The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan transforms Homer's timeless tale of war, guilt and redemption into a visually spectacular epic, led by a career-best Matt Damon and impressive performances from Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland.

The philosophies within and behind all the pageantry shine through, and Matt Damon sparkles and glimmers in what can be termed a tailor-made character, bringing out the finest nuances and emotions required for his complex role without seeming forced: a triumph indeed. Christopher Nolan has crafted one of the greatest cinematic outings, though the epic length could have been curtailed.

Nolan's striking visual vision — it's the first feature film to be shot with 70mm IMAX cameras — is a staggering siren-like beauty to behold. It's a cinematic marvel in every way, from Hoyte van Hoytema's transcendent cinematography to Ludwig Göransson's aesthetically appropriate score. You'll walk out of the theater after seeing this nearly three-hour epic with the overwhelming sense that not only was Nolan the right filmmaker for the job, but perhaps the only current filmmaker who could pull it off with such command and intelligence.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is a visually stunning retelling of the Greek epic, elevated by powerful performances from Matt Damon and Robert Pattinson. While Zendaya deserved more screen time, Nolan delivers an immersive, emotionally resonant spectacle that lingers long after it ends.

Overall, The Odyssey is easier to admire than to love. Its scale is staggering, craft unquestionable. But its emotional pull isn't always as immediate as its visual grandeur. Even so, Nolan delivers a thoughtful and rewarding adaptation that embraces the spirit of Homer's epic without reducing it to mere spectacle.

it is difficult to imagine a filmmaker better equipped to shoulder Homer's poem into the 21st century. But his adaptation of the age-old homecoming epic does something almost perverse for his most loyal bhakts, peeling away much of the conceptual self-regard that has defined most of his work and discovering a version of himself that feels calmer, more reflective and surprisingly modest.

Not everything holds. There are a few mythological set pieces that arrive compressed to the point of feeling like footnotes and a couple of stretches do feel inert. In fact, the modern, unadorned dialogue is bound to garner split reactions.