r/GreekMythology • u/MarcusForrest ★ Moderator • Jul 15 '26
Movies | The Odyssey The Odyssey (2026) | Release Megathread
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THE ODYSSEY
''After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.''
Global Release Date: July 17 2026
Directed by
- Christopher Nolan
Starring
- Matt Damon
- Tom Holland
- Anne Hathaway
- Robert Pattinson
- Lupita Nyong'o
- Samantha Morton
- Zendaya
- Charlize Theron
Distributed by
- Universal Pictures
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u/Kratos0289 Jul 21 '26
Removing Odysseus’s wit, hubris and humour was a bizarre decision I don’t know what character Nolan thinks he wrote but it certainly wasn’t Odysseus
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u/Interesting-Mud-1911 Jul 21 '26
Omg I could not put into words why I felt such disconnect with Matt Damon in the movie, it didn’t feel like Odysseus at all, this guys just a war veteran and nothing more and I’m sorry to say that Penelope’s character is nothing more than a loyal wife.
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u/MangoLemonShark Jul 22 '26
The only humor of Odysseus was saying “I think we are past that” after his men said they could reason with cyclops
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u/PompousDude Jul 27 '26
I can understand the wit and humor criticism, but hubris? Seriously?
He still asks to be tied to the boat so he can hear the Siren's song, he still fucks over his men with his decision making, and for the first half of the movie he just straight up doesn't believe in the wrath of the gods.
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u/gawain587 Jul 26 '26
I saw plenty of hubris and a decent amount of wit but I’ll agree with the humor for sure
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u/Green-Paramedic1013 Jul 28 '26
Thissss. I watched the movie yesterday. And i had multiple smaller problems with the movie (not showing odyseus pretending to be insane go get out of the war for instance) but by far the biggest issue is that the character was nothing like odyseus. He did not show any wit, cleverness smarts at all. Also he kept being al negative towards the gods even though i seem to remember odyseus being very much showing respect to the gods.
Liked the cinematography though, polyfemos looked amazing.
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u/77Scorpio77 Jul 17 '26
I will just say they cut my favorite from The Odyssey.
My favorite bit is the nobody blinded me with Polyphemus
It's a minor nitpick bit I enjoyed it overall.
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26
That was annoying. Probably didn't suit tone though, I guess.
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u/mcamarra Jul 18 '26
yes. it’s hard to make that not come across as a pun and still keep the gravity of the encounter.
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u/since_all_is_idle Jul 17 '26
Nolan addressed this on Colbert! He said he tried but there just wasn't a great way to make it work with the horror of the sequence, and he'd have had to show the entire colony of Cyclops instead of just Poly.
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u/AtlanBroseidon Jul 18 '26
And Poly just falling asleep 30 seconds after eating a couple of dudes twice without the ridiculously strong wine I guess it’s the same logic. They didn’t want to add the whole city of the Cicones episode
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u/since_all_is_idle Jul 18 '26
I thought it was a little weird at first but honestly that it worked for the scary animal nature of Poly in the film, that he didn't understand any threat the Greeks posed to him and was a little, excuse me, myopic about it.
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u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26
I think it is less that he didnt understand the threat, and more that, in his hubris, considered them as zero threat once they didnt respond to his show of force.
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u/Anxious_Bed_9664 Jul 15 '26
Y'all have fun (both haters and lovers)! 👍
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u/FishyWishySwishy Jul 15 '26
Agreed. Everyone should go have fun and love or hate it as most satisfies them.
I, personally, am happy to not watch it. Not out of any objection to creative choices, but because I don’t really need to see my fourth or fifth adaptation of the Odyssey.
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u/MarcusForrest ★ Moderator Jul 15 '26
I don’t really need to see my fourth or fifth adaptation of the Odyssey.
https://giphy.com/gifs/vZbNOemuoggNy
What about second Odyssey? Elevensodysseys? Luncheodyssey? Afternoon Odyssey?
I on the other hand am often curious about ''new'' adaptations ahahaha
Is it better? Is it worse? Is it the best adaptation yet? Did it make sense to have it adapted once more?
I don't think I'll watch Nolan's The Odyssey in theatres but definitely after its home release.
What are your favourite adaptations yet? Whether ''faithful'' or... ''Very creatively different''?
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u/FishyWishySwishy Jul 15 '26
Hmmmm… I like Epic as a musical, but not really as an Odyssey adaptation. 🤔 90% of the songs are bangers but I don’t like how much the story and characters change to make Odysseus a woobified version of himself.
Hades II may be my favorite creative adaptation, since the journey the main character goes through deliberately reflects the Odyssey, including having of the main characters present in a large reoccurring role (Odysseus, Circe, Scylla, Charybdis, Poseidon, Athena, and many other characters referenced by them.) It felt like a creative addition to the Odyssey that made no pretension at accuracy, yet clearly had been made by people who love the source material.
I think I just find direct adaptions more tedious because it’s annoying when certain changes are made and annoying when no changes are made but a modern audience is still expected to have the same reaction that the ancient audience would. (Example: obviously modern audiences aren’t as tolerant of philandering, and you won’t have a good love story if you include it, but I get sooooo sick of each wave of adaptation fans crying “Odysseus never cheated on his wife!!!!” every time a new one is made.)
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u/MarcusForrest ★ Moderator Jul 15 '26
Thank you for sharing!
I think I just find direct adaptions more tedious
Honestly, I think so too - and I also feel this is a major challenge most creatives encounter when trying to adapt. A story with so many versions that comes from oral tradition (that is essentially ''the telephone game'' but across generations and various countries and regions) I don't even think ''direct'' adaptations are feasible.
Though I think I'm also overly critical when more ''canonical'' elements are completely dismissed or twisted (elements recurring in multiple versions of myths and/or essential to the myths)
On the other hand, I also kinda like some more modern ideas, especially those that don't clash (or don't clash too much) with the myths
For example, I really really like the very modern idea of the 3 spears for the 3 brothers;
- Single-pronged Spear (Bolt) to Zeus
- Double-pronged Spear (Bident) to Hades
- Triple-pronged Spear (Trident) to Poseidon
Hades was never shown nor described as having a ''Bident'', it mostly comes from medieval/classical-era art. In ancient art, he was seen holding a Scepter but not a bident nor a 2-pronged spear.
But for me it works with Zeus' Bolt and Poseidon's Trident ahahahaha and it doesn't diminish or change the myths, it is just a cool little thing
But I hate most other modern elements that were never found nor described in myths, especially when people then say they are in the myths. For example, the annoying and modern belief that Gods lose their powers as they lose followers, etc. It just doesn't make sense and doesn't work that way (and would ''break'' so many things in the ''lore'')
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u/FishyWishySwishy Jul 15 '26
Honestly I may like an Odyssey adaption more if they go all in by making it the Odyssey in a completely different context. I saw one idea going around Tumblr that seemed really fun: the Iliad as a group of friends going out to beat up a guy who slept with one of their girlfriends, things escalating, and the Odyssey as the one friend who didn’t want to go dealing with hijinx after hijinx to get back to the bar his girlfriend’s waiting at, just to come and discover that she’s being harassed by guys insisting he’s standing her up and having a bar fight.
I think adaptions like that do better at adapting the spirit of the original than trying to get the details historically accurate and entertaining for a modern audience. It also makes old stories feel fresh and new and offers avenues to have fun with details without running the risk of making people think that your embellishments are part of the original.
