It was a little bit of a surprise when Christopher Nolan announced that his follow-up to his Oscar-winning Oppenheimer would be an adaptation of the O.G. epic story that has influenced countless tales since its (roughly) 8th-century BC origin. Homer’s The Odyssey told of Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, a man who was away for years fighting in the Trojan War, who then had a hell of a time finding his way back to his wife and son. It’s the classic hero’s journey, rife with action, challenges, and tragedies as Odysseus simply tries to get home alive.
Matt Damon plays Odysseus, a strong leader of soldiers serving the imposing Agamemnon (Benny Safdie, cloaked and helmeted in black like a badass Greek superhero). After the successful raiding of the walled city of Troy, the war is done, and the soldiers pile into their ships to return home. Odysseus decides to reward his men and take the more scenic route instead of sailing straight back with the rest of the armada. But of course this turns out to be the first of some very bad choices.
There are many sequences in The Odyssey that will be familiar to anyone with even an inkling of Greek mythology. There’s the towering Cyclops who grabs Odysseus’ men and chomps off their little heads, evoking Goya’s famous painting Saturn Devouring His Son. There’s a terrifying multi-headed serpent that snatches his men off the ship just after they’ve skirted a deadly whirlpool. There’s the lure of the sirens, the nymphs who lounge along the rocks luring sailors to their deaths with their irresistible song. And much, much more.
Odysseus’ journey is intercut with scenes from Ithaca, where his wife, the queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) has a castle full of boorish suitors (never has the word “suitor” sounded so menacing) that encroach upon her hospitality, clamoring to get her attention in hopes she’ll remarry. Her now-grown son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), knows that as heir, though not-yet king, his mere presence is a threat to all those with a taste for power, like the supremely weaselly Antinous (Robert Pattinson, having a field day being a creep).
Yes, the movie is (of course) long, but to paraphrase my screening companion, if Odysseus took 10 years to come home after 10 years at war, we can give the poor guy 3 hours of our time. That said, even though Nolan trims the classic story considerably, like many of his films, The Odyssey has stretches that work better than others, occasionally pulling you out of the moment. A doomed beach landing to face off against towering silver knights (?) takes up a chunk of screen time without much explanation. Scenes with Charlize Theron as Calypso are dreamlike, but in a way that looks like outtakes from an eau de parfum commercial. The writing, especially at home in Ithaca at the beginning, is a little clunky. For instance, Telemachus repeatedly asks his mother broad questions about his father that really are only there for expository reasons (wouldn’t he know all this already?), and hearing him refer to Odysseus as “dad” is sort of jarring.
But when The Odyssey works well, it works really, really well. Nolan’s visualization of the Trojan Horse (with Odysseus and his men hiding in its stifling interiors) is stunning, and the sequence of the statue being dragged over the dunes and into the walled city is gripping. A scene in which Odysseus and his men visit Hades, facing fallen comrades who rise from the black sand of the afterlife, is especially haunting. Even more so when it turns out the dead are anything but happy with their fate. (Can you imagine world leaders who lead their citizens to war facing those they sent to their deaths?) Elliot Page, in particular, shines in his monologue from the dead as Sinon, a young soldier who gets the chance to unleash bitterness against his king who led him to his death.
Perhaps my favorite moment, though, belongs to Samantha Morton as a mysterious island witch who (of course) lures Odysseus’ men to shocking fates that are right out of a horror movie. Morton’s face has a sort of determined glee as she welcomes the desperate men into her home, smirking as she fills their bowls with a most delicious stew. If any chapter of this film could be expanded into its own standalone story, this is by far the one that I’d love to watch.
Is The Odyssey a great movie? No. Does it have a lot of great scenes? Absolutely. Anchored by the soulful, always-appealing Matt Damon, The Odyssey may not be the ultimate hero’s journey put to screen, but even Christopher Nolan’s wildest reaches in storytelling are always worth watching.
