Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’: Let Me Tell You a Story About a Story Adapted into a Story That’s Almost a Masterpiece

Ain’t No Movie like a Christopher Nolan Movie Because a Christopher Nolan Don’t Stop.

Like any big reader or lover of storytelling, I had a Greek Mythology phase. Loved the myths as if they were real (some angry folks on the internet are still doing this btw), bought more books, found obscure and disconnected stories to call my favorites. Realized we had been using Zeus as a shorthand for all powerful when he might be the biggest asshole in all of storytelling. And while my obsession with the gods and the lessons and the trickery and the allegory eventually evened out, there’s a reason they are still the backbone for so many stories today.

I think there are three main ways to watch The Odyssey (of course, not counting the Right Wing influencer/grifter hellscape, for which those dudes painted themselves in the corner over this): a straight popcorn flick, an ambitious technical attempt in the storytelling medium, or a “faithful” adaptation of perhaps the most popular epic poem ever committed to parchment (or famously not, I guess). The last one being the trickiest and perhaps the hardest aspect of not only judging this film, but I imagine in even conceptualizing it in the first place. There’s a reason people have said that The Odyssey is one of those unadaptable texts, with film productions usually focusing on smaller scale parts of the journey like The Return, or abstracting it all together like O Brother, Where Art Thou? Factor in the technical aspect of the film where reportedly the IMAX cameras had a limit of three hour run times, so that led to some constraints in production. It’s almost a miracle of a film.

Which is why it is so close to being unassailable, but alas, I plucked my bow string, so you know what’s coming. First, the good. And by good, I mean insanely good. Nolan’s adherence for practical effects is so dauntingly paired with how his movies are shot. The film still maintains a mythical magic while grounding you in the spectacle, and often terror, of the moment. The encounter with Laestrygonians sticks out to me aka when Odysseus and his unstoppable army got absolutely curb stomped by iron clad giants just for pulling up to their lands. It is brutal and terrifying and yet unimaginable to see these hulking killing machines move through our heroes without a care in the world.

The Laestrygonians scene is perhaps the crux of where the criticisms meet for this film and will probably say a lot about how much you enjoy it. In the myth, these were man eating giants, who descended upon the men, savaging them mercilessly. Nolan has changed this drastically, put the giants in armor, making them warriors and showing them as a more terrifying version of Odysseus’ own army, who were thought to be the most devastating fight force in the world at that point. The change is thematic: to show the breaking of Zeus’ law and the havoc that Odysseus and his men has unleashed into the world. Similar to how Nolan used the atomic bomb in Oppenheimer to say that their actions ultimately changed how the world operated moving forward. This theme comes back again and again as Odysseus sees more and more chickens coming home to roost.

If the depiction of the giants is a step too far for you, having thought the source has been subverted too much for the sake of the story, then you’ll struggle with the rest of the film, as Nolan has taken many liberties in almost every aspect of this story. This is the adaptation conundrum. Where paying respects and homage meets artistic vision and themes.

Is there a way to thread the needle on these aspects? In 2026, that seems to be increasingly unlikely. Which is to say nothing of daring to question the source itself. Where having back to back scenes of a cyclops (who has giant proportions) eating Odysseus’ men to the next obstacle being multiple giants…eating Odysseus’ men. In the source, you don’t get the sense of sameness that you would get watching those scenarios on film. Again, damn if you do kind of situation. And honestly, the fact that Nolan knew that from the beginning and took on this project anyway deserves some recognition.

Grounding the spectacle of course is an all-time cast. There isn’t even what I would call an average performance in this film from the main crew. Separating source character differences (in the poem, Odysseus is more a trickster and smartest dude in the room, where he is much more stubborn and flawed in the movie), this is maybe Matt Damon’s best performance. And think about how crazy that is to say out loud, but it’s certainly possible. Playing this version of Odysseus that is resolute and mostly unwavering from the mission of going home, balanced with a man who absolutely believes that he has made the world worse with his actions is a staggering character to nail down.

You get amazing performances across the board, and there are too many to name honestly, but there are a few we can take time to recognize. Himesh Patel as Eurylochus, a captain under Odysseus’ command is outstanding and heartbreaking throughout. Robert Pattinson…give that dude whatever he wants. Few actors of his caliber would take such a despicable role. Because Antinous isn’t just a mustache twirling villain. He’s just a sniveling coward that is revolting in every way we don’t want to be seen as people. And he just jumps into the role face first. Tom Holland as Telemachus? Good, I guess. No, definitely good. Just historically, Telemachus is hard to love because the source needs him to often feel a bit helpless or not contributing to the overall physicality the final moments demand. And I don’t want to turn this into a meditation on performative masculinity and all of that, but your boy waiting for his dad to come home and clean up this mess just like everybody else, ok?

But let’s not kid ourselves, Anne Hathaway getting that Oscar nom fam. She is just absurd in this as Penelope. Grace, longing, grief, resolute, and RAGE. Yo, how often do we get to see Hathaway just show outright rage?! It was a feast to take in.

No Taste of the Gods’ Ambrosia

Why isn’t this a masterpiece to me? Pacing, for one. This is the monkey’s paw you get with Christopher Nolan films, sometimes the timey wobbly stuff works and sometimes its ok. There are moments when the jump between different periods of time serve the artistic moment and overall aesthetic. But sometimes, it makes the story feel disjointed and a bit fragmented. You never lose where you are at in The Odyssey, but you sometimes don’t know what moment will lead into another. And sometimes that’s good to play with the audience’s expectations. At other times, the story loses momentum in ways that are tough to gain back.

Specifically, the suitor scene is amazing. The contest, the admission from Odysseus to Penelope about the atrocities they carried out, the bow pluck. THE BOW PLUCK. It is all amazing…and then they start fighting. Nolan does amazing, large scale action scenes, both in this movie and historically. The close cut inter-personal action sequences may be his Achilles’ heel. Yes, I did that on purpose. But the action sequence is just…not great and feels like a let-down when we’ve been building towards this moment for two and a half hours. Not to throw Hollywood all up in your Homer, but if you gonna do all this…Odysseus needs to feel like John Wick with a bow and any environmental weapon he could get his hands on. This is one of the most famous one-man army lore stories in the history of ever. The fight unfortunately, doesn’t feel worthy.

If you are not completely poisoned against popular media and aren’t financially incentivized to hate this movie, you know, because you’re a normal person, it’s almost impossible to not enjoy The Odyssey. The spectacle, imagination, and performances are some of the best you’ll ever witness. Some dialogue choices and definitely some smaller fight scenes leave something to be desired. But this film is epic in every sense of the word; A film that will be impossible to skip entirely.

Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on BlueSky ,Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram!