When you check a movie start time at one of those big chain theaters, add thirty minutes to accommodate an endless stream of boring commercials and disappointing previews, and then you have the real movie start time.
That’s why we got to the theater a half an hour after the scheduled start time to see The Odyssey in an IMAX theater. We walked in just as the first scene began—perfect timing!— but didn’t account for the torrentially rainy day and the film’s popularity. We were stuck in the first row.
No matter. Once we stretched our necks and got our bearings, we settled in for a genuine 3-hour spectacle. Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited take on Homer’s literary masterpiece did not disappoint.
The best thing I can say about any work of fiction, whether on the page or on the screen, is that I totally bought in. The world-building was mesmerizing. Matt Damon was convincing and authentic as the weathered, morally conflicted Odysseus. The storytelling structure was superb, shifting back and forth among three different timelines: the Trojan War, the 20-year journey home for Odysseus, and the intrigue happening back in his homeland, Ithaca, where many suitors vie for the hand of his wife, Penelope, all insisting Odysseus is dead.
Nolan’s script deftly handled the mixing of gods and mortals. Zendaya as Athena and Charlize Theron as Calypso played the biggest goddess roles. And the monsters! When Odysseus and his crew run into the Cyclops Polyphemus, their battle and ensuing escape was as riveting as any movie action sequence I’ve seen. Equally compelling is the depiction of the soldiers hiding inside the wooden horse and how they tricked the Trojans into bringing the horse within their city walls.
Some unevenness. At points the dialogue is too expository, but I guess we had to learn some of the backstory. Anne Hathaway did a fine job as Penelope, but the script didn’t give her much to do other than sit in her castle, pine for her husband, and reject suitors.
And, of course, we have yet another film devoted to the glorification and violence of war and the cruelty of humans (despite Odysseus being a good man with misgivings). But then again, if there’s no conflict, no story.
It’s been a while since Hollywood has produced a true summer blockbuster with mass appeal. The Odyssey is it for 2026.
