Christopher Nolan finally got the award recognition he deserved with his previous film, Oppenheimer. Nolan took home 2 Oscars, for both Best Directing and Best Picture in an award season that had seen the film sweep numerous awards across the months. The hype for his next, and latest film was always going to be high. Universal gave the film permission to put tickets for 70mm IMAX showings a year early, which sold out almost instantly, with no footage shown, just the cast announced and that it would be adapting Homer’s classic story, The Odyssey. The anticipation only grew and grew from there until yesterday, the release date.
The Odyssey tells the famous story of Odysseus, as he embarks on an extremely long, epic quest to return to his family, after successfully winning the Trojan War, coming up against the gods and mythical creatures. All while suitors, try to take his place on the throne of Ithica.
There’s certain films that you watch as a cinephile where you can sit back and say “only this person could’ve made this”. It’s a good thing to think, we get a lot ‘paint by numbers’ films which feel very generic, or feel like they’ve had heavy input from the studio, or a committee (we’ll speak about this again with the next review). Nolan has been so critically successful in his career, before a certain point, that he was then given free rein to make whatever he wanted, seemingly at any cost, and the studio would fund it. It therefore feels like the perfect time in his career to be able to do this film, as well as technology (specifically IMAX cameras) catching up with where he wants it to be to be able to fully create the vision he has for this epic, classic story. It is clear from watching interviews with, not only him, but the whole cast and crew, that Nolan is a true master of the craft, understanding every single aspect of filmmaking that very few do or ever have, and must be considered one of the greatest of all time. He is able to put together like minded people who see his vision as well, and expects (and recieves) the highest standard as to what the industry has to offer. His films will stand the test of time, and have had such a large impact on many film lovers.
After helping Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr pick up their first Oscar wins for their performances in Oppenheimer, it’s no surprise that many actors are eager to work with him, along with just being fans of Nolan’s filmography. Matt Damon worked with Nolan twice with a smaller role in Interstellar, and Oppenheimer, but this time gets to be front and centre for the lead. I think this is Damon’s best performance for a long long time, I think you’d truly have to go back 20 years to The Departed to get a performance from him that’s this good. He’s never won an Oscar for his acting, but I think a 4th Acting nomination is almost a guarantee, and will likely be considered one of the front runners in that category. He has a lot of different costars to bounce off and have chemistry with, no matter the screentime with any of them, but manages to not only carry the film, but help others elevate their performances as well.
Tom Holland is obviously most known for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something he has now been a part of for 10 years, appearing in 6 films in total. Outside of that role, he has struggled to break free for the character with multiple films and a mini-series which have never had too much of an impact. This role as Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, feels like a slight return to what gave him his career in the first place, with his first role in The Impossible. There’s certainly a case that Holland could be considered the weakest performance amongst the array of talent on display in this film, but it is far from a bad one, and he does deserve some praise. This role was a great decision for him, and his career, and I do believe it will benefit him in the long run, and something we could see the effect of in a couple of weeks when Spider-Man: Brand New Day is released.
The rest of the cast is also pretty fantastic, including Robert Pattinson (who is on an insane run at the moment, and still has Dune: Part Three this year), Anne Hathaway, Corey Hawkins, Hamish Patel, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyongo’o and Mia Goth. I would however like to give 3 shoutouts to 3 others. Zendaya has perhaps the most limited screen time but is the most effective. Her role as Athena carries a huge amount of impact as the film goes on, as an obvious sign of the impact of grief that Odysseus is carrying with him throughout the journey. Nolan referred to her performance as perfect, and just from that alone, it feels like an almost certainty that she will appear again in a Nolan film. John Leguizamo’s Eumaeus I thought was a really big impact, and again delivers one of the strongest performances, anytime he’s on screen I found him captivating and really effective, I’d love to see him picking up an Oscar nomination for this film. Samantha Morton plays Circe in the film, doesn’t have huge role, is only in one scene but again what she does with that time is fantastic, and because of the scene it will stay with you after the viewing. I think her and Zendaya are unlikely to pick up any nominations due to the screen time, but people have certainly been nominated for less.
A big part of why this film works so well is the incredible craftsmanship that Nolan and his crew put into this film. Technically from almost every aspect it is flawless, and clear the high level of effort, and attention to detail was put in, from the set design to the costumes across the board, and it will be a certainty to pick up nominations in those categories come award seasons you would expect. The area that has got a lot of attention is nothing new for Christopher Nolan. His good use of as many practical effects really helps build the scale of the film, and truly make it epic and feel more like a world, than a CGI mess that’s difficult to look at times (again I’ll come back to that in my next review). The cylcops scene especially, the fact that was as practical as can be, gives it almost the same feeling I have when I watch Jurassic Park, and see the practical dinosaur puppets used. It’s never been clearer that pracitcal effects should be considered a must where possible with CGI being used for situations where you truly can’t or to enhance.
Overall, The Odyssey is the finest example of what cinema is all about. An epic story that is a must to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Fantastic performances, and fantastic craft from the crew and everyone involved will make this a big player in award season at the beginning of 2027. There might be the smallest grievance that it isn’t Nolan’s best written film, but I’m willing to look past it due to everything else being spot on.
What did you think of The Odyssey?
Let me know in the comments.
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