Be it a man who fights crime dressed as a bat, a machine that can take you inside another person’s dreams, or a magician whose magic might be the real deal, Christopher Nolan has a way of making the impossible appear practical. You wouldn’t think Nolan could do this with The Odyssey, a story featuring a cyclops, sirens, and flowers that cloud your memories. Once again, though, Nolan somehow approaches this material in a way that feels grounded. Part of that’s because he strips away certain elements of Homer’s epic poem. Yet, it’s mainly because Nolan provides a more human take on Odysseus and what drives his odyssey.
Although Nolan’s filmography is heavy on science fiction, The Odyssey is the first time he’s dived into pure fantasy. I struggle to define The Prestige as 100% fantasy, as even that film had a scientific angle. While this may be uncharted waters for Nolan, The Odyssey also feels like a natural fit for him. For starters, Homer’s poem followed a non-linear narrative, which is already common for Nolan. What’s more, Nolan is among the only living directors who could bring the scale that a story of this magnitude demands. Nolan delivers in those respects with larger-than-life sets, sweeping cinematography, and booming sound design that apparently caused a ceiling tile in my IMAX screening to fall.
In many respects, The Odyssey is in the spirit of Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, and other epics that Hollywood doesn’t make anymore. Like those films, there are no small roles in The Odyssey. To list every actor would take up half of this review, although standouts include Robert Pattinson as the conniving Antinous, John Leguizamo as the wise Eumaeus, and Samantha Morton as the mysterious witch Circe. Even those with fairly limited screen time, such as Charlize Theron, Mia Goth, Jon Bernthal, Elliot Page, and Lupita Nyong’o leave strong impressions with every second they have. (No, I’m not getting into the casting “controversy” because it’s stupid).
The Odyssey primarily belongs to a trio of performances from Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as his beloved Penelope, and Tom Holland as their son Telemachus. Before setting off on his odyssey, Penelope makes Odysseus promise to come back. He replies, “What if I can’t?” At first, these may seem like the words of a man convinced that he’ll either die in battle or at sea. As the film unfolds, though, we see a more layered side of Odysseus, who isn’t all that proud of his actions at Troy. Odysseus is essentially a soldier returning home from war, but a piece of him remains overseas. He’s afraid of what he’s become and how his family will view him.
In the poem, the Greek gods stand between Odysseus and his family. In Nolan’s version, Odysseus may be standing in his own way, especially since the existence of the gods is more ambiguous here. While Zeus and others are mentioned, Odysseus doesn’t receive direct help from the likes of Hermes. The only god who appears to Odysseus is Athena, played by Zendaya. Even then, The Odyssey is clever in how Athena is portrayed. Let’s just say that Nolan pulls off what Exodus: Gods and Kings tried to do, blurring the line between reality and the protagonist’s psyche.
While The Odyssey will surely be compared to other swords-and-sandals epics, I wouldn’t call the film a throwback. That’s largely because nobody does it like Christopher Nolan. This isn’t just his Odyssey, but also his take on the Hollywood epic. One done completely on his terms, putting every cent of that $250 million budget to impeccable use. As astounding as the effects and action are, the emotional odyssey that Odysseus endures is every bit as involving as the physical one. Nolan has made one great movie after another, but going from the Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer to this is a feat that few filmmakers have ever pulled off. The question is, “Where can Nolan possibly go from here?” In any case, his filmography is an odyssey in and of itself.