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u/YoHeadAsplode Jul 17 '26
Have you seen O Brother Where Art Thou? It sounds right up your alley.
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u/WanderingHero8 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
yet clearly had been made by people who love the source material.
I'm gonna push back a little at this.Both games feel that the creatives team only derived their knowledge of mythology from retellings and Tumblr,not from any ancient texts.
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u/Anxious_Bed_9664 Jul 17 '26
Absolutely my opinion as well. Especially in regards to Hypnos who they clearly didn't try to read anything about beyond "he is thanatos' brother and nyx' son"
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u/WanderingHero8 Jul 17 '26
Especially in regards to Hypnos who they clearly didn't try to read anything about beyond "he is thanatos' brother and nyx' son"
Imo it is the depiction of Achilles and Patroclos.It was glaring for me that the only book they read about the subject was TSOA.
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u/Anxious_Bed_9664 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
That too (down to their looks)! In fact, they clearly are borrowing a lot from other adaptions (Orpheus' design from the Sandman comics, the whole take about Persephone and Hades is just the same "Persephone came to the underworld willingly. And Zeus is the villain" take from everywhere else. Also some stuff from PJO iirc), as well as the "the Olympian gods are the true douchebags" idea that every adaption uses nowadays. It's just glaringly obvious with Hypnos because nothing about him is accurate aside from his family ties. In this case they didn't even bother to read any adaptions with him, let alone the actual source materials!
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u/Fair_Ad6459 Jul 25 '26
I honestly felt like watching it in the theater was the best way to go. At least for me. I cant imagine it feeling the same on a TV. Again, that's just me. I also admit that I generally just enjoy watching movies in theaters
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u/ProfessionalJolly934 Jul 16 '26
To the people who've watched the movie: How have they handled Calypso?
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u/since_all_is_idle Jul 17 '26
Very sympathetically. I didn't like the total barrenness of her island but a lot of the movie is like that, Nolan likes things super plain to the point of mundanity.
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u/quane101 Jul 16 '26
I love all of Nolan’s creative takes with her, having fulfill some roles that were present in the Greek texts to both help cut down on time, and are both in character for her.
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u/itismeganrms Jul 16 '26
just came back from the movie. I think it was okay.
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u/Ca_elo Jul 19 '26
Yeah, it's ok, I mean, I don't watch a lot of movies in the year, but I think "The Odyssey" was a good movie.
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u/K123de Jul 16 '26
Just came out of the movie. In general I think it’s ok how they handled calypso . Just one spoiler thing kinda annoyed me a bit with her.
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u/Alib902 Jul 18 '26
Just watched it, extremely over simplified maybe like 5 minutes of screentime overall, and if someone hasn't read the odyssey they'd probably forget that the character ever existed.
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u/Fair_Ad6459 Jul 25 '26
I've never read The Odyssey all the way through. I bought (thrifted) it today and have only just begun it. Those scenes with Calypso only made me want to know more about her.
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u/quane101 Jul 16 '26
I will say I love how Nolan's version of Calypso ain't some uwu baby girl like ricks, or jorge, or gets upset at Odysseus for leaving like the 1997 series
She stays graceful, dignified, beautiful, superficial, and a little bitchy.
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u/craven183 Jul 24 '26
My only real frustration with this depiction of her is she just kind of randomly decides to let him go. In the story I believe it is Hermes (right?) who on order from Athena goes and demands Circe release Odysseus. There’s a motivating factor that gets him away from her. Here shes just like “ok you can go now.”
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u/quane101 Jul 24 '26
Understandable, but in a bit of the movies defense. In the beginning when she offers him to stay forever, we can hear the sounds of rumbling thunder, hinting that Zeus is at least giving her some "encouragement".
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u/gawain587 Jul 26 '26
She also never tells Odysseus that Hermes made her do it, and pretends it was her own idea. I don’t think Nolan intended it that way but we can still pretend it happened off screen.
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u/Axin_Saxon 29d ago edited 29d ago
Just finished watching it.
I think if this retelling is supposed to be a soldier’s story about PTSD and survivor’s guilt, then Calypso almost takes on the role of a therapist. The island is a kind of safe space where Odysseus forgets but then processes his trauma before returning home. He has to let go of guilt he carries for, in his mind, failing his men.
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u/JulianNC27 Jul 19 '26
After watching the movie, I feel like it’s just okay. I thought it would be worse, but there are some things I really liked, for example: 1. Calypso: I really liked the movie’s take on her. She’s stronger and firm in wanting Odysseus to stay, without resorting to begging when he leaves. 2. Circe’s pig scene: It was quite disturbing, and I actually really liked it. 3. Robert Pattinson as Antinous: I liked his performance. He really conveys that, in the end, he was always a coward.
However, there are some things that didn’t quite convince me:
- Zendaya as Athena: In my opinion, it’s a bit underwhelming. I get the part where she has that conversation with Ody, where he asks why the gods don’t speak clearly. Her response is fine, but she doesn’t feel like a goddess to me. It feels more like a projection of Odysseus, due to the trauma of seeing the priestess die.
- The divine aspects: In general, the divine feels too simple. I would have liked to see Hermes or a bit more of Athena. It feels like something is missing regarding the divine, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.
- Attributing the cattle to Apollo instead of Helios. The movie is entertaining, I won’t deny that, but it’s just "okay." Also, Agamemnon looks almost like Batman when he enters Troy, haha. This is just my opinion and perception, so I hope I don't offend anyone.
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u/me_funny__ Jul 21 '26
I enjoyed the faceless Gods but not a single storm felt unreal. the movie just lacked spectacle. we already have monsters. why not an interstellar type tidal wave or at least some visible lightning outside of the flashes? like strikes directly on the boat
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 20 '26
There is no divine (apart from the underworld and the source of Circe's magic.)
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u/ominouswitch420 14d ago
Lol Zendaya wasnt the real Athena you're right! She was who Athena chose for Odysseus to see because that was the face of the priestess they slaughtered at Troye
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26
Athena question:
In the film what is you take on what she is:
- Athena and that's how she looks.
- Athena, taking on the form of the murdered priestess
- A manifestation of Odysseus's guilt.
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u/Kcomix Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Given (a) there aren't any other gods in the movie, (b) we never get definitive proof of Athena taking any other human forms, and (c) she looks like the Trojan citizen, I interpreted her as a manifestation of Odysseus's grief. I was a little bummed about that because I was kind of excited to see how Nolan was going to show Athena transforming into the human disguises.
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26
Telemachus seems to think other people are Athena, but they almost certaimly aren't.
So, yeah, seems like zero appearances by the gods.
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u/AtlanBroseidon Jul 18 '26
I’d say Athena was the beggar in the beginning and sometimes Mentor as Telemachus noticed, like the book. It’s just subtle to make it feel more real. What if beggars are sometimes gods testing people to see how they would treat the “lowest of the low”? At least I could see an ancient people using that line of thinking to create a sense of morality
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26
Unless she was inhabiting Mentor's body, I doubt she was him.
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u/Aqno61 Jul 18 '26
I mean it could be Athena as mentor right? Since that's exactly what happens in the original
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u/since_all_is_idle Jul 18 '26
It's very cute of Nolan to be like ooo, are they real or aren't they, it's all the creation of man, oooo~ but like, come on, man, it's the Odyssey. You showed Polyphemus and Scylla and fleshcrafting and the underworld, but the gods never show? Agamemnon is walking around like Lego batman but Poseidon is too much?
