When I was a kid, there was little I loved more in the world than ancient Greek mythology.
And I know I’m far from the only person to grow up adoring classic tales of folklore from civilisations past, but God, that doesn’t change just how much I adored them. I would spend hours poring over the books of child-friendly myth retellings, did practically every school presentation I ever had on the subject, set up my soft toys so one could peck the liver out of the other day after day. I have loved stories my whole life, and these myths, they were the very first stories I ever remember really loving.
All this to say that Christopher Nolan had something of an easy job when it came to selling his movie adaptation of The Odyssey to me. Or to anyone else, for that matter, given how well it’s been doing at the box office so far – after the success of Oppenheimer (and, well, the less said about Tenet, the better), his next project always seemed like it was going to be a big swing, since he had the critical and commercial support to make it happen.
And what bigger swing is there than an adaptation of Homer’s ancient epic, The Odyssey? In terms of blockbusters, The Odyssey is one of the original and best; its influence is almost impossible to quantify, the very title a shorthand for a journey of epic proportions. Much has been made of the ways that Nolan has adjusted the story and characters for the movie adaptation, not least by the woman whose translation he based it on, and I don’t think I can give you a nuanced and informed take on whether those changes take away from the original text or not. But, as a person who grew up loving these stories – this film captured that exact feeling I got when I read these stories as a kid, and that is about the best I could have asked for from it.
At nearly three hours long, The Odyssey feels like an epic in much the same way Lawrence of Arabia or Doctor Zhivago do; a sprawling tale of a single man’s journey and how it fundamentally changes him. The movie has an episodic structure, as Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his crew travel from Troy back to Ithaca, via about as many fantasy tropes as you can imagine – there’s a constant sense of forward momentum that never lets things dip into too much of a trudge. The story of Penelope and Telemachus (Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland) acts as a sort of wraparound to his journey until their eventual reunion in the third act, a sharp storytelling choice that keeps them feeling vital to the plot without distracting too much from the central journey.
It’s helped along, of course, by the fact that Nolan really knows how to put together a set-piece, and that this film is packed with several of what might be his best ever. From an encounter with the witch Circe (Samantha Morton, still the best thing about every movie she’s in) that turns the film into pure horror for a few minutes, to a clash with the giant Polyphemus, to a trip to an unsettlingly-corporeal underworld, there’s no detail that goes un-plumbed in the quest to make this world feel utterly absorbing, no matter what genre it happens to find itself in. The sound design, costuming, mise-en-scene, Nolan throws everything at the wall here to bring this world to life in a way that feels both modern and richly steeped in the Greek mythology it draws from.
There’s also the story of Troy to contend with, and the way Nolan adapts this aspect gives the film a more timely, modern edge – The siege of Troy and its eventual fall haunt the narrative and Odysseus as a matter of guilt, grief, and trauma; the horrific brutality that he not only experienced but helped mastermind serve as the movie’s visual high point, and that’s really saying something. There’s a hellish quality to these scenes – Benny Safdie’s towering Agamemnon leading his men through the gates, Odysseus watching his own men drown inside the Trojan horse as they wait for their trap to be sprung, the unleashing of a decade of rage at the innocent Trojan citizens when they do finally break in – that frames Odysseus’ wandering as much as a search for redemption and a fear of bringing this darkness to his home and family as they are trials put to him by the Gods. It’s a strong approach, and one that’s underpinned by an excellent performance from Damon – his best in years, as far as I’m concerned, even if I could have used a bit more of Odysseus as the trickster he is in the original story.
The star-studded movie is packed with excellent turns, so much so that it’s hard to pick a favourite – John Leguizamo is a bit of an unexpected choice as Eumaeus, Odysseus’ loyal servant, but he brings a warmth and wit to it that helps fill the Ithaca storyline with real colour, while Robert Pattinson is giving his best snivelling, cowardly shitheel as Antinous, one of Penelope’s suitors. It’s impossible not to feel a bit short-changed, with a cast this good – Lupita Nyong’o, as both Helen and her twin Clytemnestra, barely gets a cumulative five minutes of screentime, while Charlize Theron is little more than a framing device for Odysseus’ memory of his travels.
The Odyssey is, despite its diversions from the original story, a pretty stunning cinematic achievement and a crown jewel in Nolan’s already-impressive career. It’s on track to be one of the biggest releases of the year so far, and I’d love to hear what you made of it – how does it compare to the original, and where does it stack against other iconic ancient mythology adaptations? Let me know in the comments below!
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By Lou MacGregor
No But Listen 