{"id":2503241,"date":"2026-07-15T16:02:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2503241"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:02:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:02:28","slug":"the-odyssey-review-christopher-nolans-magical-epic-is-mammoth-and-fantastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-odyssey-review-christopher-nolans-magical-epic-is-mammoth-and-fantastic\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The Odyssey&#8217; review: Christopher Nolan&#8217;s magical epic is mammoth and fantastic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fnewspress-collage-ag5knnwel-1784127303549.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261784112988\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--review alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n\t\t<span class=\"inline-module--review__eyebrow subsection-heading-semi__label\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tmovie review\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"inline-module--review__title subsection-heading-semi\">\n\t\t\tTHE ODYSSEY\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"rating\">\n<div class=\"rating__stars\">\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Running time: 173 minutes. Rated R (violence and some language). In theaters.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to fathom going bigger than Batman and the father of the atomic bomb. But we are mere mortals and not that Zeus of directors<sub>,<\/sub> Christopher Nolan, the man whose ambitions grow more gargantuan with every movie.<\/p>\n<p>His latest Olympus to scale is \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d Homer\u2019s Greek epic poem that has been adapted for the screen surprisingly few times considering it\u2019s about 2,800 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Or, maybe that\u2019s not so surprising.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even the most gifted filmmakers would shudder at the old tale\u2019s complicated web of characters, myriad magical creatures, brutal battles, watery locales and a dense mythology of gods and goddesses that many hazily recall from high school.<\/p>\n<p>Not Nolan.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--more inline-module--columnist inline-module--more--thirds\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<h2 class=\"inline-module__heading subsection-heading subsection-heading--single-line \">\n\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"subsection-heading__sub\">Johnny Oleksinski<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>He took up Odysseus\u2019 weighty bow, shot an arrow and scored another hit.<\/p>\n<p>His stunning and captivating \u201cOdyssey\u201d is the director in his David Lean era, eschewing the cerebral topics that tickled him in \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/08\/31\/tenet-review-christopher-nolans-most-confusing-movie-ever\/\">Tenet<\/a>,\u201d \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2010\/07\/14\/dream-team-2\/\">Inception<\/a>\u201d and to an extent \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/07\/19\/oppenheimer-review-christopher-nolans-masterpiece\/\">Oppenheimer<\/a>,\u201d and building his own \u201cLawrence of Arabia\u201d with a transportive, sprawling and emotional adventure with visuals that will reduce even the most jaded movie buff into a giddy child.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan just having some dudes on horseback gallop across an ivory beach is a more awe-inspiring image than pretty much anything else you\u2019ll see all year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Matt Damon plays the heroic Odysseus in Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Universal Pictures via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Where \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d falls into line with the \u201cInterstellar\u201d director\u2019s popular oeuvre is its characteristic darkness. Just because it\u2019s set in and around the Ionian Sea doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s jubilantly colorful like \u201cJason and the Argonauts.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>After all, this is a deadly journey the hero would rather not be on.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And the 10-year absence of the missing King Odysseus, played by a bearded Matt Damon with the most gravitas he\u2019s ever wielded, here seems as much to do with PTSD from the horrors of the Trojan War as being held captive by the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron). He\u2019s a man reckoning with the horrors of his past while fighting for his future.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Penelope (Anne Hathaway) awaits the return of her husband alongside her son Telemachus (Tom Holland). <span class=\"credit\">Universal Pictures via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Back home in Ithaca is his stoic wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway), who awaits her hubby as she fends off a pack of brutish suitors who want to replace Odysseus on the throne. While she puts off making her choice, the jerks have turned his house into a gluttonous party palace.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His young son Telemachus (Tom Holland, ably escaping Marvel\u2019s web) resents them and desperately wants to find out what happened to his long-lost dad. Is he alive? Can he become king?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nolan, by the way, has the heir say \u201cdad\u201d \u2014 not father. And the writer throws in a couple F-bombs for flavor. The script isn\u2019t so modern that it\u2019s \u201cThe Fate of the Furious,\u201d but the freshening up kills any stiffness or pageantry this movie could easily fall into like the Charybdis monster\u2019s whirlpool mouth.