The Odyssey Review

[00:02] That line is the crux of Christopher Nolan's much anticipated adaptation of The Odyssey, a film that is truly huge in scope while also at times emotionally acute. Using Homer's foundational epic poem as a lens through which to offer a

[00:15] surprisingly modern lesson [music] about war, PTSD, and the very question of why almost [music] 3,000 years since The Odyssey first came into existence. Nolan's opus is resonant and often bold. Unfortunately, it also occasionally

[00:31] misses a step in its storytelling and frequently feels [music] rushed despite its nearly 3-hour running time. The result is a must-see if sometimes frustrating film that is marked [music] with moments of brilliance. I'm Scott

[00:43] Collura and this is my review of The Odyssey. >> No one could stand between me and home.

[00:56] first few chapters of The Odyssey back in 10th grade English class should know the story, but a quick refresher. Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, the king warrior husband father who has been missing from his home island of Ithaca

[01:09] for some 20 years. Flung across the realm of ancient mythological Greece after being summoned by the king of the Greek kings, Agamemnon. Told in non-chronological fashion, hey, this is Nolan after all, but also hey,

[01:22] Homer did it first, Odysseus's wife Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, and their now on the verge of manhood son Telemachus, played by Tom Holland, suffer back at home wondering if their king will ever return. Even while the

[01:34] greedy and very uncool suitors, led by Robert Pattinson's Antinous, run roughshod over Odysseus's home, vying for his wealth and his wife. It's a story that's been told on film before, if never very successfully. 2024's The

[01:49] but it only depicts the last act of Homer's work. And Nolan, perhaps inevitably, makes tweaks to the original poem that might bug Homer fans, changing bits here, compressing story threads there, adding in elements from other

[02:03] Greek mythology works, and even occasionally removing some of the most hold your breath if you're waiting for Odysseus to pull his "I am nobody" trick on the Cyclops here. That said, there's no way to translate all of the Odyssey

[02:16] into a feature film without nipping and tucking and, [music] in the spirit of the work, dismembering some elements. And besides, the folks who never made it past chapter 3 in high school are not going to know this anyway.

[02:28] Nolan's film are the horror elements that he brings to the highly episodic escapades of Odysseus and his men as they struggle to find their way back home after the Trojan War, only to fall on bad luck time and again. For example,

[02:42] via visual effect but the performance of which was guided by the great Bill Irwin, removes much of the dialogue between the one-eyed monster and Odysseus from the book. But in its place, the director inserts a sort of

[02:55] existential dread as the thing goes about its day-to-day business of waking up, herding sheep, eating Odysseus's men, and going to sleep before doing it all over again the next day. The grotesque design of the beast and the

[03:07] otherworldly sound design add to the creep factor, but the Cyclops also seems to exist on a sort of higher level than mere man, barely aware of the crew's presence when not chomping on them. As Damon's Odysseus notes, "We don't try to

[03:20] talk to ants, so why should this beast try to talk to us?" >> [screaming] >> A trip to the underworld is spectacularly realized as Odysseus encounters, among others, the men who

[03:33] have died under his command, and therein lies the rub for Odysseus, for how many have died because of his machinations over the past 20 years. Another moment comes when Samantha Morton's witch Circe transforms Odysseus's men

[03:48] into pigs, morphing them and sculpting them with her bare hands, Rick Baker across as sort of justified in her actions just serves to underline the film's thematic examination of what war does to man, or is it more a question of

[04:04] why man does war? >> We want no war. the core of Nolan's The Odyssey. Despite its strokes of beauty, ugliness, and

[04:18] ingenuity in retelling Homer's story, Damon plays the hero as a warrior who stricken by the horrors he has wrought. His invention, the Trojan Horse, won the war for Agamemnon, but to what end? After the war, the character is set

[04:32] adrift emotionally as much as he is literally lost at sea. The issue with this notion, however, is that Odysseus arrives at this state of mind early in see him continue to make the same kind of mistakes time and again that landed

[04:47] hasn't learned his lesson despite his revelation. Additionally, while Damon is perfectly serviceable as Odysseus, he's also lacking the mischievous trickster take on the character. In Greek mythology, Odysseus basically pulled a

