Take 78: The Odyssey (2026)
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is the story of man trying to get home to his family. We all read Homer’s The Odyessey in high school. This version borrows from this story with a little bit of its prequel The Iliad thrown in for good measure. After successfully devicing a plot involving a Trojan Horse to defeat the people of Troy, Odysseus (Matt Damon,) the king of Ithica must embark on the trek to get his men back home. And when I say trek, I mean a 10 year voyage thanks in large part to the fact that they manage to tick off a few gods in the process, To make matters worse, since he has been gone for 10 long years, people suspect that his is dead and not coming back which causes money/power hungry suitors (primarily Robert Pattinson and Corey Hawkins) to encroach upon Odysseus’s wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and now adult son, Telemachus (Tom Holland) who must offer Zeus’s hospitality because one never knows when you might be in the presence of the gods. Growing less and less content with just being the guests of Penelope, they begin to plot to force her hand in marriage. The question is, Will Odysseus be able to return in time to prevent the suitors having their way or will he become the victim of the forces that have been conspiring against him?
At two hours and fifty-two minutes, the movie is already crazy long so I am going to try and make this as brief as possible. Nolan does a good job with the material. I like the fact that he does incorporate some of The Iliad into the narrative. It was cool to see the Trojan Horse here, something I wasn’t expecting. We also get Helen of Troy (Lupita Nyong’o —-absolutely BEAUTIFUL) and her twin sister Clytemnestra which I appreciated because they make such a big dea about her prior to the events the The Odyssey but we hear nothing of her afterwards. I also love the fact that the story is non-linear and bounces back between Odysseus and what’s going on back in Ithica. There was also a moment where it looks like we are just going to get the hint of how the battle went and would have to just use our imaginations only to have it revisited later in the film. He includes most of the hits (the Cersei sequences was REALLY cool) but he does leave out a detail in one of the first legs of the trip which is really glaring given how big of a deal is made of it the teaching and learning about in the Language Arts class, but not enough to take you out of the story. Is it as simple as not fitting the overall tone Nolan is trying to establish? I dunno. Maybe.
The case is STACKED. In addition to the people I have already mentioned, you’ve got Elliott Page as Sinon, John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Zendaya as Athena, and so many more. No one blew me away. But that’s not to say anyone did a bad job. Quite the opposite. They are playing Greeks after all, known for their stoicism. Occasionally, a character gets to do play with something requiring a little more and they give just the right amount (Elliott Page’s Sinon comes to mind.) A solid job all around.
From what I am hearing, the critics are taking issue with this film. Seems par for the course this summer. All of the movies that are expected to be the blockbuster seem to be the ones getting the toughest critics (I can only imagine what they’ll have to say about Spider-Man…) Fortunatelty, I don’t ever listen to critics and have been a lot happier as a result. As someone who has always enjoyed mythology and this story in particular, I was to disappointed. Yeah, it’s long but I never found myself looking at my watch. Okay, that final battle, THAT might have gone a little long, but with a story this big, epic even, you kinda have to in order to give it the right weight. This one ways in with very solid performance.
My score: 8.9 There were a few things I was hoping for that but didn’t quite get, like a stronger Telemachus moment or a little more Helen and Clytemnestra (hey, if you are going to add them, really utilize them!) but definitely one for the ages.
So, epic tale or epic fail? Let me know in the comments. And until next time…