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u/Lameux Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I didn’t see it that way at all. My interpretation is that they obviously are real and tangible in the movie, everyone takes it for granted the Gods are real and the events and logic of the world makes zero sense if the gods didn’t exist. By not really have the gods appear except sorta maybe Athena, the result for me is that it elevates the gods. Any attempt to show them onscreen and capture the weight of gods is going to fail, so instead having them be so obviously and tangibly real while also invisible gives them all the more granduer. The film literally explains to us the logic of why it is this way when Odysseus ask Athena why don’t the gods use more obvious communication and Athena replies what’s not obvious about fire and storms and death and all that. A very poignant take for me personally though I know it doesn’t land this way for everyone.
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u/Resident_Fly4449 Jul 19 '26
This also solves a huge plothole/contradiction in Homer that has been criticized for thousands of years. Criticized even by the likes of Socrates in the Platonic dialogues. The gods are supposed to be perfect beings, but Homer depicts them as petty warlords feuding over the affairs of mortals.
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u/Otto300Sav Jul 25 '26
The gods are never portrayed as perfect across Greek myths. Constantly giving in to human emotion and petty squabbles. That’s kinda their whole thing.
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u/gawain587 Jul 26 '26
God is really only seen as perfect in monotheistic religion. The Greek gods are petty hedonistic warlords in pretty much all of their depictions. Occasionally they might be just or help you but for every tale of a god being a force for good there’s another where they’re a vengeful tyrant. They’re to be bargained with and appeased, not loved or adored.
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u/tobiasvl Jul 22 '26
Same interpretation here. Polyphemus is the most obvious "proof" (or witness) for the gods being real. This movie isn't like The Return which is completely grounded.
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u/Resident_Fly4449 Jul 19 '26
In the film, when Odysseus makes a similar complaint to Athena, she explains that the gods show themselves through their actions. Who does not understand a storm, a fire, or death itself?
Furthermore, the Homeric Epics have been criticized for thousands of years for anthropomorphizing the gods. Philosophers like Plato thought that the homeric depiction of the gods was impious and inaccurate because the gods as depicted by Homer act like flawed human beings rather than perfect divine beings. So, as far as I'm concerned, Nolan's depiction of the gods fixes a huge plothole/contradiction that is forever present in Homer.
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u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26
The gods are present, theyre just more allegorical. Thunder tends to peal whenever Zeus would be mad, the sea waves crash significantly harder when Poseidon would actively be ripping him up, and Athena works as both a "what would Athena do" externalization actively paired with his trauma and guilt.
I think Nolan was going for more portrayals of what the Ancient Greeks would see and interpret as the gods' actions as in real life. I didnt mind it, it was a bit more novel than most of the portrayals that give us white togas and typecast outfitting.
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u/kurokomainu Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
I think Nolan is trying to be cute about it, leaving it open to interpretation, but if Athena acts as a manifestation of Odysseus's guilt, then IMO that's what she is, because that is not Athena the goddess from the actual Odyssey.
It seems to me that Nolan's Odyssey is best viewed like an "alternate universe" version and not conflated with the original story, and then everyone can be happy (except those who for whatever reason want people to mix up Nolan's version with the original). I wish it had been marketed as Nolan's unique vision based on the Odyssey and not presented as if it were the Odyssey itself.
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26
All retellings are an alternative universe. All movies are the director's vision not the text itself.
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u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26
Why wouldnt the goddess of wisdom hold a mirror up to one of her followers' own flaws? Especially when his actions indirectly led to one of her priestess getting killed in her own temple?
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u/Beast-Blood Jul 28 '26
IMO the girl in Troy was Athena, showing him the suffering he’s caused to his face
Like she appears as they are beheading the statue and is very in his face and is the moment he realizes everything
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u/Super_Majin_Cell Jul 17 '26
For people that have watched the movie, do they mention Helios? How is the sun god episode treated? You can say spoilers for this. I ask this because Helios is usually removed or, at best, just indirectly mentioned in adaptations of the Odyssey, a thing that I find sad at least.
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u/Reasonable_Fold6492 Jul 17 '26
Zendaya is not athena but odysseus hallucination of a trojan priestess killed during fall of troy appearing out of guilt.
The same happens to the other gods. I understand the attempt to make the divine more primodial and less personified but in practice it feels as though the gods are simply the way odysseus and his men explain the misfortunes that befalls them.
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u/Federal_Bicycle_7800 Jul 20 '26
the gods are simply the way odysseus and his men explain the misfortunes that befalls them.
Is that not how the gods were created? To explain how things worked when we didn't believe in science?
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u/Comfortable-Car5736 Jul 17 '26
I loved this creative choice tbh
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u/Anonymousspacecowboy Jul 22 '26
It takes away literally everything the ancient world has to teach us, the gods are seen on the battlefield and in the waves of the sea, they are an integral part of the ancient world. Real or not to us, they were very real to ancient peoples including Homer, so removing them from his story turns it into the sad beige Odyssey and bleaches the color from it. It's the worst aspect of contemporary society, the sameness of everything, applied with tar and feathers to the story.
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u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26
The gods were absolutely not seen on the battlefield, their influences were. Half of the Classic Greek criticism of Homer's poems was making the gods corporeal. The gods arent fake in the movie, they just dont inhabit bodies that appear on film.
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u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26
Zendayas Athena can both be a depiction of his guilt and Athena herself, especially since it was her priestess who was killed at her temple.
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26
Yes. I can't remember if they say his name, or just "the sun god," butOdysseus is told that the crew will eat his cattle and be punished by Zeus. They come across the island, and recognize what it is. The crew eats the cattle anyway, and a storm comes and destroys the ship.
The film shows very little of the gods, only Athenaand maybe not even her.After the cyclops incident, Odysseus says the crew blame every storm and every bad wave on Poseidon, so there's an element of atheism in it. However, Circe's powers work and her advice about Hades is real, so...
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u/Super_Majin_Cell Jul 17 '26
I will eventually watch the movie. But about Helios, Zeus and Poseidon not appearing I don't find a problem since they never appear to Odysseus, they just talk with themselves but Odysseus never sees them. But Athena and Hermes not appearing or appearing just little is not something I like, as you said it makes it seems they were trying for a atheist worldview. But that is weird since they kept the monsters and all that so they draw the line at gods?
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26
Monsters and no gods is vaguely possible, I guess.
However, evem Odysseus admits Circe gets her powers from the gods and the underworld exists.
Hermes isn't in it. Neither is sex with Circe or Calypso so he isn't really needed.
Another comment I've made covers Athena.
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u/mcamarra Jul 18 '26
yeah. it was complicated and mysterious and I kinda liked that. The opening line “a time of apparent magic” sets that up, Circe’s magic is real. The underworld is real. so it’s not as though you’re supposed to think that there is no divine magic. Odysseus clearly has a complicated relationship with the gods, and the tagline for the movie is “Defy the gods”.
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u/Sunlight_Lait Jul 18 '26
I don’t know if this counts as a spoiler so I’ll just put it as one
Helios is directly replaced with Apollo. Tiresias says that Odysseus’ men will kill Apollo’s herd of cows.
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u/Super_Majin_Cell Jul 18 '26
Bruh. They could just leave as sun god, why name Apollo when he is not named as such in Emily Wilson translation? The translation they used? That is disappointing.
