The Odyssey Review: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
The Odyssey is a visually stunning and emotionally rich adaptation of Homer’s classic, anchored by a phenomenal performance from Matt Damon and strong support from Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland. The film runs a little uneven in the middle but recovers with a powerful final act.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Genre: Action, Drama
Runtime: 173 minutes
Cast: Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Charlize Theron
Director: Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan has spent his entire career telling stories about men trying to find their way back to the people they love. From Memento to Interstellar, that same thread runs through everything he makes. With The Odyssey, he finally tackles the story that started it all, and the result feels like the film his whole career has been building toward.
The movie follows Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, as he tries to sail home to Ithaca after ten brutal years fighting in the Trojan War. What should be a straightforward journey turns into a decade-long ordeal filled with monsters, storms, and gods who seem determined to keep him away from his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. But the real obstacle is not the sea or the creatures he meets along the way. It is the guilt he carries from everything he did to win the war.
Damon is the heart of this film, and he delivers what might be the finest work of his career. He plays Odysseus as a man torn between pride and shame, someone who wants to be a hero but is haunted by what heroism actually cost him.
Anne Hathaway brings quiet strength to Penelope, a queen forced to hold her kingdom together while suitors circle her home. Tom Holland, in one of his most grown-up roles yet, plays Telemachus with real conviction as a son desperate to prove himself and find his missing father.
The supporting cast is stacked with talent. Robert Pattinson is wonderfully slimy as Antinous, the worst of Penelope’s suitors. Zendaya appears as the goddess Athena, Charlize Theron plays the seductive nymph Calypso, and Lupita Nyong’o takes on the dual role of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Her casting drew some online chatter before release, but her performance silences any doubts.
Where the film truly separates itself is in its craft. Shot entirely on IMAX 70mm cameras, a first for any feature film, The Odyssey looks massive in the best way. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema captures the stormy seas, burning cities, and mythical creatures with a weight and texture that feels almost tangible. Ludwig Goransson’s score adds to the sense of scale, especially during the haunting sequence involving the Sirens.
The film does stumble a bit in its middle stretch. Nolan tells the story in a nonlinear way, jumping between Odysseus’s war memories, his journey home, and the present-day chaos in Ithaca. It is an ambitious structure, and it mostly works, but there are moments when the pacing sags and the film asks a lot of viewers’ patience, especially those unfamiliar with Greek mythology.
Still, the payoff in the final act makes up for any slow patches. The climax builds to a genuinely thrilling conclusion that blends spectacle with real emotional weight, tying together every theme the film has been building since its opening scene.
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What makes The Odyssey stand out from typical big-budget epics is that it never spoon-feeds its audience. Nolan trusts viewers to sit with difficult questions about heroism, guilt, and the true cost of victory rather than wrapping everything up neatly. Odysseus is shown as brave and flawed at once, someone capable of both great love and great cruelty, and the film never lets him off the hook for either.
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In the end, The Odyssey feels like more than just another Nolan blockbuster. It is a mature, ambitious retelling of one of the oldest stories ever told, brought to life with technical brilliance and genuinely moving performances. For anyone who loves grand cinema, this is a must-watch on the biggest screen available.
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The Odyssey is now playing in theatres.