Christopher Nolan understood exactly why The Odyssey has lasted 3,000 years.
Homer’s Odyssey has survived close to 3,000 years of retellings, translations and people insisting their interpretation is the correct one.
So, naturally, Christopher Nolan had a fairly relaxed job on his hands.
There has been a lot of noise around The Odyssey. The casting, the accents, the dialogue, the historical accuracy, the usual months of internet debate before most people had actually seen a frame of the finished film.
Honestly, forget it.
The casting is perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Matt Damon gives what might be the best performance of his career as Odysseus. There is a weight to him here that feels completely earned.
He is exhausted, proud, damaged and still moving forward, sometimes for reasons that even he seems unsure of. Damon has always been a brilliant actor, but this is something else. There is real depth here.
Robert Pattinson, meanwhile, shines as an absolute dirtbag. And I mean that as the highest possible compliment.
Across the board, Nolan has put together an enormous cast and somehow avoided the feeling that you are simply watching a parade of very famous people in costumes. Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron all feel part of the same world.
That is probably the film’s greatest achievement.
Nolan clearly understands The Odyssey. More importantly, he understands why the story has lasted.
He handles the original material with care. It feels immediate, human and surprisingly accessible without losing the scale or morality of Homer’s story.
Some fans have already been throwing around “LOTR-level” comparisons, and I get it.
Troy comes to mind. Gladiator comes to mind. The great cinematic epics are all sitting there in the background. But, to tbh, The Odyssey goes higher.
This is a classic.
It is one of the greats.
The truly insane part is that the entire thing was filmed on IMAX film cameras, machines that apparently sound a little like lawnmowers when they are running.
Watching the performances, you would never know it. I suppose that is the brilliance of great actors.
Somewhere just outside the frame is a gigantic mechanical beast making an ungodly racket and Matt Damon is quietly breaking your heart.
On a huge IMAX screen, the film can almost be overwhelming.
There were moments when I found myself trying to take in the entire frame at once. The sea, the bodies, the landscape, something happening in the far corner. Eventually, you stop trying.
The screen swallows you whole.
It is genuinely immersive, a voyage of ridiculous proportions that reminds you why cinemas still matter. Some films work perfectly well at home. The Odyssey feels built to make your television seem slightly embarrassing.
Without giving too much away, this is the best film I have seen all year.
Maybe it will be the best film I see next year as well. That sounds dramatic, but I walked out of the cinema completely convinced of it.
More than anything, Nolan has made a film with a moral centre. An actual one. A story about home, loyalty, temptation, pride and the consequences of the choices we make.
Perhaps stories like The Odyssey are always timely.
Right now, though, this one feels particularly needed.
I’ll be heading back to the cinema to see it again.
It is that good.
