The Odyssey (2026)

Some of the Suitors Are Doing Bits - The Odyssey review by griggs

Attempted to dodge the reviews before seeing it — full Likely Lads energy, hands over ears, ignoring the group chat. Failed by Friday afternoon, and everyone had the same line: expect a wow in every chapter. Bold ask for any film, let alone one built like this — episodic by design, one voyage after another, some choppier than others.

So the wow-per-chapter promise didn't hold up. A few stretches feel like solid, workmanlike rowing rather than anything spectacular. But when Samantha Morton turns up, the whole film sits up straighter — a wow and a half, and worth the ticket on its own. Robert Pattinson's having a whale of a time too, doing his best Olivier-as-Richard-III as Antinous — all silk and menace, thoroughly enjoying being the worst man in the room.

Christopher Nolan's version leans into the cost of the war rather than the wonder of the journey — less myth, more comedown from one. Different emphasis to most versions I've seen, and it mostly earns it.

Matt Damon carries the whole three hours without breaking a sweat about it. And for a three-hour film, it shifts — I checked my watch once, out of habit, and was startled by how far through we already were. Some of that's down to where you watch it, too.

Saw it at the BFI in 70mm IMAX, and the format earns its keep — the scale turns even quiet scenes into something you feel behind the ribs. The score does its own damage on the sly, never once showing off. It plays darker than I expected, mind — not in mood, in actual candlepower, with shadow doing most of the set dressing. The person next to me — turned out she'd worked on the film — had already sat through it on a standard screen and reckoned the IMAX cut was basically a different film. How you watch this one changes what you get.

I did worry, after seeing pictures from the midnight screenings, that this could go full Star Wars or Lord of the Rings — togas in the foyer, the film playing second fiddle to the event. Mine was too early in the morning for anyone to bother, thankfully, but if that habit catches on properly, it'll drown the spectacle it's meant to be celebrating.

Uneven in patches, but the highs are rare enough to make it stick. A voyage worth taking twice.

Fantasy Epic - A Masterpiece - The Odyssey review by GI

In somewhat typical Christopher Nolan style here we are presented with a bold, epic adventure clouded in mystery and structured for an adult audience and as a result it's an absolute triumph. This adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey is a story of the consequences of war, the sadness and cruelty of sending men to battle and expecting them to survive unscathed. As a fantasy genre picture this is breathtaking in its ambition as an adventure of men, monsters and ultimately morality and sacrifice. Odysseus (Matt Damon), the King of Ithaca, is forced to join the war against Troy led by Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) realising that the reason is about trade routes and not the pretext over Helen (Lupita N'yongo). After Troy is sacked and the population massacred Odysseus embarks on the long journey home with his men. It's a journey fraught with danger! The film is structured in a non-linear way with flashbacks to events including the famous wooden horse in which Odysseus and his troops suffer in silence waiting for their trick to take effect. Back home awaits his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and his son Telemachus (Tom Holland) who hope Odysseus will return but gradually losing hope and having to deal with a host of suitors hoping to marry the Queen. These threads combine into a gigantic, mythical film about anguish, love, fear and desperation. It's a masterpiece of modern cinema.

Stunning, spectacular & jaw-dropping production values make up for a mediocre script & story - The Odyssey review by Timmy B

We are now, without a doubt, living in full Christopher Nolan obsession times. There is practically no other filmmaker who generates not only complete reverence but also sky-high anticipation for anything and everything he does. Solidified during his incredible handling of The Dark Knight trilogy, every film of his now comes with the same levels of expectation that Kubrick used to generate, back when films like 2001 completely rewrote what we as the audience expected when we went to the cinema. And make no mistake, I am so grateful that this titan of storytelling is so powerful in his craft, as well as his fanatical defending of cinema, film and physical media.

But... and it gives me no pleasure in saying this, with The Odyssey, Nolan is now for me missing as much as he hits. Odyssey now joins Tenet, Dunkirk and Inception as films which whilst they were visually spectacular, have serious story/script issues, some more than others. For example, Inception is such a cold, at times miserable experience, which was made all the more stark by The Adjustment Bureau dealing with many of the same topics and being almost flawless. Dunkirk was a film where you really had no-one to root for, just multiple nameless people in a war zone saying stilted dialogue. And Tenet was absolutely terrible, full of pretentious ideas which not even the cast could fully understand...

The Odyssey retells the famous poem by Homer of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, who takes part in the war of Troy then has to make his way home, battling against demonic monsters & gods. Back home in Ithaca, his wife Penelope has to try to cope with his kingdom being overrun with parasitic suitors & her son Telemachus determined to rise up and become King.

The biggest issue for me with this film was simple: I was never, ever taken in by it. I always felt like an outsider looking in. Over 3 hours, I watched many battles, quiet moments and confrontations, but it never grabbed me. I was never invested in the character arcs, despite some good performances. And when you compared this to Oppenheimer, where within 5 minutes you were totally engrossed by and hooked by his journey, in The Odyssey, I can honestly say I didn't care. The soliloquies & exposition, whilst absolutely said with feeling and passion, were just like many other historical dramas I have watched.

I remembered feeling exactly the same way with The Last Duel, another historical drama with Damon as the lead. Directed by Ridley Scott, another master filmmaker, it was full of battles, confrontations & exceptional production values but again left me feeling cold & unengaged. I'm not for a second saying Damon is at fault here, more that these types of films can often not land, especially with the politics which inevitably is intertwined within them.

But having said all that, I still have given The Odyssey 3 stars, and that score is quite simply because of everything else about it, which is exceptional. I watched this the way it was meant to be seen, in 70MM IMAX film at the BFI IMAX. This is the 1st film completely shot in 70MM, after adaptations were made to the cameras, due to the massive amounts of noise they generate, making recording dialogue almost impossible. And in terms of production, cinematography, sound, colour palette, costume, spectacle, I mean literally every single thing is jaw-droppingly incredible. This is the sort of film that not even a master of the epic like David Lean would be able to muster.

And that is why I have so much frustration towards it. I adore films and never set out to dislike anything I watch. I go in with an open mind and want to be blown away. And in The Odyssey, quite simply the spectacle is there, the script is not. I wanted to care about the characters and their journeys, but the story left me unmoved.