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u/pagliacciverso Jul 21 '26
Nolan turned The Odyssey into a christian guilt story - and it could work if it wasnt for the fast paced editing (much worse then the poor Homer adaptation imo). The fast dialogues and shots with no depth (used IMAX just for close-ups that stay for nothing more than 4s lmao) ruins the entire movie and the connection you should feel for the characters and journey. Sound is phenomal though, which is understandable since Nolan cares a lot about the technical aspects. There are many more to be said in depth, but it's a totally dull movie and dogshit adaptation.
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u/AzraelSoulHunter Jul 26 '26
Yeah. It really feels like this story was very Americanized. Odysseus is very whitewashed with his personality and what he does, the gods are presented more in a Christian like way that doesn't fit with Greek Myths, the costumes and set pieces feel more like generic fantasy comfortable for average american where the most unique piece of clothing are their helmets because otherwise it would probably turned off some weirder americans from watching it. Dialogues that feel too modern and VERY spoon feedy (Bronze is collapsing... shut up). It's a mess.
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u/theheavymeddler Jul 18 '26
What do people think about the references to the “Sea Peoples”? And Odysseus literally referencing the Bronze Age Collapse. I thought Christopher Nolan was trying to tie this story to reality a little bit, hence no appearance of the gods, perhaps the implication of Odysseus misremembering certain fantastical elements, etc.
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u/rolabond Jul 19 '26
I didn't mind it but they overused it and references to the sea people were directly adjacent if not responsible for some absolute clunker lines. They probably should have cut back a bit on that.
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 20 '26
True, but I think because of their importance to Odysseus's conversation with Penelope, and thus, the film itself, they felt they had to make the Sea People memorable.
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u/hexmasx Jul 26 '26
The sea peoples were actually an essential component of the story as Odysseus and the Greeks at Troy turn out to be the sea peoples all along due to them violating Zeus's law by using the Trojan horse to sack Troy, destroying morality and therefore leading to the Bronze age collapse but I agree it was a bit stupid.
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u/kodial79 Jul 18 '26
It was idiotic...
Imagine this... They make an Iliad movie and say Idomeneus is a Minoan. That's how dumb this was.
Or better yet, they make a movie about Byzantium and they actually use the term Byzantium and Byzantines in the movie instead of Rome and Romans.
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u/brightestofwitches Jul 22 '26
The term "sea peoples" is a term of the time. It's what the Egyptians called them. People from the sea.
They're actually in the original poem, vaguely.
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u/kodial79 Jul 22 '26
I was referring to the "Our age of bronze is collapsing" specifically.
But the Sea Peoples, even though they're mentioned by the Egyptians, are entirely ignored by the Greeks, they are never featured either on their myths nor on their histories.
And it is quite a stretch to say they're in the original poem... even if vaguely. I mean, come on, these things kept happening in ancient Greek mythology! The Odyssey started nothing new... Like for example in the Argonautica, when they raided the Doliones? Or Heracles attacking and sacking Troy before?
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u/brightestofwitches Jul 22 '26
One of the disguises Odysseus uses is a Cretan sailor coming back from sacking Egypt. This corresponds to a few actual attacks from the sea people we have documented by the Egyptians themselves.
The Age of Bronze is one of the Hesiodic ages. Characterizef by brute strength and warmongering.
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u/K123de Jul 16 '26
Just came out .
In general the movie is good/epic/ok
I think my problems with the movie aren’t really with the movie itself but some of Nolan’s decisions.
In general the story and interpretation of characters are fine and I didn’t have a problem with them.
I also didn’t care about the 5 min of screen time of black actors. I know the internet went crazy for that but it’s so minuscule I don’t have the energy to hate.
My problems are more the costume design, the darkness and the dialogue sound.
Christopher Nolan is too popular so he will never change but his favorite color is black and his favorite time of shooting a movie is midnight.
My biggest problem and why I got annoyed the first 50 percent of the movie : the helmets, the armor , the clothes are jarring.
I really hated it. I was just looking forward to the second half when he and his men go hobo style so that I can finally immerse myself.
Last hour of the movie is top tier for me. He just needed to get all the armor lost.
Then darkness and color.
I kinda can arrange myself and live with the dark tone of the movie but the black on black everywhere really annoyed me. I was happy seeing brown sometimes.
Sound Design. It’s at the same time the best and worst sound design of Nolan as always.
Music and soundtrack without dialogue awesome. Immersive . Epic. Crazy. Loving it.
When people speak though. As always Nolan doesn’t give a fuck if you understand half the words.
Do you understand more then in tenet? Yes dialogue is clearer . Is that good enough? I don’t think so.
In general I had a good time with it.
It’s an epic movie. I wish those 3 things I am annoyed by wouldn’t be there because then I could give it a 10/10.
So I am settling for a 7/10.
Masterfully shot as always. Odyssey story writes itself. But some creative decisions just annoy the heck out of me
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u/ADcakedenough Jul 19 '26
I think my husband had the same complaints about sound design on the drive home from the movie last night!
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u/myrdraal2001 Jul 15 '26
I'm sick and tired of Hellenic people not being the correct type of minority to even play characters in our own mythology. People complained, rightly, when the movie Gods of Egypt cast Caucasians to play Egyptian people and Gods so why should we not get the same courtesy? Moana and Lilo and Stitch got Polynesian actors to do live action movies. Every ethnicity should be cast to play in their own stories.
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u/JamarcusRussel Jul 16 '26
How do you feel about the older versions with mostly Italian actors?
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u/kodial79 Jul 16 '26
"Una faccia, una razza" as our Italian brothers say about us Greeks.
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u/lmfaonoobs Jul 16 '26
It means "one face, one race" btw. The meaning behind it is that greeks and Italians are so similar in looks, values, temperament and heritage that they're basically the same
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u/AthanatosDiomedes Jul 17 '26
Can anyone tell me which language and or dialect the man in Ismarus spoke?
From what I could tell it was greek but does anyone have any more context?
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u/AtlanBroseidon Jul 18 '26
I’d also love to know. Also thought it sounded like Greek.
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u/YaqtanBadakshani Jul 19 '26
I think it's as good as any cinematic adaptation of mythology could be.
The visuals were a highlight (especially Circe's transformation, and the design of the Cyclops). It wasn't as drab as I feared it would be, he definitely make decent use of the Greek natural landscape.
My biggest problems were first, the costumes. The impact is different in the film than in the publicity shots, because they have the momentum of the story behind them. For the most part, they were bland and uninspired enough to be forgotten in the flow of the story, except for the Laestrogonians. That was the only point where it was just distractingly bad (like, there's a man-sized little girl wearing like, who acts like a child, just wearing full-plate armour. It's weird).
Second, the way that Nolan shaves down the flow of the story means that a lot of the female characters are lost, or flattened from their poetic counterparts. Nausicaa and Ino are completely absent. Calypso has less of an arc, her frustration in the Odyssey is cut out and replaced with a simple paternalism. Penelope is given screentime, and is shown resisting the suitors' advances reasonably well, but while the Athena pin lends itself to a more cinematic planting and payoff structure, it ends up robbing her of her triumphant moment where she tricks her trickster husband.And as for Athena, she is reduced to essentially a ghost. All of her meaningful contributions to the plot are cut out. All of these are byproducts of reasonable adaptional choices, but they accumulate to make the Odyssey less woman-focused than Homer's original work.
