Christopher Nolan is known for cold, calculated films. The Odyssey is not that. It is his most personal work, even though it is based on a story that is three thousand years old. It is also his biggest film physically, shot fully on IMAX cameras. That size does not get in the way of the story. If anything, it makes the story hit harder.
The film opens with Odysseus stuck on the island of Ogygia. He is with the nymph Calypso and does not remember much about how he got there. Back home in Ithaca, things have fallen apart. His wife Penelope is being pressured by a group of suitors led by Antinous, a man who wants the throne for himself. Only Penelope, their son Telemachus, the farmhand Eumaeus, and Odysseus’ old dog Argos still believe he is coming back.
Nolan lays out two stories side by side. One is Odysseus slowly remembering what happened after the war. The other is what is happening in Ithaca while he is gone. This structure works well. It keeps the film moving even during the slower stretches, and it builds tension because the audience knows the danger closing in on Telemachus and Penelope before Odysseus does.
Matt Damon plays Odysseus as a man carrying real guilt, not just physical exhaustion. His memories reveal the plan for the Trojan horse, how his cousin Sinon was left behind and killed to sell the trick, and how the fall of Troy led to horrors he cannot forget. Nolan does not present the war as a victory. It is shown as the start of Odysseus’ punishment. That choice makes the film feel less like a hero’s journey and more like a man trying to outrun what he did.
The trip home is where the film earns its scale. The battle with the cyclops Polyphemus is brutal and simple, no tricks, just fear and desperation. The stop on Circe’s island, where his men are turned into pigs, is stranger and slower, but it works because of how the film handles Circe herself. She is not a background monster. She is a real character with her own reasons. The trip to the underworld is one of the best parts of the film. Odysseus speaking to the dead, including the murdered Agamemnon and the ghost of Sinon, gives the story its emotional core. This is where the film stops being about survival and starts being about guilt.
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Back in Ithaca, Tom Holland’s Telemachus grows from someone hoping for good news into someone forced to fight for his home. His trip to Sparta to see Meneleus and Helen does not give him real answers, but it changes him anyway. Meanwhile, Antinous grows more dangerous, sending men to hurt Eumaeus and plotting an ambush. The film does a good job making Antinous feel like a real threat instead of just a plot device.
The middle stretch, where Odysseus faces Scylla, Charybdis, and the Sirens, moves fast and looks incredible on the large format. The choice by his men to eat the sacred cattle on Thrinacia, against Odysseus’ warning, leads to the death of his entire crew. This part hits hard because Nolan does not rush past it. It sits with the loss.
When Odysseus finally lands back on Ogygia, the film takes a turn that stands out. Calypso is not shown as a kind host. She kept him there against his will for seven years. This detail matters. It removes any romantic softness from that part of the story and makes his return home feel more urgent and more deserved.
The ending in Ithaca is the strongest section of the film. Odysseus returns in disguise, learns what has happened from Eumaeus, and slowly moves toward reclaiming his home. The moment with Argos, his dog recognizing him before dying, is simple and effective, no music tricks, just the moment itself. Odysseus’ quiet confession to Penelope, still in disguise, about what he did during the war and afterward, is one of the better written scenes in the film. He is not proud of what he did. He wants to be forgiven, or at least understood.
The final act, where Penelope sets the bow challenge and Odysseus reveals himself, works because the film has spent so much time building the cost of getting there. The fight against the suitors is fast and violent. Telemachus killing Melanthius and then arming his father for the final kill against Antinous feels earned rather than just a payoff scene. The film ends with Odysseus and Penelope stepping down and letting Telemachus take the throne, while Odysseus sails away to honor the men he lost. It is a quiet ending for a loud film, and it works.
Performances across the board are strong. Damon carries the weight of guilt well without overplaying it. Holland shows real growth from start to finish. Anne Hathaway’s Penelope is not simply patient, she is angry, and that anger comes through even in quiet scenes. Samantha Morton’s Circe and Charlize Theron’s Calypso both get more depth than these characters usually receive. Zendaya’s Athena works as a steady presence throughout, and Lupita Nyong’o doing double duty as Helen and her sister Clytemnestra adds weight to a smaller subplot about betrayal at home.
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Visually, Nolan uses the size of IMAX well. The battles feel enormous. The quieter scenes, like the underworld sequence and the final scene with Argos, still land even without spectacle. The design team builds a version of ancient Greece that feels lived in, not like a museum display.
The film runs long, at 173 minutes, and the pacing does slow down in a few places, particularly during the middle stretch of island stops. But the slower parts are doing real work. They build the exhaustion that makes the ending mean something. By the time Odysseus picks up the bow, the audience understands exactly what he has been through to get there.
This is not a simple retelling of an old story. Nolan focuses on guilt, on the cost of breaking trust, and on what it means to come home changed. The film respects where the story comes from without feeling stuck in the past. It is Nolan’s best work, and given how big a risk this film was, that is a real achievement.
The Odyssey opens in cinemas on July 17.
