Christopher Nolan, perhaps the greatest director in the world, is back with another winner. The man behind Oppenheimer (2023) now gives us The Odyssey, a movie adaptation of Homer’s ancient epic.
The film is already a massive success. Making $264 million in its first week alone and sitting at 95% and above on Rotten Tomatoes, it has the chance to become Nolan’s most successful ever.
This is actually a bit surprising. The months leading up to The Odyssey’s release were rife with controversy over whether Nolan had gone “woke” due to certain casting decisions. However, audiences soon learned these charges were incredibly overstated. Some even believe the real problem is that The Odyssey wasn’t woke enough.
Rumors that there would be a transgender Achilles proved false. Achilles did not even appear in the movie. Instead, Elliot Page (a woman who thinks she’s a man) plays Sinon.
Sinon was the Greek soldier who informed the Trojans of their alleged victory and that they should bring the Trojan Horse into their city. For this deed, Sinon is remembered throughout history as a symbol of deceit and fraud. Thus, as Michael Knowles points out, Nolan casting his only transgender in that role seems just a little bit symbolic in itself.
Ultimately, the “woke” castings get around five minutes of screentime in a nearly three-hour movie. The other 168 minutes deserve to be discussed.
The Odyssey’s greatest success is that it actually feels like the epic poem it’s based on. The story is familiar to us westerners, but Nolan’s genius manages to make us feel the strangeness of those ancient days once again. From the cyclops’s cave to Circe’s island, Odysseus’s journey home feels like you’re embarking on it for the first time, even if it isn’t.
Contrary to another rumor, the costumes don’t break your immersion in this world. Everyone is dressed the part and looks good in their attire. Agamemnon’s armor is especially awe-inspiring.
Nolan also goes beyond Homer for source material in this movie, and that isn’t a bad thing. Contributions to the saga made by the likes of Aeschylus, Virgil, and Dante are also utilized to tell the story. These make The Odyssey all the more enjoyable for those who catch the inclusions.
There are some complaints that can be made. Menelaus is given the kind of brutishness expected of his brother, Agamemnon. Calypso’s reducing Odysseus to a state of virtual sex-slavery is downplayed. The entire justification for the Trojan War is shifted away from Helen’s kidnapping to political matters.
This may sound like it would all come together to ruin the movie, but it doesn’t. Nolan’s directing talent needs to be seen to be believed here. The overall movie is so good that writing this paragraph feels almost like nitpicking. Even these interpretations were woven in masterfully.
REVIEW: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S THE ODYSSEY IS A BLOCKBUSTER WORTHY OF HOMER
Homer’s poems have the kind of timelessness that makes creating a worthy adaptation of them an almost insurmountable challenge. Some of the earliest plays build on them. Plato and Aristotle quote them. The Romans absorbed them. The Christians found an allegory for the return of Christ in the homecoming of Odysseus.
Making something that can light a candle to a 3,000-year-old tradition is an incredible feat, and Nolan has done it here. Whether it’s your first time setting sail with Odysseus and you’re looking to reminisce, The Odyssey is a must-watch.