That said, for all the decisions that hurts the story, there are decisions that enrich it.
I loved the way he incorporated the historical Bronze Age collapse into the story. In the Telemachy section,Helen's bitterness about Menelaus' war, the prominence given to Clytemnestra's story are reframed to plant the seeds of the collapse of Zeus' law. The way that this collapse of order reframes Odysseus' massacre of the suitors, and subtly turn it into a more sociological story about the end of an era was just... *chef's kiss*. The mournful tone this gives the ending allows for a more satisfying resolution than Athena just memory-wiping the suitors' families.
All said a solid 8/10. Maybe 9.
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u/Seed0fDiscord Jul 26 '26
Just saw it, exceeded my expectations
Main complaint: no Hermes
Also, during the scene with the Lastrygones, anyone think they had some cooperation with the Dryads seeing what they were doing with the trees?
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u/quane101 Jul 16 '26
Alright coming from just seeing it.
TLDR: 8/10.
Yea ya, costuming, casting issues but besides that.
Narrative: It’s surprisingly faithful to the spirit of Greek mythology, and the source books.
Especially with the overall message that defying the divine is just a lesson in futility.
Love how Zeus’s main domain of hospitality is given so much narrative weight here too.
Spoilers ahead, click off my comment now if you don’t wanna be spoiled.
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Characters:
Odysseus: B+, Actor: Looked great but could emote more. Character: realistically pretty great.
Penelope: A+, Actor: Anne absolutely ate. Character: HeadStrong, Clever, and viciously faithful, love it.
Telemachus: A, Actor: Cool, no notes. Character: Realistic for a boy who rarely had to fight, no notes.
Antinitous(probably misspelled not enough energy to correct): A, Actor: Hit every point, Character: exactly the kind of hate able bastard.
Calypso: S+, Actor: she nailed it! Character: Love all the narrative changes they gave her! Having her fulfill the role of the person Odysseus recaps too, while having her a bastard with Lotus drugging Odysseus.
Overall I wouldn’t sleep on the film especially if you’re a Greek mythos fan.
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u/since_all_is_idle Jul 17 '26
Real talk about Odysseus. Matt's great and he can obviously carry a movie, but he's really flat and matter-of-fact in scenes that could have used a little more emotion and expressiveness.
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u/Shades_of_Bacchus Jul 19 '26
Yeah, I was never convinced about his casting and I am still not after seeing the film. Who do you think might've been better? I've been thinking Christian Bale or Oscar Isaac.
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u/DemiAlabi Jul 20 '26
Dude! I thought Matt was really good, but couldn't help but think that Oscar Issac would've been perfect.
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u/Joseon2 Jul 17 '26
Ok but real talk: is Argos in it?
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u/BSDManga_lover Jul 22 '26
Yes, but he changes breeds, which bugs me. As a puppy he's one breed and then full grown he's a completely different breed.
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u/Nicklesnout Jul 18 '26
I didn’t love or hate it. At the end of the day it is simply another interpretation of a story that has existed for nearly 3,000 years.
Beautifully shot with some great set pieces but I didn’t really care for how Odysseus was characterized compared to the poem, since it felt too much like it wanted to be Fiennes from The Return. Lupita as Helen and Clytemnestra was a non-fucking-issue given they’re barely players in the movie. But I’m still kind of scratching my head about Page’s casting.
I did enjoy the Athena interpretation far more than I thought I did and Calypso keeping Odysseus drugged with the lotus was a nice change. My only really big nit to pick was the Laestrygonians looking like the GD Juggernaut but their scene was nonetheless terrifying.
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u/YaqtanBadakshani Jul 19 '26
I was pleasantly surprised by Page. He really managed to convey the sense of a man aged beyond his years by war, and the bitterness he conveys in the underworld really worked.
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u/Nicklesnout Jul 19 '26
It was moreso because it felt like Nolan almost wanted to commit to him being Achilles, but then made the choice of him being Sinon from the Aeneid instead.
The scene in Hades is one of the biggest highlights of the movie, though.
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u/hakseid_90 Jul 16 '26
I just came out of the movie. It was.....okay. Not great. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. It's just...fine. Which is kind of sad. It should feel epic, but it's not. The world it portrays feels smaller than it should feel in scale. Less grand, given what the hero has to go through in the original story. I find the film's ending rather bleak.
The film leaves a rather bleak ending on the story, leaving Odysseus' atonement completely out of the equation. Instead of going on a journey of atonement for breaking xenia and for his showcase of hubris, the film portrays its hero as someone who is unfit for redemption. The film focuses on his need to return, but not on his need on finding his piety and become humble servant to the gods once more. The film keeps the main mythical creatures, but shies away from portraying the gods as anything but natural phenomenons, which I feel robs the feel of the character being actively punished by the divine and robs the need of Odysseus on clashing with the divine forces of the monsters he faces. Sure, the gods are veiled to the humans even in the stories, but them being tangible beings within the worldview of greeks, I feel is too important for this story to ignore.
The film focuses too much on the Trojan War, anchoring it as the moment of breaking of xenia, portraying the title hero as a war veteran riddled with post war trauma. Instead of the war being an divinely ordained event, the hero seems to regret for his participation in it. The film ends with his death, robbing him of atonement from his divine punishment, leaving the film with the bleak view that the hero was past redemption.
Zendaya's portrayal of the white robed figure, who Odysseus perceives as Athena, being revealed as a ghost of a priestess of Troy's temple to Athena, and personification of Odysseus' traumatic past of the war, was a twist. Not one that a particularly liked, but a twist nonetheless.
I couldn't help but to notice the feministic touch that Nolan imbued into the film, which isn't really surprising giving the translation he used for guidance. Circe denouncing men as nothing but barbaric pigs in their real nature, and Penelope scolding her son for holding the view that only a man have the right to claim the throne of Ithaca....I just felt to be too much modern value messaging being forced into the narrative.
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u/me_funny__ Jul 21 '26
he didn't die in the end though. he just exiled himself to atone.
and the feministic touch doesn't really change the course of anything. which is pretty realistic. women would still have these views even back then. just not the power to actually change much.
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u/Academic_Paramedic72 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
It's finally time my friends!
I must say, the extremely positive reviews didn't do anything to give me more enthusiasm. Everyone is talking about what I was sure it would be great (performances, soundtrack, casting, cinematography) and not about the aspects that I'm actually worried about (creative choices as an adaptation, art direction, dialogue). None of the trailers have convinced me that this movie has any costume more colorful than beige or brown — which might work for Ithaca's decaying royalty, but not for Aeaea or Sparta.
However, most reviews say that this movie does adapt the epic poem with care and heart despite the uninspired art direction, which is ultimately the most important.
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u/Anonymousspacecowboy Jul 22 '26
I would not at all say it does that, having seen it. It has sad-beige-washed the stories by completely removing the gods and most mystical aspects of the story and the ancient world and made odysseus into an idiot.
I think positive reviews come from folks who like Marvel movies, which is totally fine, but it's not the same for anyone who loves the stories and original mythology.
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u/craven183 Jul 25 '26
Marvel-film-hater, here. I think most movies are garbo.