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The queen is pursued by suitors, such as the icky Antinous (Robert Pattinson). <span class=\"credit\">Universal Pictures via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Ithaca scenes are political, tense and a little sexy \u2014 lit by fire. Hathaway makes a strong-willed and feisty queen who won\u2019t bend for anybody, even her kid. She\u2019s nice one second, and knifes you the next. And Robert Pattinson, as the nastiest suitor, is a ratty and petulant Tybalt type. John Leguizamo, full of pathos, surprised me as Odysseus\u2019 wise and kind pal Eumaeus.<\/p>\n<p>But fans aren\u2019t paying IMAX prices to watch Hathaway weave a shroud.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s Odysseus and his soldiers\u2019 perilous voyage home from Troy that they\u2019ve come for, and it\u2019s awash in majestic moments that boggle the mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Nolan\u2019s majestic images will boggle the mind. <span class=\"credit\">Universal Pictures via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Before that pivotal fight, the Trojan Horse stands ominously in the sand like the Statue of Liberty in \u201cThe Planet of the Apes,\u201d with Ithacans claustrophobically crammed inside. Some have died in the shell.<\/p>\n<p>Later, the scuffle with the cyclops in his cave could have been cheesy \u2014 one-eyed giants tend to be \u2014 yet the encounter is made unnerving and pale as if drained of blood. Like everything in \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d the beast with an appetite for human heads looks eerily real.<\/p>\n<p>And of course there\u2019s the tentacled Scylla \u2014 another maneater.<\/p>\n<p>One of Odysseus\u2019 best scenes, though, isn\u2019t massive at all. It\u2019s in the hillside cottage of the witch Circe, whose favorite pastime is turning warriors into pigs. The superb Samantha Morton gives a barnburner speech about why her victims deserve to be swine.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The film is packed with huge stars, such as Zendaya as the goddess Athena. <span class=\"credit\">Universal Pictures via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There is an absurd number of notable actors in this nearly-three-hour movie. Some major stars have barely a few minutes of screentime, like Lupita Nyong\u2019o as sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra and Zendaya as the goddess Athena, who guides Odysseus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No matter how small, everybody makes an impact, though, while humbly fitting into an ensemble bigger than any Trojan Horse could carry.<\/p>\n<p>Who better to adapt an epic poem than Nolan, a man who unearths poetry in all of his epics? Here, he did not set out to use Greek myths as the foundation for a basic action movie, as so many do. Instead he dives into the psychology and moral thorniness of Odysseus\u2019 plight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Damon makes a layered and conflicted Odysseus. <span class=\"credit\">Universal Pictures via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And Damon is the perfect uneasy head to wear that burdensome crown. Although we don\u2019t learn the extent of Odysseus\u2019 torment till the end, Damon throughout makes a layered and conflicted leader, whose loyalty to his men and to his family often butt heads.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The actor had to drop down to a lean 167 pounds for this part, which has a cool effect. For one, Odysseus has to command respect by force of personality rather than being the biggest guy in the room. He\u2019s scrappy and smart.\u00a0 And in the fantastic final fight, set to composer Ludwig G\u00f6ransson\u2019s ferocious ritual drums, Odysseus starts out as the underdog and soon has everybody crying like scared puppies.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a remarkably satisfying finish. And a revelation everybody knows is coming from the start brings full-body chills because of the defy way this director stages it. Hint: Look out for the arrow.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, it\u2019s so easy to be seduced by Christopher Nolan\u2019s siren song.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>movie review THE ODYSSEY Running time: 173 minutes. Rated R (violence and some language). In theaters. It\u2019s hard to fathom going bigger than Batman and the father of the atomic bomb. But we are mere mortals and not that Zeus of directors, Christopher Nolan, the man whose ambitions grow more gargantuan with every movie. His [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2503242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[312153,345286,21741,344851,304995,21912],"class_list":["post-2503241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-anne-hathaway","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-entertainment","tag-matt-damon","tag-movie-reviews","tag-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Odyssey-review-Christopher-Nolans-magical-epic-is-mammoth-and.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2503241"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2503243,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503241\/revisions\/2503243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2503242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2503241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2503241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2503241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}