“Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this, he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.” So reads the chilling opening text of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s masterful biopic surrounding the father of the atomic bomb. In his latest theatrical excursion, Nolan gets even more literal with myth deconstruction by adapting Homer’s The Odyssey, the ancient text that launched a thousand hero’s journeys. Despite being one of the few modern directors who can claim to be a household name, Nolan confesses he didn’t quite feel he had the “blank check” he wanted for his monomyth but when his first outing with Universal Pictures scored 7 Oscars, the ask became more realistic. As a result, The Odyssey is the auteur’s grandest spectacle, one that feels both state-of-the-art and a work that could endure as long as the epic poem that inspired it.
Following his victory in the Trojan War, Ithaca’s king Odysseus (Matt Damon) parts with Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) and Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) as he sets course for he and his men to go home. On their way, they encounter numerous grueling obstacles, including a skirmish with Poseidon’s one-eyed son Polyphemus (Bill Irwin) and a battle with the giant Laestrygonians of Aeaea. The years-long trek creates a power struggle in Ithaca, as Odysseus’s wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) is pursued by slimy suitors like Antinous (Robert Pattinson) in the king’s absence. Desperate to find his father and aid him in his voyage home, Odysseus’s son Telemachus (Tom Holland) works with faithful farmer Eumaeus (John Leguizamo) to get Odysseus back to an Ithaca that becomes more dangerous to his return with each passing day.
Characteristic of almost every Christopher Nolan movie that’s come before it, The Odyssey is told in a non-linear fashion, weaving in glimpses of past and future that give the narrative both context and resonance. While I’m sure brushing up on Greek mythology before seeing the film wouldn’t hurt, you don’t need to call up your high school English teacher for a refresher on Homer’s tale before walking into the theater. The screenplay uses vernacular that may sound a touch too modern in a few places but, on the whole, does an outstanding job setting the table and defining the stakes. In juggling myriad characters, both human and magical, Nolan never loses the thread of how all of the story elements weave into a timeless tapestry about honor and justice. He also imbues his take on the legend with somber reflections on the nature of memory and the toll of combat on the warrior’s psyche.
Even by Nolan standards, the ensemble cast of The Odyssey, which also includes Charlize Theron and Zendaya in mystical roles, is especially sprawling and full to the gunwales with talent. Every actor makes the most of their, in some cases, minutes-long appearance but the commanding performance at the center of this fantastical adventure remains the film’s finest. As ubiquitous a movie star as Matt Damon is now, his work here is so electrifying and layered that it reminds us why his stature in Hollywood has remained so strong for the past 30 years. Though this Odysseus calls back to defining characters from Damon’s filmography, be they the amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne or his abandoned voyager The Martian, the stalwart actor plays notes of regret and yearning that you feel in your chest.
A question lingering over The Odyssey prior to its release is how Nolan, infamous for his insistence on practical effects over CGI, would translate the fantasy portions of Homer’s text to the screen. While monsters like Charybdis and Scylla are computer-generated, the majority of the events are captured in the most tangible terms possible. The sequence involving Odysseus’s men trapped in a cave with a Cyclops is terrifying in no small part due to the practicality and “realism” of the creature design and sound design. Another arduous affair on Aeaea seamlessly blurs the line between the origin of the visual effects for the movie’s most horrifyingly effective setpiece. Every piece of Ruth De Jong’s world-class production design makes this universe feel impossibly expansive, one that audiences will undoubtedly be rewarded for revisiting multiple times on the largest screen possible. The word “epic” gets thrown around plenty these days but if The Odyssey doesn’t warrant the superlative, nothing else does.
Score – 4.5/5
New movies coming this weekend:
Coming to theaters is Her Private Hell, a sci-fi thriller starring Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton, following a troubled young woman who searches for her father after a mysterious mist engulfs their futuristic city and unleashes a deadly, elusive entity.
Also playing only in theaters is Hadestown: The Musical, a live stage recording of the Broadway production that retells the Greek mythology legends of Orpheus & Eurydice and Hades & Persephone.
Premiering on Apple TV is The Dink, a sports comedy starring Jake Johnson and Ben Stiller, telling the tale of an aging tennis pro who must go against his instincts and play pickleball to save a local club.