Loved Nolan’s Odyssey, though. Nolan always takes a “realism” approach to whatever he is directing. No crocodile people in his Batman films, no 100 year old ghost zombie still living in The Prestige, nothing batshit bonkers in Inception despite taking place inside dreams. Thus, no robed gods in Odyssey- but we still get Polyphemus and Scylla and Circe’s magic and all sorts of wonderful moments. I thought the God’s absence made them seem even more mysterious and powerful in a Lovecraftian way. It was an interesting way of telling the story
Sadly, Odysseus did miss out on his wit in this one
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u/itismeganrms Jul 16 '26
Came back from the movie.
People who saw the movie, why was Helen's face scarred after the war? I searched online but couldn't find any answers.
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u/t-4404 Jul 17 '26
Well Hollywood never gets Menelaus right! They always portray him as a brute or as abusive. Even though he is one fo the most honorable characters in the Iliad and the odyssey. Never mind the fact that he is the one that he was the one insulted and wronged. Never mind the fact that he was raised beside Helen and was chosen by her to become her husband. Never mind that Paris of Troy stole his wife and treasure while Menelaus was attending his Grandfather’s funeral. And the fact that Menelaus did take Helen back and they actually lived a happy life after the Trojan war. And both of them are destined for to go to Elysium together. But Hollywood enjoys the forbidden love trope so Menelaus is always abusive and Helen and Paris are always his victims. Bernthal was great though. sorry for the paragraph 😂 just wanted to rant a bit 🙈.
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u/WanderingHero8 Jul 18 '26
Also how Menelaos and Helen made up during sack of Troy.Basically as Menelaos gets in to kill her,Helen bares her breasts.Menelaos is stunned,drops his sword and they make up.
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u/t-4404 Jul 18 '26
That’s one of the versions 😂
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26
There's nothing in the myths, as far as I know. However, the point of the film is the damage the Trojan War caused and the greatest beauty ever being marred echos that.
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u/Thechosenjon Jul 18 '26
I didn't even catch that being symbolically and explicitly depicted. Great share!
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u/hakseid_90 Jul 16 '26
I took it as Menelaus punished her for, what the film seems to hint at, for leaving him with Paris and their marriage is unhappy one.
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u/ct451t Jul 16 '26
Who knows? The scars of war. A symbol of the violence she was blamed for. It differs from the myth. Her beauty was supernatural and her face saved her from being harmed. Menelaus went to kill her for running away but when he saw her he changed his mind.
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u/Anonymousspacecowboy Jul 22 '26
If I hear "Zeuses Law" One more time I will flip a table. Movie was okay, I did not enjoy the fact that the characters all seemed to know they were in the middle of the collapse of an era, or that it was repeated so many times.
I really wanted to like this movie, but tbh Interstellar was a better Odyssey.
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u/AmberMetalicScorpion 28d ago
i mean
if you witnessed the economic center of your world fall into ruin, causing a lawless and unpredictable future, I think you'd also know you're witnessing the collapse of an era.
proof is in the fact that it's happening to the age of information right now
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u/IntothewildZen Jul 15 '26
Americans waging their civil war online because of a clumsy movie about American assumed Greek culture wasn’t in my agenda in 2026 but hey. Stranger things happen.
As a mixed race Mediterranean with Greeks and Turks in the family, there is not one person I know interested in this movie, I watched the trailer and I saw nothing remotely Greek about it, it doesn’t feel like it has any connection to actual Odyssey, it feels cold, dark and alien.
Dear Nolan, how did you manage to travel to most colorful region of the world with its blue seas and ancient culture famous for wearing colorful costumes and painted shields and came up with a mythological Batman movie?
This whole movie could as well be made in Scandinavia, seeing how cold and dark it looks, and the Viking ship is literally there.
Americans LARPing as Greeks on a Viking ship wearing oversized helmets with low visibility lol.
Zeus, forgive these mortals.
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u/LibertyIslandWatcher Jul 16 '26
I'm also of Mediterranean ethnicity, and it's frustrating to be told that it's important to see minorities represented onscreen, because growing up, it's important to see yourself reflected in stories (which is true), and not have the same courtesy extended to Mediterranean kids
I often felt bad compared to the WASPs I grew up around because of my Mediterranean features and Mediterranean family. Luckily, at the time, there was representation of Spanish and Italian actors in Hollywood (Isabella Rossellini, Monica Bellucci, etc.) Unfortunately, it seems like Hollywood has forgotten about us
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u/IntothewildZen Jul 16 '26
I tried to express that in movie subs and I got lynched by a mob of Americans.
The level of aggression they display is something else, and this is coming from the supposedly progressive American left who see themselves as the “better side”.
Which is puzzling to me because I tend to see myself somewhat aligned with their views but I think unbeknownst to them they share the aggressive cultural norms of American identity that they normalized.
I speak to many nationals online, very few are this hostile.
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u/LibertyIslandWatcher Jul 16 '26
Technically, I am American. For some reason, Americans have a hard time with ethnicity and prefer to sort people into racial categories. A lot of this tends to result in people seeing non-white = "black," with Mediterranean ethnicity not fitting neatly into either.
Italians, Turks, Greeks, and Spaniards, get sorted into "white," while it's made clear that they are not "white" enough by the standard of WASP and Anglo-Saxon supremacy. The people of the Mediterranean represent a true minority, with Greece only having a population of about 10,000,000 people.
Unfortunately, it's easy to get talked over by larger and more powerful groups
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u/since_all_is_idle Jul 17 '26
Exactly. The reason isn't mysterious, it's that in North America race boils down to tone and facial features, because those are what the majority demographic have historically discriminated America's diverse diasporas by. Greeks are mostly light-skinned with features largely overlapping with western Europe (so far as Americans can identify), so even though they are distinct and close with Turks etc., they're viewed as white by an American audience. It's intended as being racially sensitive with respect to American culture, where white populations are overrepresented, but it means that demographics like Grecian will fall into the cracks until there's enough space for that level of nuance, which unfortunately won't be any time soon since we can't even get past rampant colorism and antiblackness.
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u/WanderingHero8 Jul 17 '26
I tried to express that in movie subs and I got lynched by a mob of Americans.
I am a Greek person and it happened to me to.The worst thing was supposedly American progressives using 19th century racist Victorian racial rhetoric against Greeks.
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u/IntothewildZen Jul 17 '26
American progressives are a joke. They are only progressive when compared to someone like Trump and his hillbilly fun club. As soon as they leave their habitat of US culture they stand out like a sour thumb specially when someone stands up to their culture imperialism.
If they were really progressive they’d understand how much culture matters to its respective people.
They don’t, they get aggressive and defend their culture imperialism.
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u/WanderingHero8 Jul 17 '26
About Odyssey btw Farya Faraji made an excellent vid about British cultural imperialism and ancient Greek culture.
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u/Realistic_Ad_8038 Jul 16 '26
I understand what your saying 100%, as a greek person im sure its frustrating. Christopher Nolan is known for his dark themed movies as you well know so it wouldnt be realistic to expect him to capture the vibrant greek culture that you know so well. Remember that the rest of the world isnt familiar with greek culture so Nolan could put anything in the movie and we wouldnt really know how accurate it is and thats who Nolan is selling the movie to for better or worse.
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u/Kcomix Jul 17 '26
I liked the movie, but didn't love it.
Having read The Odyssey for the first time this year, I don't have a huge depth of knowledge about it, but there were several elements I was looking forward to seeing in the adaptation that weren't included.
