{"id":2053,"date":"2026-07-17T15:28:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/?p=2053"},"modified":"2026-07-17T15:29:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:29:49","slug":"review-the-odyssey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/?p=2053","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Odyssey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When it comes to \u2018spectacle\u2019 in 21st<\/sup> century film, a few BNOCS (big names of campus, for the unversed) come to mind. Spielberg, Cameron, Villeneuve. Those directors who have climbed so far up in the film world with their craft that you just need a surname to recognise the figure. And high among those titans of talent sits Nolan. With Oppenheimer performing so strongly in conjunction with the \u2018Barbenheimer\u2019 gambit a few years ago, the world was, once again, at Nolan\u2019s feet. After spending a decent few hours of 20th<\/sup> century historical angst seen through the eternally engaging expression of Cillian Murphy, Nolan chose to turn his sights backward. As in, centuries backward. Homer level backward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

With a Nolan sensibility printed all over the IP, of course. The director doesn\u2019t follow the famous poem chapter by chapter, instead hopping back and forth between the trials and tribulations of main man Odysseus as he struggles to get home from war, chopping in bits and pieces from son Telemachus, a man grown and struggling to keep a hoard of suitors from his patient and loyal mother. While the flashback mechanic can grow weary in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, Nolan uses the past to give rich background to his tortured hero\u2019s present. In technical terms, the Trojan war lies in the realm of The Iliad, another famed Greek text. But it makes sense to bring that material into the narrative to flesh out what Odysseus has at stake. The constant imagery of a burning Troy reminds us what our central character has lost, and what he could still lose if he does not make it home to protect his loved ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nolan has described the film as universal, and how The Odyssey\u2019s plot runs through most of our storytelling, modern and ancient. He also astutely described his interpretation of Odysseus\u2019 journey home from war as a dissection of PTSD; the constant images of the past battle linger over Odysseus\u2019 conscious without rest and ultimately provide us with a much more sympathetic and human hero to root for than in Homer\u2019s original text. It\u2019s been a while since I properly studied a translation back in Sixth Form, but the Homer I read was ridden with hubris and tricksy antics which are definitely mellowed in Nolan\u2019s interpretation. Nonetheless, the director does a spectacular job of rendering the mighty tome on screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By choosing to frame the narrative around the realm of a particular godly figure, it allows narrative to flow easily and effectively. I was excited to see how each particular obstacle, human or god, was rendered on screen. While Nolan\u2019s never been a fan of the old CGI trickery, it\u2019s fair to say that Polythemus (the name of the cyclops, who Nolan doesn\u2019t name in this film for some reason or other) couldn\u2019t have been rendered any other way. And he\u2019s rendered really effectively. Likewise, the sequence on Circe\u2019s island is similarly mesmerising, and easily stands as one of my favourite moments of the film. Famous actors and actresses abound, but it\u2019s not nearly as \u2018in your face\u2019 as the trailers might make you suspect. Most only have cameos, and make compelling impressions in their short time on screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only particular pet peeve comes with the accents. While I respect Nolan\u2019s resolve not to double down and try English RP for the characters, some, particularly John Bernthal\u2019s Menelaus, just seem particularly clunky and out of place. For the most part, however, particularly when it comes to Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway, these voices are very effective. And as for spectacle, images of fire and fury are only enhanced by Nolan\u2019s IMAX filming, with The Odyssey representing the first film entirely shot on the format. With quality like this, no Trojan horses are going to stop The Odyssey hitting fast and hard at the box office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udc34<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to \u2018spectacle\u2019 in 21st century film, a few BNOCS (big names of campus, for the unversed) come to mind. Spielberg, Cameron, Villeneuve. Those directors who have climbed so far up in the film world with their craft that you just need a surname to recognise the figure. And high among those titans of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Review: The Odyssey”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2053"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2056,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053\/revisions\/2056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}