The Pop Culture Pundit

Director Christopher Nolan specializes in creating stories of emotionally haunted men. In Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy’s Robert Oppenheimer is haunted by his creation of the atomic bomb posing as a threat to destroy humanity. In Interstellar, Matthew McConaughey’s Joseph Cooper is haunted by time passing him by before he can save the universe. And in Nolan’s latest film, The Odyssey, Matt Damon’s Odysseus is haunted by the horrors of what happened during the Trojan War, which ultimately impacts the world for centuries. The Odyssey is an emotionally intense movie, but one that is worth the risk for ultimately rewarding us with a strikingly beautiful film. 

The Odyssey is, at its core, an epic, harkening back to the movies of the 20th century such as Cleopatra and The Ten Commandments. Early in the film, we find out Odysseus has been missing from his home for many years since the Trojan War ended. Tom Holland plays his son, Telemachus, who sets out to find him. Telemachus wants to prove he’s alive; if he doesn’t, either he himself will become king, or his mother Penelope (Anne Hathaway) will marry a suitor who becomes King. The latter is more likely, considering a group of men have taken over their house to be picked as her next husband; this includes the villainous Antinous (Robert Pattinson), whose love of wanting power triumphs his claimed love for Penelope. 

While Telemachus sets out on a perilous journey to find his father, we spend most of our time with Odysseus, whose even more perilous journey after the Trojan War is revealed via flashbacks told to Calypso (Charlize Theron), a woman who is taking care of Odysseus as he recovers from his voyage.

Nolan’s pension for not telling a story linearly is once again central to the plot. Though The Odyssey is much clearer than the plot in Memento or Tenet, most of the film is unspooled through the aforementioned flashbacks. Odysseus wants to get home, he claims, to his wife and son. But something is preventing him from doing that, physically and mentally. Odysseus and his crew quite literally go through Hell and back during their journey, encountering dangerous creatures, underworld spirits and a witch who turns men into animals. 

For those unfamiliar with Homer’s Odyssey, which the movie is based on, there may be many jump scares in store. The eerie fantasy and intriguing mythology of the movie, however, only add to its grandeur. If you thought Inception or Interstellar was the most epic of scale Nolan’s movies could be, think again. In The Odyssey, a tale as old as time suddenly feels timeless, and that is in part due to a combination of the directing, acting, and music.

Matt Damon’s Odysseus reminded me of his characters in both The Martian and The Bourne series. In the former, Damon’s character is trying to make it back home; in the latter, his character is trying to remember who he is. Both apply to Odysseus here. Tom Holland as Telemachus has finally grown out of his teenage Spider-Man phase and gives a more mature, refined performance; you can feel his determination to find his father any time he’s on screen (it should be noted Holland will return as Spider-Man in Brand New Day in two weeks, which is perhaps ironic). Anne Hathaway is stunning as Penelope, giving us a complicated portrait of grief as she navigates loss, power, and anger. Zendaya, for the brief moments she is on screen, gives us an empathetic Athena, a goddess who feels like a real human in her hands. And Robert Pattinson is certainly a delicious villain, eating up every scene he’s in, though I felt like he could’ve had a meatier part as the main bad guy. 

The orchestral score by Ludwig Göransson could practically be another character in the movie. The music is propulsive, driving every scene it’s in (and making the silence even eerier; in the rare quiet moments of the film, you could’ve heard a pin drop in the theater). At times ethereal and other times raw and primal, the orchestral score feels like it could have been composed during the era its set in (though probably impossible given the saxophone has a prominent feature late in the film and the instrument wasn’t invented until the 19th century). Göransson won an Oscar for scoring Oppenheimer, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a frontrunner for this year’s Academy Awards either. 

Speaking of, Nolan won Best Director and Picture for Oppenheimer as well, along with two acting awards (Best Actor for Cillian Murphy and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr). I wouldn’t be surprised if Damon was nominated for Best Actor; I’m shocked he hasn’t won already (he did win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting, however). Nolan’s direction in this film is simply stunning; you can feel the emotional and physical toll the journey our characters take. Given Nolan’s use of practical effects as well, it is likely many of the scenes were actually shot on the water instead of using CGI. Filming was also done on location in Greece, Iceland and Italy, making the imagery and cinematography some of the most beautiful of the entire year. 

With its incredible acting, stunning scenery, and ultimately satisfying emotional arc, The Odyssey is another triumph for Christopher Nolan. You could say it’s worth taking a voyage to the theater for. Hopefully driving there isn’t as perilous a journey as the one Odysseus takes to get home. 

^{Universal Pictures via YouTube}