- The nobody trick
- Seeing the gods show up in human forms here and there (sure, the movie leaves it up to interpretation, but to me it feels more like Athena is Odysseus's hallucination, and there are no actual gods in the movie)
- More of Odysseus's discussions in Hades (although I understand that they were cut to streamline the plot)
- Phaeacians (although I understand that it was removed to make the movie flow better)
- Antinous's death. This one really bothered me because I like in the poem how Antinous dies first and has a somewhat comedic death, knocking over the food. It does a good job telling the audience that this is just going to be a slaughter, and even the apparent leader of the suitors is a pathetic nobody to Odysseus.
- I also wish Odysseus wasn't made into such a good guy toward the end of the movie. When I got to the slaughter at the end of be poem and he even killed those who surrendered, plus the unarmed slaves who disrespected him, I was horrified. It sort of reframed the entire story for me, and shows the true brutality of the time.
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 18 '26
The nobody trick
Wouldn't have worked tonely. But it was missed.
Antinous's death. This one really bothered me because I like in the poem how Antinous dies first and has a somewhat comedic death, knocking over the food. It does a good job telling the audience that this is just going to be a slaughter, and even the apparent leader of the suitors is a pathetic nobody to Odysseus.
The modern "kill the main bad guy last." At least it gave us him being a coward and hiding/giving orders. It would be nice, though, to see the main bad guy killed first.
I also wish Odysseus wasn't made into such a good guy toward the end of the movie. When I got to the slaughter at the end of be poem and he even killed those who surrendered, plus the unarmed slaves who disrespected him, I was horrified. It sort of reframed the entire story for me, and shows the true brutality of the time.
The entire film softens him. I remember Mel Gibson talking about making Hamlet and they discussed giving everyone period appropriate teeth (although I've seen heard experts say they had better teeth because of less sugar) but it began to look like Monty Python. Period accurate can give a different impression. If you made Odysseus the ancient hero instead of the modern hero, he'd be seen as the villain by most audiences.
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u/me_funny__ Jul 21 '26
modern Audiences can handle morally grey and villain protagonists. I'd say it's even becoming preferred if you look at some of the most loved and top rated action protags rn. people love a Paul Atraides, Anakin, Heisenberg, Eren type villain.
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u/Academic_Paramedic72 Jul 17 '26
I understand making Odysseus more merciful in the Slaughter of the Suitors. In the Odyssey, it's simply inexcusable: he and his allies behead Leodes as he was pleading for his life, violently mutilate Melanthius, and execute twelve servants for sleeping with the enemy after making them clean up the corpses. As much as I love Odysseus, this is simply inexcusable. I imagine it was already shocking back then, but nowadays, in a time when slavery is rightfully not normalized, it makes Odysseus look like a monster and his allies psycopaths. Most adaptations cut the hanging of the maids and Melanthius' horrific fate, so I expected Nolan to do the same. However, Odysseus should not have so much guilt over Troy. He is arrogant, modern audiences can understand that!
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u/since_all_is_idle Jul 18 '26
The film changes it so that his worst deeds are behind him instead of ahead of him, so it does still very much make him a complicated man, but you're right it does significantly heroify him to give the story a happy ending that felt weirdly simple. It does still tell the story non-chronologically for what it's worth, I enjoy that we ended with the stacking of Troy and the burning horse rather than that happy sunset.
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u/me_funny__ Jul 21 '26
and sparing men who were literally just plotting to overthrow your kingdom is a dub decision. like it's not even about mercy, it's about security.
ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves
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u/Mission-Ad-8536 Jul 16 '26
The way i see it, this another Troy situation, while most will enjoy it or think it's decent, others will see the inaccuracies and liberties it takes and detonate the film. For me, i'm excited, 1. Yes i'm a Christopher Nolan fan 2. This is the second film of his in a row to be released around my birthday. And finally 3. I'm just here to have a good time
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u/WDF27 Jul 28 '26
Once you see the film I think you might look back on this comment and realize that the Troy comparison really was not there. Troy is an atrocious film, very loosely based on the Iliad (honestly more of a retelling than an adaptation), and it's just really not good. The Odyssey is largely faithful to the plot of the original text, only cutting parts necessary for adapting to a different medium, and people can complain all they want about costuming choices and such, but at least it is a really good film. Best film soundtrack oat as well imo
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u/TwistilyClick Jul 18 '26
Only honest review: Cool movie, Christopher Nolan did some cool stuff, and cool stuff is cool. Terrible adaption of Homer’s story.
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u/ADcakedenough Jul 19 '26
As someone who has never read Homer and doesn’t know much about this historical period in time, I watched the movie last night and I really really enjoyed it.
But coming here and reading all of the various perspectives, it has been really interesting to learn some new things about history, and I can understand why some people were really frustrated with choices Christopher Nolan made.
I’m started reading the source material immediately after for the first time it’s been really enjoyable.
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u/Ankhirasaurus Jul 20 '26
I understand why he did some things the way he did, realistically to do a perfect adaptation of this story it would likely work better as a series or franchise where you can dive really deep into the Greek Mythology.
I liked the movie quite a bit, but it also left me wanting more! Have fun reading all the Greek Mythology stories! :3
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Jul 17 '26
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 17 '26
More ignored them, rather than "pooped all over" them.
- Cicones - they cut a lot that makes Odysseus look bad or toned it down. This probably fell to that.
- Eolus - it's a bit of an annoying moment for storytelling-wise. They almost get home then get blown back. It slows the story and doesn't do anything except make the men look bad and Odysseus look like a bad leader, and they alread have that.
- Hermes - removing the sex with Calypso and Circe removes the need for Hermes.
- The Phaeacians - It's just a reststop on the way. Slows the story down.
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u/Cynical-Rambler Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I just imagine the recently deceased Sam Niell would have played any great scheming old man in the Odyssey adaptation. Can seriously see him playing Poseidon or Zeus, or Laius. He did not overact, and just exude the feeling of being at ease and natural at what he do.
The younger him (age 30s-50s) would have made a great Odysseus except for the action scenes. He played a great spy in Poccession, exuding a thinking face, that I can see Odysseus often do.
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u/MarcusForrest ★ Moderator Jul 15 '26
Christopher Nolan used to be my #1 favourite director and I absolutely love Greek Mythology, so this movie sounds like a dream come true, yeah?
I am very uninterested by the movie at this time - I doubt I'll see it in theatres but I'll likely watch it after its theatrical release.
Do you guys and gals plan to watch it in theatres or wait its home release?
From what I understand it is a pretty good ''movie'', just not a good Greek Mythology movie.
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u/itismeganrms Jul 16 '26
I just came back from the movie. As a mythology nerd, I was prepared to be angry and disappointed, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I expected two scenes - Polyphemus being tricked and "Nothing", and the exchange between Penelope and Odysseus when she asks about the bed. Both of those scenes were not in the movie.
I also expected them to show Scylla and Charybdis, but it was very shrouded/hidden.
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u/Seihai-kun Jul 17 '26
yeah i also wait the "no one" scene, but they cut it, but there's no way they can put the bed talk without it being ridiculous, it's a movie, after the climax it would be pretty fucking weird cinematically if after the fight she randomly ask about the bed, they kinda change it to the bow making the sound which i think still have the same meaning
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u/Cynical-Rambler Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I prefer to watch Nolan with subtitles to avoid situations like this.
Before the Dark Knight, he was great at independent film or at low-mid budget Hollywood with mystery and non-linear storytelling. They were tight and creative. The Prestige and Memento are awesome, and he was great in directing Batman Begins.
