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Now playing: THE ODYSSEY
Nolan hits Homer
And...ACTION!
Universal Pictures Presents THE ODYSSEY (2026) Directed and Written by Christopher Nolan based on the Epic Poem by Homer / Director of Photography: Hoyte van Hoytema (IMAX 70mm) / Production Design: Ruth De Jong / Editor: Jennifer Lame / Composer: Ludwig Göransson / Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick / Acted by: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Samantha Morton, Logan Marshall-Green, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, Josh Stewart, Benny Safde, Ryan Hurst, John Leguizamo, Bill Irwin, Andrew Holland, Will Yun Lee, Travis Scott, and A Cast of Thousands! / Countries of Origin: USA & Britain / Rated R / Length: 172 min.
That Christopher Nolan took Homer’s The Odyssey—a high density, 5000 year-old epic Greek poem that spans 24 books and over 12,000 lines of verse, originally composed in a highly rhythmic meter to be recited aloud by oral storytellers—and make it palatable for contemporary audiences weaned on effect-driven comic books, is, in and of itself, a miracle. Add to that a finished product with a three-hour runtime that also packs an emotional wallop, and you’re looking at the crowning glory of the director’s collected works.
Nolan's motto: “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.” Had Nolan directed Planet of the Apes, he surely would have built a life-size replica of the Statue of Liberty, cut it in half and sunk the top part in the sand, just for the sake of versimilitude. For The Odyssey, the director wasn't satisfied with merely making the biggest film of his career; he wanted to make the biggest film of all time. Rather than using CGI as a crutch, Nolan decided to build as much as he could. Unless the visual was impossible to mock up — most notably, the giant whirlpool — he opted for practical effects or, as he calls it, "in-camera spectacle."
There are some who deride Nolan’s use of modern dialogue more familiar to contemporary viewers. (No one complained when Harvey Keitel’s Judas spoke perfect Brooklynese in The Last Temptation of Christ.) For my part, it’s wasn't the au courant cadence that stuck in my craw, but a bit of ill-advised pandering: I don’t recall Homer’s use of “fuck” and “shit” in the original text, and perhaps there is good reason for that. While we're on the subject of modern missteps: I understand Tom Holland was filming the latest Spider-Man installment, but his summer boy haircut is more befitting Venice Beach than ancient times. Robert De Niro was bicycling between Italy (1900) and New York while filming Taxi Driver, and his mohawk looks as though he actually shaved his head rather than being fit with a latex mock-up.
These are quibbles, easily overwhelmed by the film’s implementation of spectacle, which is indeed, well…spectacular. Many of the stories that make up the legends have been done before. Rather than animating miniatures, as Ray Harryhausen did in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Nolan and his crew built a 60-foot puppet that, if memory serves, is now the only Cyclops on record with a vertical eye. The Trojan House was also built from scratch. And when it comes to the famed Trojan Horse, Nolan's built-to-scale steed makes its predecessor in Robert Wise’s Helen of Troy (1958) look like a hobby horse. When it comes to breathtakingly big visuals, my heart will forever go out to Cecil B. DeMille (Sign of the Cross, The Ten Commandments) and Anthony Mann’s monumental El Cid, but any time a film is mentioned in the same breath as these two arbiters of extravagance, it’s a safe bet that you’re in good hands.
By today’s jaded standards, the film makes good on the old adage, “all-star cast.” If there is one standout performance, it’s Samantha Morton’s sinister Circe, the witch who turns Odysseus’ (Matt Damon) army into a roomful of swine. She was so damned creepy in her otherwise cool and calculating mien that she even brought the otherwise rapt audience to life. No jeers or catcalls, just a soft, cogently disagreeable murmur as Circe performed her hoodoo.
I’ll have more to say next week when I see it again, this time in IMAX. (For you early-risers: some theaters have scheduled 8 am screenings.) And don’t feel too bad about not being able to see it in IMAX 70mm; only 25 theaters across the country are equipped to project it the way Nolan originally intended. My maiden viewing was in 70mm, an otherwise exceptional format, but the image in the AMC Mission Valley 20 was more than half the size of its giant counterparts. As I said in my previous piece, you should by no means see this in an auditorium not equipped for IMAX.
Rating: *****
Here's something you might be interested in.
