As someone who loves classical mythology (I even took a class on the subject in community college), I was very excited when I saw that Christopher Nolan was directing a film adaptation of Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey.” I have long believed that Graeco-Roman epics provide a lot of potential for truly spectacular movies, and Nolan is a brilliant director who I believed to be capable of bringing the most famous of them all to life. My anticipation was rewarded by an excellent movie that brought together the spectacle and sentimentality of cinema into a great experience, and it is worth seeing.
The best demonstration of this is in the movie’s excellent creation of spectacle, especially in its first half. Classic scenes from the poem, such as the encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops, the transformation of Odysseus’s men into pigs by the sorceress Circe and the navigation of boats between Scylla and Charybdis are all brought to life in vivid, stunning moments of cinema. Other moments not in the poem itself, but associated with its characters, such as the sack of Troy, are also given a similar treatment. Even as someone who has read large excerpts of the original poem and knew exactly where things were going, I found myself thrilled by the viewing experience. The practical effects are simply stunning, and the score works to bring out the tension in recreations of some of the most famous scenes in Western literature wonderfully.
The second half of the movie features less of these antics, but it does demonstrate another thing that makes the movie worth seeing: sentimentality and emotion. These elements are present early on as the strain of Odysseus’s absence combined with the suitors’ antics wears down on his wife Penelope and son Telemachus (Anne Hathaway’s performance as the former is the best piece of acting in the film). The return of Ithaca’s king is similarly a great moment, with the joy of Odysseus’s beloved dog Argos to see his master right before his own death especially working for me. The subsequent realization of Telemachus that his father is home also plays out very well.
When Odysseus finally reunites with his beloved Penelope, he delivers a monologue that spells out the movie’s core themes: the corrosive effect of violence and treachery on civilization itself. Throughout the movie, “Zeus’s Law” is continually gestured toward, with its violation being essentially a crime against the order of civilization and the natural world. In the film’s climax, Odysseus expresses horror at how the Greeks’ behavior in Troy constituted a grave violation of such rules, something which is now spreading throughout the world as marauding bands of “sea peoples” ride the waves and attack cities. While not present at all in the original poem and despite it also setting up perhaps the film’s only problem, this notion is nonetheless very powerful and provides a thought-provoking idea to linger after seeing the movie.
These strengths all combine to create what will probably be one of the best movies to be released in 2026, but this does not mean the movie is without flaws. Namely, the ending suffers from a bit of tonal confusion. Odysseus’s slaughter of the suitors is kept from Homer’s original, but the movie undercuts its added message condemning violating essential rules with violence by concluding with the hero slaughtering dozens of men in his own home. While I don’t find this as much of a problem as some other viewers have (I see it as comeuppance for the suitors having violated the rules with their own disrespect towards Odysseus and his family), I do think it creates a small tension in the film’s overall tone that prevents it from achieving true perfection.
Despite the minor tonal whiplash, Nolan has followed up 2023’s “Oppenheimer” with another brilliant addition to his filmography. I expect his “Odyssey” to be remembered as an overall triumph of 2020s blockbuster cinema, and it leaves me anticipating whatever his next movie may be. See it in theaters while you still can, and if you miss it, I hope you catch it on streaming. It is definitely worth a watch.