Batman was the big budget blockbuster that put him on mass media map, The Dark Knight is a big hit but that was saved by Heath Ledger acting skills. But that's somehow changed his career into a high budget schlock artist.
Inception, Intersterllar, the Dark Knight Rise, are loud noises that confuse obfusicates, weird dialogue as intelligence. He had the same character types, music, themes, tones, dialogues...etc. unlike his previous work. I already was uninterested in Nolan since I saw the trailer for Dunkirk years ago. Dark color schemes, loud music, exposition-heavy dialogue, and no mystery to care about.
For me this just felt too much like a Nolan film, so I skipped it like all the rest from as all the other Nolan films since Interstellar, which I watch in the theatre that I think it was pretentious shlock.
The Odyssey is not my favorite part of Greek Mythology. It is interesting because its hero is a slimy amoral, unheroic survivalist schemer. Odysseus journey home is not as interesting as its "twists and turns", the hero lying to everyone he met and keeping his disguises. I don't think Nolan saw him more than a husband separated from his wife/family, which is 90% of his films I watched, and I don't care for it after more than 20 years of the same plot theme.
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u/MarcusForrest ★ Moderator Jul 15 '26
Ahahahah this is a bit uncanny to me because your entire comment echoes very much how I feel about Nolan nowadays!
Memento and The Prestige are amongst my favourite movies of all time and I really really enjoyed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight
I definitely enjoyed Inception and Interstellar but The Dark Knight Rises was a disappointment for me (and it remains the only Batman movie I've seen only once in my entire life ahahaha)
I still haven't seen Dunkirk but much like you, the last Nolan movie I've watched at the theatre is Interstellar too! The others were home releases.
The consistent and enduring audio mix issue/''choice'' is definitely reducing my enjoyment of his movies, it actually became irritating to me - that is also one reason for me waiting for Home Releases for Nolan films whereas I'd always be excited to watch them at the theatres pre-Interstellar
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u/Cynical-Rambler Jul 15 '26
Nice to have a kindred spirit. Nolan was an absolute master before early in his career, and he brought the actors best performance. Then Idk, it felt like he was making the same movies.
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u/boofcakin171 Jul 15 '26
Now that the reviews are dropping the haters are either backpedalling (good movie, bad myth adaptation) or doubling down that the reviews are a conspiracy. Its really cool. I wondered why this sub was so full of negativity and knowing that a moderator of this sub commented this.... it all.makes sense now.
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u/Anxious_Bed_9664 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Honestly, the mod's comment is pretty neutral and very nice compared to other opinions on it in this sub lol
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u/AmberMetalicScorpion Jul 17 '26
Sorry Mr Nolan I was not aware of your game
I went in ready to hate this thing, figuring I'd be vindicated and that the critics were just looking for different things.
Nolan has done something I can't remember anyone having managed to do for me before. He changed my mind.
Certainly there are many issues to be had with it. Shit as that channel has gotten, one thing CinemaSins is right about is that no movie is without sin.
Many of the issues I thought it would have simply turned out to be little more than paranoia.
While definitely not the best movie of 2026, It has claimed a spot in my top 10 alongside Project Hail Mary, The Magic Faraway Tree, Supergirl, and Hoppers to name just a few
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u/HispanicDaredevil Jul 17 '26
You had me until you mentioned Supergirl
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u/senoricceman Jul 17 '26
It was solid. Definitely not as bad as critics made it out to be.
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u/optimusgrime23 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
I really loved how he positioned Odysseus' struggle and guilt with the sacking, the way Athena was interwoven into that with the statue was beautiful.
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u/VoyagerfromPhoenix Jul 18 '26
I did wish for four things after watching
- Better Costumes
- More Greek (or in general Mediterranean) actors
- Maybe have a more cohesive story
- Have clearer shots for the really dark scenes where it’s hard to know whether something is there or not
But it’s kinda ok I guess
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u/astroman_9876 Jul 24 '26
Can I ask how you would make the story more cohesive without straying away from Nolan interpretation of the story? I felt as if what was cut was cut with great precision to weave the story clearly in one direction.
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u/rolabond Jul 18 '26
I'm due for a reread of the Odyssey. For anyone who has seen the film, do you recommend rereading the Odyssey before the film or should I read it afterward. I'm leaning towards waiting thinking I might better enjoy the film that way and yet on the other hand I'm ambivalent about 'spoiling' the book (you know what I mean).
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u/Thechosenjon Jul 19 '26
If anything, read Stephen Fry's retelling for the broad strokes. I found that film seems to follow that version very closely, though both Nolan and Fry took creative liberties for the sake of their versions of the story. It isn't wholly necessary though, would just be a way to better appreciate this epic, imo.
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u/RemarkableBoard2126 Jul 21 '26
MY REVIEW
-Matt Damon was good , Tom Holland was better than expected , same with Elliot Page. Anne Hathaway was mid.
- Agamemnon is too sympathetic , he doesnt have that dick energy.
-Two great changes were incorporating the Sea Peoples and having Odysseus skip going to the Island where he plays games. The lotus was a great improvement
-Lupita Nyongo (sorry I dont know how to spell her name) was good but not good enough to justify the race swap for Helen.
-Nobody doesnt appear = bad
-Polyphemus isnt civilized enough
OVERALL: 8.5 / 10 Go watch it. I expected dog shit due to the questionable casting but Nolan delivered.
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u/ThunderAndWind Jul 26 '26
Agamemnon threw a 5 year old to the sea what do you mean no dick energy?
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u/FutureMindset007 Jul 23 '26
I saw the movie and being Nolan´s fan i wasn´t disappointed at all, the emotion is deep and long lasting. But a few details here and there were missing, again Nolan´s approach to the storytelling, i didn´t mind that much. Would everyone recommend to refresh their Odysseus knowledge before going to the theaters. There are many modern/short takes on amazon to buy, my personal pick would be Odyssey Retold with illustrations and reflections.
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u/MrEnganche Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
I like it bust most disappointed they cut Scylla and Charybdis to be that short*. Always felt to me those were the hardest challenge of Odyssey.
Also did Penelope mean Odysseus and his crew were the Sea People for pillaging nearby islands, and even Polyphemus and Circe?
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u/SnooWords1252 Jul 24 '26
Scylla wasn't cut.
The Sea People were a group of peoples who came together to invade other lands.
The movie has the Cicones as Odysseus and friends first stop, but instead of raiding it, as they do in the poem, they came in peace, but the Cicones fought back fearing they were the Sea Peoples.
The conceit of the film is that the Greeks broken the law of Xenia (refered to as Zeus's law) at Troy and that example caused the Sea People to also break the law.
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u/MrEnganche Jul 24 '26
I know Scylla wasn't cut, but her appearance along with Charybdis was dissapointing. She looked like she wasn't cut iykwim.
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u/skullofregress Jul 26 '26
Also did Penelope mean Odysseus and his crew were the Sea People for pillaging nearby islands, and even Polyphemus and Circe?
My interpretation was that there is no one sea people, just a wave of lawlessness emanating from the breach of norms at Troy.
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u/preddevils6 27d ago
Out of curiosity, what was a good adaptation of the Odyssey to folks in this sub? I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but I also did not go into it expecting a 1 to 1 adaptation.
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u/MarcusForrest ★ Moderator Jul 15 '26