Review of The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I feel like a lot of my blog introductions, especially when it comes to movies, have been lamenting on the fact I don’t have a ton of time lately. I used to work as a film critic (which, in fact, was so incredibly underpaid that I now make more off of this blog’s display ads than I ever did publishing anywhere else), and then when I was in graduate school I was writing a lot about film, so I used to watch so many movies.

I haven’t been lately because I work an 8-5, but one of the few joys that keep me going in the movie world is my AMC A List subscription. For my non-American friends out there, AMC is a domestic theater chain in the States, and for a relatively affordable subscription price you can see four movies a week.

When Oppenheimer came out in theaters I saw that in IMAX, so when The Odyssey was scheduled to release in the US on my birthday, I knew I was going to see it. I just happened to snag one of the last middle seats in a good section for the night before the official release, and brushed up on my Greek myths in the meantime.

I think you don’t need to know them to go into it. In fact, because I was familiar with the Oresteia, and saw it performed in an Off-Broadway theater for 4.5 hours, I kind of guessed certain plot points early on and knew what was going to happen.

Let’s get into the review though! I know this intro is getting a little long.

After the Trojan War, Odysseus remembers who he is and tries to return to Ithaca—as his son tries to head out onto the sea to discover what happened to his father.

For the sake my sanity, I’m not going to do a full summary of this movie, as The Odyssey is a massive tale to go through. It also ruins the fun of trying to get other people to watch the movie, as this is one that should definitely be seen on the best screen possible. It’s quite the cinematic experience.

This will be a spoiler-free review and summary because of that. The Odyssey is told in fragments, jumping between past and present, and it’s how we get one of the opening scenes in which the horse, used a ruse in the Trojan War, is given to the soldiers of Troy to bring into the city as an offering for Athena.

In the present day, Odysseus has been living on the island Ogygia with the nymph Calypso. He has no idea who he is or who he left behind, and as we learn through him piecing together back his memory, it’s been twenty years since he left Ithaca behind. The goddess Athena continues to show up and haunt him, reminding him that it’s time to move on from here.

Back in Ithaca, his wife Penelope is still single and trying to keep the country together. Her son Telemachus seethes as he sees the seedy suitors trying to marry his mother, and while his mother holds strong for her love of his father, there’s only a matter of time before the country becomes completely vulnerable.

One of these nobleman is the cunning Antinous and his friend. Antinous was supposed to go to Troy with Odysseus, but because he was wealthier, he traded places with someone else who plays a critical role in this story. While some hold out hope for Odysseus’ return, the suitors are all pigs and pretty much have zero shame for their actions.

It’s because of that that Telemachus decides to set out and find his father. As we piece together what happened to Odysseus and his crew, Telemachus is having his own coming of age journey. It’s in Sparta where he can finally learn more about his father, setting him on a crash collision course on the man he never met.

In almost three hours there’s a lot of ground to cover, and I honestly thought the movie was overwhelming but brave to try and condense this story into one film. It has its flaws, but it does an excellent job of telling the main story of The Odyssey and even the Oresteia.

Overall Thoughts

There’s one thing to mention upfront about this movie, and I was kind of getting at it before: it is quite the experience. We get the Greek mythology and the myths, even if the only god we get to meet is Athena. But even her form challenges us by the end, as this isn’t the real body of Athena that we’re seeing her in.

The battle scenes are epic and grand, while the violence itself is something I found myself wanting to look away at. There’s a specific scene where two sheep are sacrificed and their throats slit, which is something I would rather have not looked at in the moment.

That said, I could tell the poetry of the original myth was preserved in some of the dialogue, and there are some pretty big themes that come across throughout. The ending monologues had my jaw open, as I thought it did such a good job of tying everything together thematically.

Everyone also did a fantastic job in this movie. I thought the weakest link was Tom Holland, but he did a solid job considering we often don’t get to see him as a “serious” actor outside of the Marvel universe.

Cinematography was also stunning, especially with some of those boat scenes. My only other qualm is about the nonlinear format, which works in some ways, but is messy in others, especially when we bounce from the war to ten years after it.

Definitely go see this one in theaters if you have the chance! This is meant to be experienced on a big screen. I enjoyed it a lot—even more than Oppenheimer, if we’re going to be honest.

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