarkable and made me feel immersed into this world. The costumes are really well made and look great. The practical effects are very unique to look at and I love seeing that craft shown on screen. The VFX artists do so much work that they deserve props for. There’s some great uses of sound in the film that I love. I think especially where it stands out is during the Cyclops scene and the sirens scene. They do a phenomenal job with it and I especially can’t wait to have that experience of watching those scenes be enhanced when I see it in IMAX. Maybe the one thing that doesn’t always work is the sound mixing which has always been a problem in Nolan movies. Sometimes you can’t hear characters talk in a scene because of everything happening around and it does become a bit distracting. But besides that, I think all the other aspects that this film is doing is absolutely amazing.

As I describe The Odyssey I think it’s going to be a film that is remembered as one of the big epics of our time based on the scale and way that it was made. I see it on that level that we look at films from the past like The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, and so many other films based on how these films look and the scale they were made on. I think it makes so much sense that Nolan followed up this film after Oppenheimer as these two seem like companion pieces to each other dealing with the themes of war and regret. I think even if the film isn’t perfect and you can nitpick quite a bit, it’s doing so much where you can’t deny that this film is doing things that other films aren’t. I could talk so much more about how much I love this film, but I think you need to see it for yourself to get the full picture. Out of any director, I’m glad it was Nolan that took on this task of adapting this story for the silver screen.

The Odyssey is going to be a film remembered through time. It’s an achievement in filmmaking from the way it was made to the scale of it all. I was floored with what I saw on screen and I can’t wait to catch it a couple more times on the big screen which I don’t usually do, but this is a film that feels like it deserves it.