The Odyssey Melbourne premiere screening provided by Universal Pictures
As one of the seminal works in literature, The Odyssey brought the mythical down to Earth, pitted gods against man and set the tone for the sort of storytelling we have seen ever since across various mediums. There have been numerous adaptations in film and TV, some focusing on key moments like Troy (2004) and The Return (2024) while others were more loose in their approach like O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000), but Christopher Nolan’s rendition stands on its own as a triumphant exercise in scale and possibility, breathing new life into a classic.
While scholars largely agree that The Odyssey was communicated orally before ever being written down anywhere, the question of whether Homer was ever actually one person or one part of a whole has always been a point of contention. What is unmistakable is that Nolan writes his version for the screen entirely in IMAX, a trailblazing feat for a director who has constantly worked to push the medium forward. His effort has seen a widespread ‘pilgrimage’ from devoted fans to locations that are showcasing the film in all its 70mm glory (one of which is here in Melbourne), and it’s worth every effort to see in that way.
Nolan’s film finds a balance between the more contemplative moments of the novel and the sudden shifts in momentum as tension brews. Godly interactions are replaced with allusions to greater powers like the crash of thunder, flashbacks are used seamlessly to connect one moment to the next, and the film is underscored by layers of greed and regret that compliment rather than detract from the unfurling of events. After all, Nolan has always been interested in men who have self-destructive tendencies and carry grief, greed and regret within them which makes Odysseus (played expertly by Matt Damon) the perfect vessel from which to delve further into that thematic exploration.
Odysseus, like Oppenheimer, carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and people will live and die based on his actions; however, for Oppenheimer that weight threatened to destroy the world while for Odysseus, it threatens to destroy him. It’s why his journey from Ithaca to the beaches of Troy tickle Nolan’s fancy, a journey that is met by moments where the sacrifice of the few is in service of the collective whole. It leads to some of Nolan’s most haunting images of said greed, where the trials and tribulations from the novel bring into question what is morally right (like burying dead warriors) versus what is necessary (escaping and surviving).
It does take a good 30 or so minutes to actually get the ball rolling, as establishing an epic of this scale with so many potential directions to springboard from is no easy ask. This is especially the case as Nolan works to figure out how to get Telemachus (Tom Holland) out of Ithaca and away from the suitors like Antinous (Robert Pattinson) courting his mother Penelope (Anne Hathaway) while bringing Odysseus into the picture as soon as possible.
The Odyssey isn’t a complex story, but finding a way to navigate the presence of gods which so crucially inform every cause and effect chain in the story, is a challenge, especially since Nolan’s approach usually involves crashing non-chronological moments into each other like oars against rocks. His approach here is a bit more considered and surprisingly seamless though, as flashbacks do a lot of heavy lifting, cutting from the past to the present; from Calypso’s (Charlize Theron) gradual unlocking of Odysseus’ memory to Telemachus hearing the stories of his father’s journey from those who battled with him like Menelaus (Jon Bernthal). The key moment the flashbacks come back to, and the part of The Odyssey that even those who haven’t read it will be most familiar with, is the Trojan horse infiltrating Troy. This is the nucleus that bridges the rest of the film together, showing the path that Odysseus and his men took that ultimately led him to his predicament.
This path leads them from encounters with creatures like a cyclops that was physically built to tower over the actors, to a forest of giants in armour that equally tower like the Mountain from Game of Thrones, and an encounter with the dead men in ‘hell’ where ice and fire meet. A particular highlight occurs with Circe (Samantha Morton), a witch who conjures dark magic to usurp her victims. Without spoilng too much, her presence (along with that of the aforementioned creatures) almost evokes an element of horror that is reminiscent of Sam Raimi’s little horror moments throughout his Spiderman films, and makes a strong case for a Nolan horror film at some point. The visual effects of these encounters are used sparingly, giving the film its mythical edge without overwhelming the meditative, ponderous tone that Nolan is going for.
These encounters leave Odysseus a wreck just like his ship was for the greed his men showed when they went against the wisdom that he granted them, falling victim to their own desires and demise, and Odysseus, to his self-reckoning. Matt Damon’s performance is enchanting and really crucial in buying into Odysseus’ emotional plight; he commands the screen and, especially in the film’s closing stages, brings an awe to the character that I can best compare to the first time you see Luke Skywalker take his hood off at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). The supporting cast are just as crucial, with Robert Pattinson playing the part of a nuisance you can’t wait to see killed, with a grace that has characterised his career, and John Leguizamo grounding the scenes back at Ithaca as the watchful Eumaeus.
The Odyssey is ultimately about one man’s journey home, charting his rise and fall from different vantage points all the while giving an otherworldly and godly feel to his presence without ever having to spell out and showcase the actual gods and their moments of intervention. Propelled forward by a rapturous score from Ludwig Göransson, one that holds tension as it pounds in synths and drumbeats that have the aura of battle about them and is supported by a hefty, transportative soundscape, as well as strong performances across the deck, Nolan’s film has the wonder of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and the transcendent look of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films. It is unequivocally Nolan’s film though, with the result being a measured, meditative look at the cost of triumph, the bodies it leaves in its wake, and the weight of decisions that stick with us long after we have made them.
The Odyssey opens nationally from today.
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