After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.

Christopher Nolan’s take on the ‘The Odyssey’, like most of his films, has generated a lot of buzz in advance of its release, both positively and negatively. The positives have centered on Nolan’s track record as arguably the best filmmaker operating today and intrigue at his take on a classic tale; the negatives centering on some of the casting decisions and accusations of going ‘woke’. I prefer the old fashioned approach of waiting until I see a film before praising or criticising it for things that may or may not be important and the good news with ‘The Odyssey’ is it is every bit as spectacular as you would have hoped for from Christopher Nolan, and the casting, while perhaps bold or unusual in some respects, does not remotely detract from the spectacle. That said, my overarching feeling coming out of the cinema was that ‘The Odyssey’ was superbly put together, well-acted, but lacking in an emotional connection to any of the characters and that has left me firmly in the ‘really good, but not amazing’ camp when it comes to Nolan’s 13^th film.

Even if you haven’t read Homer’s epic poem the ‘Odyssey’, it is highly likely you have some familiarity with the story, with it often being said that Homer’s two epic poems (the ‘Iliad’ as well as the ‘Odyssey’) are the foundations of all modern storytelling. As a brief recap, the story involves the King of Ithaca, Odysseus (Matt Damon), attempting to return home after the Trojan Wars and facing multiple obstacles, both human and fantastical, to make his way back to his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and his son Telemachus (Tom Holland). He’s been away for over 20 years and the natives are getting restless without a King, with many suitors wishing to aggressively take Penelope’s hand in marriage and become the new King, setting a bit of a ticking clock for Telemachus to find out what happened to his father. Nolan’s preferred storytelling style is well known by now, with the use of flashbacks and a liking for playing around with the timeline, and that is the case here, with the story moving between the events at court on Ithaca, and both Odysseus in the present (where he is under the captivating spell of the nymph Calypso, played by Charlize Theron), and Odysseus’s story in flashback where we’ll hit the main beats of the story (the Trojan Horse, the Cyclops and the Sirens to name a few).

One of the best things you can say about ‘The Odyssey’ is that it’s a 3 hour movie that doesn’t feel so, such is Nolan’s command of pace and narrative, with the final section back on Ithaca perhaps even being the highlight. The action sequences are superbly crafted by an absolute master, with the Cyclops sequence and one with the witch Circe (Samantha Morton, a highlight) standing out in particular. That said, I did feel that for large parts of the movie it moves from action set piece to action set piece with barely a breath and in doing so, it forgoes a lot of the character development I felt it needed to have an emotional hook into the story. To quote (or steal!) my podcast co-host Mason’s words, it felt like a Marvel movie set in old times, albeit a very good Marvel movie. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the narrative choice to have Calypso (Theron) essentially telling the plot ahead of time. Not doubting this is a very well-known story and you can’t really decry spoilers for an ancient poem, but I felt it a little unnecessary and it took the sting out of some fairly big moments.

In terms of the casting, there are a few things to comment on. First and foremost, none of the ‘woke’ criticisms were really valid, with the focused on characters barely in the film. Secondly, the key performers are largely excellent. Matt Damon wouldn’t be a typical Odysseus but he’s put the work in and looks the part, though the standouts are Robert Pattinson as Antinous, a particularly sleazy and cunning suitor, who keeps the court scenes interesting when we’re essentially waiting on Odysseus’s return, and Samantha Morton as Circe who features in one of the movie’s most memorable sequences. Anne Hathaway has little to do and while I like Tom Holland, I do wonder if he’s going to struggle to transition into more adult roles though his boyishness works for the character he is playing here. It features an extensive supporting cast who Nolan peppers with A-listers because he can (I doubt you’ll find many people in Hollywood who won’t take a role in a Nolan film) and there’s a reasonable argument it does distract a little especially when you spend so little time with some of them that it’s easier to see Zendaya as just playing Zendaya, as an example.

Like most Nolan films, ‘The Odyssey’ is a visual spectacle designed to be seen on the biggest screen or format you can find, so it’s definitely worth a cinema trip. I enjoyed it immensely, but I did come away thinking there was more I wanted out of the story on an emotional level.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, John Leguizamo, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie and Charlize Theron

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt33764258/