Introduction

I’m a bit late to the party, but I finally got to sit down and watch The Odyssey — and I don’t mean the 1997 TV miniseries. Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey takes Homer’s ancient story and brings it to the modern screen in a way only Nolan could. As someone who loves most of Nolan’s filmography, I wanted to see this when it released in late July, but life has its ways of complicating something as simple as going to the movies. I finally made it though, and now I’m ready to share my thoughts. Was this nearly 3-hour film worth every penny? Or should you just stick with the original story? Time to find out in our review of The Odyssey!

Story

The Odyssey opens by showing us the state of Ithaca after more than two decades without its king. Penelope (Anne Hathaway), wife of Odysseus, has done everything in her power to hold the kingdom together, but armies are approaching from the sea and fear is spreading. Following her husband’s long-ago instruction to eventually choose a suitor, Penelope holds daily banquets while stringing along potential kings with no intention of actually selecting one. Her son Telemachus (Tom Holland), who has never known his father, still holds onto stories of Odysseus as the hero of Troy and clings to the belief that he may yet be alive somewhere out in the seemingly endless ocean.

Meanwhile, Odysseus (Matt Damon) is alive but deeply amnesiac, living on an island in the care of a mysterious woman named Calypso. As memories begin to surface, he starts to piece together the horrors of the journey that separated him from his men and their leader Agamemnon. And while Odysseus slowly recovers what he lost, Telemachus is racing to find his father before the kingdom falls apart entirely.

The story for The Odyssey unfolds like a multi-chapter narrative, told through the accounts of those who knew Odysseus and through his own returning memories. What I loved most is how the film initially frames Odysseus as the hero you want to root for. You want him to make it home. You want him to save his kingdom. Then, as the story deepens, you learn two things: Odysseus is far from a straightforward hero, and everything that has befallen him and his men may be genuine punishment from the Gods they worship. There’s a deeper theme running through The Odyssey than your typical gods versus mortals spectacle. These characters never see their Gods directly. They never meet them face to face. But the situations they’re forced to endure make them believe those powers are lurking in the shadows, watching and punishing those who do wrong. Add cyclops, witches, and other creatures to the mix, and maybe the people of this world have plenty to fear beyond themselves.

I want to spoil the entire film for you, but I realize many of you may still be waiting to see it. So I’ll just say this: The Odyssey only gets better as it progresses. When it begins to step back from the magical elements, the human story steps forward, and it makes a compelling argument that greed and betrayal may be more dangerous than any creature or divine punishment. The ending isn’t the clean, happy resolution you might be hoping for, but it’s full of heart and a sense of destiny that feels completely earned. Nolan handled Homer’s story with both reverence and his own unmistakable vision, and the result is something genuinely special.

Acting and Cast

The Odyssey was not a cheap production, reportedly costing around $250 million before marketing, and that price tag becomes understandable the moment you see the cast assembled here. Matt Damon leads as Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Robert Pattinson as the scheming suitor Antinous, and Tom Holland as Telemachus (whose schedule must be absolutely packed at this point in his career). And those are just the major players. There’s also Lupita Nyong’o in the dual roles of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Elliot Page as Sinon, Zendaya as Athena, and Jon Bernthal as Menelaus. I haven’t even mentioned John Leguizamo or Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, who spends roughly 95% of the film in full armor. This is a top-tier cast and it shouldn’t need saying, but it will anyway: their performances match every expectation their names carry.

Nolan deserves serious awards recognition for the casting work alone on The Odyssey. Every member of this ensemble performed above and beyond, and most of them were asked to work against their usual onscreen nature. You can still recognize who these people are, but they each feel fully inhabited in their roles rather than just playing themselves in period costumes. The acting is one of the most consistent standouts of the entire film.

Cinematography and Direction

Christopher Nolan comes very close to perfection with the cinematography of The Odyssey. The scene where Odysseus’ remaining soldiers fight giant armored knights in a moving forest is one of the most visually striking sequences in recent cinema. Behind the scenes footage revealed they cast larger people in the knight roles and used the landscape to amplify their scale and presence, which speaks to exactly the kind of practical filmmaking ingenuity that defines Nolan’s best work. The scenes at sea feel genuinely exhausting, as if you too are fighting the waves alongside these survivors. The battles are pure, controlled chaos, handled with the kind of precision that makes you feel every blow and every loss. The film’s final battle in particular is as close to perfection as big-screen action gets.

The one area where The Odyssey stumbles slightly is in its creature designs. Nolan is famously resistant to relying on CGI, and for the most part, that instinct serves the film incredibly well. But the few times digital creatures do appear, they stand out in the wrong way. The cyclops looks noticeably off compared to everything surrounding it, and the hydra-like creature that attacks the men at sea carries a similar problem. These are the only two moments where The Odyssey looks average. Compared to the 1997 miniseries they’re still a massive improvement, but against the 99% of the film that looks extraordinary, these moments are impossible to ignore.

Conclusion

The Odyssey may be my personal favorite film of 2026. Christopher Nolan deserves every major award and accolade coming his way for this one, full stop. From start to finish it is a thrilling, emotionally rich action and adventure film backed by one of the most impressive casts ever assembled. The visuals are extraordinary, the direction is masterful, and aside from a couple of creature designs, Nolan’s command of the screen is never in question. If you haven’t seen The Odyssey yet, or if you love Greek mythology and epic storytelling, watch this film as soon as humanly possible. You won’t regret it.