[05:03] Clinger from MASH trying to get out of having to go to war by acting like he was insane, but in the film, he dutifully and nobly heeds the call of Agamemnon. Interestingly, it's Pattinson's character who's the draft

[05:15] Batman actor does what he can with what is basically the main villain role, but the suitors are essentially just depicted as bad guys doing bad things. The nuance that some interpretations of The Odyssey have brought to the suitors,

[05:29] the idea for example that Odysseus drafted their fathers, their grandfathers, and their older brothers to go off and all die in the war only for the king to be the sole survivor to return home is not really explored by

[05:41] >> They're pining [snorts] for daddy. past. >> As for Tom Holland's Telemachus, this is another character who can be frustrating to watch or to read since he's

[05:55] [music] to act against the villains who have overtaken his home. and find all these suitors in his house? >> Holland doesn't quite find a way around this dilemma and even when the cathartic final battle with the suitors arrives,

[06:09] doesn't get much to do. Hathaway, however, is perfect as the long-suffering Penelope working her loom and waiting for a husband who may never return and who she may not even recognize if and when he does. Her

[06:22] scenes with Damon shine including pre-war flashbacks invented by Nolan. >> Promise me you will come back. What if I can't? interlopers in her home, she can be vicious. The cast is chock-a-block with

[06:35] stars and highly recognizable faces even if most of them don't get a ton to do. John Bernthal does his John Bernthal thing as Menelaus, but Lupita Nyong'o in her brief scenes as Helen of Troy adds texture to the enigmatic character in a

[06:48] way that hasn't often been done. The actress also plays Helen's twin sister wife to Agamemnon. The face of Benny Safdie's Agamemnon is never fully seen, but his looming presence is [music] always feared even by his own men.

[07:00] Hamish Patel gets a bit of depth as Odysseus's questioning lieutenant while Mia Goth's handmaiden to Penelope is memorably Mia Gothian for what little time we see her. And oh my swineherd, John Leguizamo is funny and touching as

[07:14] Eumaeus, [music] Odysseus's loyal servant and caretaker of the best old dog in literature, Argos. There's also the matter of the gods who are frequently invoked here, but not seen the way they are in Homer.

[07:27] nymph in the myth, but could just as easily be interpreted in the film as a less scary Annie Wilkes who just wants to keep Odysseus for herself. Zendaya's Athena pops up at key moments typically when Odysseus is at his most

[07:41] of the tricks that she does in the book, and how Nolan chooses to ultimately depict the character is one of the film's best conceits, as the question of what a god, or the god, actually is, and how such a concept would inform a

[07:55] character like Odysseus's journey is central to the film. What must also be acknowledged with the Odyssey is how skillfully Nolan has taken the many please be aware that I say this as someone who absolutely loves Homer, but,

[08:09] you know, pig men, giant cannibals, living whirlpools, more giants, he makes them at best terrifying and at least interesting and believable. The much ballyhooed IMAX 70 mm production was no small feat to pull off, and moments like

[08:24] ship [music] get torn apart around him during a vicious storm are as visceral as a film going experience can get. But, that doesn't mean that everything in the film works. One recurring idea about Zeus's law [music] of hospitality

[08:37] receding while mysterious invaders from the sea are apparently slowly eroding civilization itself just doesn't ring true. It's a hook Nolan attempts to hang the Odyssey on, but like Odysseus's arc itself, it gets lost in the tide of the

[08:50] >> You're a man who needs to control his fate. >> So, I'm giving the Odyssey an A. Christopher Nolan's film is a must-watch

[09:03] cinematic experience, an epic film version of an epic poem that adapts many [music] through a new eye that frequently brings a sense of horror and existential angst to the story, and even a bit of humor, too. Matt Damon is fine

[09:17] as the title character, if not revelatory, but the extensive supporting individual moments, as do some of Nolan's unique additions [music] to the story. While Odysseus's emotional journey here can be as choppy as a rough

[09:30] is eroding theme is undercooked, the film's bigger observations on the effects of war and those who are forced to participate in it are well met. The great movie-going experience all the same. For even more on the Odyssey,

[09:44] [music] be sure to check out our interviews with the stars. And for all of your Odyssey needs, be sure to like and subscribe to IGN wherever you watch.