Christopher Nolan is no stranger to big, ambitious films. This is, after all, the filmmaker that brought us Oppenheimer with its incredible use of practical effects, the impressive but confounding Tenet, and one of the finest Batman movies made to date with The Dark Knight. However, when you choose to take on one of the foundational stories of the human experience, that’s a different level of ambition at play. Homer’s The Odyssey, along with its companion piece, the Iliad, are among the oldest pieces of literature still widely read today with its story of one man’s long journey home from war helping to not only shape our understanding of the ancient world but also understand our own world and experiences as well. It’s a story that is at the very heart of our cultural fabric and is one of the best-known adventures in all of fiction, making it a tale that if you aspire to make retelling it your own heroic journey, you better not fail. Fortunately for us, it would seem that failure is not in Nolan’s vocabulary.
While much has been made about Nolan’s casting choices, the use of more modern language in the script, and even details about the specific kinds of boats Odysseus and his men journey in on their way home to Ithaca, what Nolan has actually delivered on screen is not only a staggering, stunningly honest adaptation of one of humanity’s greatest stories but is easily the filmmaker’s best-crafted film to date and makes the movie not only his best work yet but gives us a film just as essential as the epic poem it is based upon.
Rating: 5 out of 5
In terms of the actual story of The Odyssey, it’s one that most people know and Nolan stays close to it throughout. We enter the story years after the end of the Trojan War and while most of the soldiers have returned home, Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his men have not ten years later. With many presuming Odysseus dead, his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway) is facing increasing pressure to choose from numerous suitors who have largely set up camp at the palace and remarry. As tensions rise, his son Telemachus (Tom Holland) seeks out news of his father meanwhile Odysseus himself has been on Calypso’s (Charlize Theron) island, slowly regaining his memories of self and home and through those memories, we learn about his journey. Those are, essentially, the high notes.
Functionally, all of the elements of Homer’s epic are there in Nolan’s adaptation. However, if you are looking for a one-to-one adaptation, this is not it. Nolan takes some of the elements of the classic story and makes a few alterations that make the story work for a visual medium. There are a few compressions, for lack of a better term, such as Telemachus more directly seeking out Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) while the direct intervention of the gods takes a backseat to the incorporation of faith into the story. The gods are present, but they’re present through the various characters and their relationships and practice of faith—particularly Zeus’s laws of hospitality. Perhaps most notably, Nolan reorders the story just a bit as well as intercuts it with moments from Homer’s other epic, the Iliad, as a way of explaining and demonstrating exactly how Odysseus got into his decade-long homecoming in the first place.
While there are purists who will find this troubling, in reality it works exceptionally well and allows for many of the characters to be much more fleshed out than you expect for a story with such a large cast. This is especially true for the female characters. While their actual screen time is cumulatively very short, Penelope, Helen (Lupita N’yongo in a simple but powerful performance) Calypso, and perhaps most especially Circe (Samantha Morton) are humanized in a way that captures the full complexities of their characters that is, in some respects brushed over in the structure of Homer’s storytelling. It’s very much in keeping with contemporary examinations of the classic tale but does so without losing sight of this being Odysseus’ story. The same can be said for Nolan’s choice to cast a wide range of actors in the various roles while also using more contemporary language. The language makes the film engaging even beyond its spectacle while the casting helps paint a picture that is often missed when it comes to discussions of The Odyssey: the ancient world in the story was a large one that covered a huge area and was populated by many, many people of different cultures. All of these elements work together to create a rich tapestry of a tale that feels truly timeless while also being something that anyone can appreciate, no Classics degree required.
Even with all of the narrative decisions that go into making The Odyssey work for the screen, the real strength in the film are the performances. Across the board, every performance in the film is top tier, but the real standouts come from where you don’t necessarily expect it. Himesh Patel’s Eurylochus not only gets nearly as much screen time as Damon’s Odysseus, but he’s honestly better with a performance that is nuanced and relatable in ways you wouldn’t expect. John Leguizamo is genuinely moving as Eumaeus and may honestly be a career best for him.
Also, in terms of career highlights, both Robert Pattinson and Jon Bernthal turn in incredible performances. Bernthal’s Menelaus is a complex character who rides the line between having villain energy and having a sort of warped nobility. His counsel to Holland’s Telemachus is a fine example of respectful and hospitable, but Bernthal also makes it very clear that he has a dark side—particularly when it comes to his treatment of Helen. Pattinson, on the other hand, is a straight up villain, unsettling and downright slimy in ways that will make you struggle to remember that this man also plays Batman. And as for the female cast? Theron makes Calypso sympathetic and you’ll walk away from Morton’s Circe questioning your own treatment of others. They are brief performances, but they’re a new gold standard. And, of course, Hathaway’s Penelope is exactly the queen you expect her to be and it’s brilliant all around.
However, just because The Odyssey is a brilliant and well-considered approach to a story about hubris and the importance of the social contract (specifically hospitality and its role in society) that is brilliantly executed by some of the finest acting of the contemporary era, there are technical elements in The Odyssey that are successful, and one that doesn’t quite get it right. As most people who have seen Nolan’s movies will attest, sound is often his Achilles heel (yes, pun intended.) There is frequently an imbalance that makes it difficult to hear things clearly, leading to muddled dialogue and even score at times. That is not the case with The Odyssey. The film has managed to strike the right balance with sound mixing meaning that the dialogue is actually clear in most of the movie and pulls that off while also allowing the effects and score to shine. The score in particular is astoundingly good—Ludwig Goransson never misses and honestly he’s never been more accurate than he is here—and for once both it and the dialogue get to shine and support one another seamlessly.
However, just because Nolan finally got the sound right doesn’t mean he’s gotten technically perfect. There are more than a few moments in The Odyssey that are simply too dark. While there is something to be said for the use of light as an atmospheric, a couple of pivotal scenes—specifically those involving the Cyclops—are frankly too dark to be as effective (and frightening) as they should be. Even on 70MM (which is how I experienced the film) some scenes were simply too dark, which could pose a problem for viewers seeing it in other formats, especially once the film eventually makes it to home release.
Even with the lighting issue in some key moments, The Odyssey manages to get things right overwhelmingly more than not. It’s a big movie that never feels overwhelming. Instead, it’s a very personal intimate story told with a reverence and respect for not only its origins but for the way every generation of audience who has taken it in since Homer’s time has made it part of a larger human story. The film is a gorgeous contribution to the conversation about the horror of war, the human condition, and the fragile agreements that hold us together as a society and a culture. It’s myth made masterpiece and I have no idea how Nolan is going to top this.
The Odyssey opens in theaters July 17th.
