Christopher Nolan delivers a stunning cinematic epic with his take on the classic Greek tale, The Odyssey.
Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, who is on the journey home from the Trojan War but gets waylaid for years by various dangers ranging from Cyclops to witches and more. Meanwhile, back in his home of Ithaca, his wife, Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway), has been dealing with a horde of boorish suitors who are looking to convince her to marry one of them and make him the new king. In classic Nolan fashion, he lays out the story in a non-linear fashion, but it’s not difficult at all to keep up with what’s happening or where you are in the story. Most of the time, a character is telling a story, and you are flashing back to see that story play out. Nolan also delivers a brilliant mix of realism and supernatural that makes things feel gritty and grounded, such as what it might realistically be like to be trapped in the Trojan Horse for days, while also allowing things like the giant cyclops Polyphemus and the monster Scylla. It helps that much of the special effects and creatures are done practically and the movie is shot almost entirely in real locations. The Circe (Samantha Morton) sequence, in particular, is a stunning practical-effects showcase as she turns Odysseus’s men into pigs, and it was done with animatronics and other elements. That sequence, and a few others, also lean the most into horror that Nolan has ever done. There’s also epic-scale action, and everything has a tactile, real look and feel that Nolan always delivers but many other movies these days lack.
The cast of The Odyssey is absurdly stacked with pretty much the best of the best all the way down to even some of the smaller parts, including Zendaya, Elliott Page, Hamish Patel, Corey Hawkins, John Leguizamo, Benny Safdie and so many more. Everyone is in top form, and it’s amazing to see who will pop in for a scene or two, like, say, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong’o, or aforementioned Samantha Morton, crush it, and then we move on to the next. Matt Damon is great and really sells the growing weariness and guilt of Odysseus as the journey gets longer and longer and his men get fewer and fewer. Anne Hathaway is incredible as Penelope, delivering a powerful and fierce performance as she fights not to lose hope that her husband will someday return home. Tom Holland is also great as Telemachus, who is determined to find out what happened to his father, no matter the cost. Robert Pattinson also devours scenery as the mustache-twirlingAntinous, the leader of the suitors who plots ways to eliminate Telemachus and take Penelope for himself. With a cast this massive, not everyone is going to be able to get a big scene or as meaty a role. Mia Goth and Logan Marshall-Green get a bit of short shrift as Melantho and Melanthius, traitorous servants of the Odysseus household, and even Charlize Theron doesn’t have much to do as Calypso except coax out the main story from Odysseus.
The Odyssey is another masterpiece from Christopher Nolan, delivering an epic and exciting take on a classic story with incredible filmmaking and performances that is a must-see on the big screen.