Now playing: THE ODYSSEY
Nolan hits Homer
Now playing: THE ODYSSEY
Nolan hits Homer
And...ACTION!
Universal Pictures Presents THE ODYSSEY (2026) Directed and Written by Christopher Nolan based on the Epic Poem by Homer / Director of Photography: Hoyte van Hoytema (IMAX 70mm) / Production Design: Ruth De Jong / Editor: Jennifer Lame / Composer: Ludwig Göransson / Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick / Acted by: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Samantha Morton, Logan Marshall-Green, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, Josh Stewart, Benny Safde, Ryan Hurst, John Leguizamo, Bill Irwin, Andrew Holland, Will Yun Lee, Travis Scott, and A Cast of Thousands! / Countries of Origin: USA & Britain / Rated R / Length: 172 min.
That Christopher Nolan took Homer’s The Odyssey—a high density, 5000 year-old epic Greek poem that spans 24 books and over 12,000 lines of verse, originally composed in a highly rhythmic meter to be recited aloud by oral storytellers—and make it palatable for contemporary audiences weaned on effect-driven comic books, is, in and of itself, a miracle. Add to that a finished product with a three-hour runtime that also packs an emotional wallop, and you’re looking at the crowning glory of the director’s collected works.
Nolan's motto: “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.” Had Nolan directed Planet of the Apes, he surely would have built a life-size replica of the Statue of Liberty, cut it in half and sunk the top part in the sand, just for the sake of versimilitude. For The Odyssey, the director wasn't satisfied with merely making the biggest film of his career; he wanted to make the biggest film of all time. Rather than using CGI as a crutch, Nolan decided to build as much as he could. Unless the visual was impossible to mock up — most notably, the giant whirlpool — he opted for practical effects or, as he calls it, "in-camera spectacle."
There are some who deride Nolan’s use of modern dialogue more familiar to contemporary viewers. (No one complained when Harvey Keitel’s Judas spoke perfect Brooklynese in The Last Temptation of Christ.) For my part, it’s wasn't the au courant cadence that stuck in my craw, but a bit of ill-advised pandering: I don’t recall Homer’s use of “fuck” and “shit” in the original text, and perhaps there is good reason for that. While we're on the subject of modern missteps: I understand Tom Holland was filming the latest Spider-Man installment, but his summer boy haircut is more befitting Venice Beach than ancient times. Robert De Niro was bicycling between Italy (1900) and New York while filming Taxi Driver, and his mohawk looks as though he actually shaved his head rather than being fit with a latex mock-up.
These are quibbles, easily overwhelmed by the film’s implementation of spectacle, which is indeed, well…spectacular. Many of the stories that make up the legends have been done before. Rather than animating miniatures, as Ray Harryhausen did in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Nolan and his crew built a 60-foot puppet that, if memory serves, is now the only Cyclops on record with a vertical eye. The Trojan House was also built from scratch. And when it comes to the famed Trojan Horse, Nolan's built-to-scale steed makes its predecessor in Robert Wise’s Helen of Troy (1958) look like a hobby horse. When it comes to breathtakingly big visuals, my heart will forever go out to Cecil B. DeMille (Sign of the Cross, The Ten Commandments) and Anthony Mann’s monumental El Cid, but any time a film is mentioned in the same breath as these two arbiters of extravagance, it’s a safe bet that you’re in good hands.
By today’s jaded standards, the film makes good on the old adage, “all-star cast.” If there is one standout performance, it’s Samantha Morton’s sinister Circe, the witch who turns Odysseus’ (Matt Damon) army into a roomful of swine. She was so damned creepy in her otherwise cool and calculating mien that she even brought the otherwise rapt audience to life. No jeers or catcalls, just a soft, cogently disagreeable murmur as Circe performed her hoodoo.
I’ll have more to say next week when I see it again, this time in IMAX. (For you early-risers: some theaters have scheduled 8 am screenings.) And don’t feel too bad about not being able to see it in IMAX 70mm; only 25 theaters across the country are equipped to project it the way Nolan originally intended. My maiden viewing was in 70mm, an otherwise exceptional format, but the image in the AMC Mission Valley 20 was more than half the size of its giant counterparts. As I said in my previous piece, you should by no means see this in an auditorium not equipped for IMAX.
Rating: *****