Christopher Nolan and Matt Damon unite for their third film together in The Odyssey. Photo: Universal Studios.
Homer’s The Odyssey has long been considered one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written.
It has been adapted hundreds, if not thousands, of times in its nearly 3000-year history. Odysseus’ journey back from the Battle of Troy to the Kingdom of Ithaca is as legendary as it gets.
So, how does a story that has been read by millions find a way to become relevant once again in a time of the internet and spoiler culture?
The answer? Give the story to one of the best directors to ever pick up a camera, give him a blank cheque and let him go to work.
Christopher Nolan is that director and his adaptation of The Odyssey is so grand, so epic and so brilliant, we may never see a movie like it again.
If for some reason or another you don’t know, The Odyssey follows the king of Ithaca, Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his decades-long journey home after the end of the Trojan War.
While away, his wife and Queen consort, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), rules the kingdom while new suitors, including Antinous (Robert Pattinson), all compete for her hand in marriage.
Meanwhile, Odysseus’ son Telemachus (Tom Holland) travels the Greek Isles, looking for any sign that his father survived the voyage home.
The Odyssey is the definition of the word epic. It features swords and sandals, navigating the high seas, mythological monsters, witches, Greek gods and even a massive wooden horse.
A movie of this scale is hard to review without scatter-gunning points left, right and centre, so instead let’s break it down piece by piece.
The first is the IMAX presentation. The Odyssey is the first film shot completely in IMAX 70 mm, making it the most difficult film ever to see properly. What this means is, unlike digital cameras, which are shot on the wide-lens aspect ratio of 2.39:1, IMAX 70 mm uses more vertical space with a 1.43:1, effectively meaning there is more captured in camera with a clearer image.
These cameras are extremely rare and expensive and there are only 41 screens in the world that can properly show the film. Australia’s only one is in Melbourne.
Regardless of whether you see it in 70 mm or not, it means that the movie looks crystal clear and grand in scale regardless of the cinema you see it in. Already, the movie looks and feels as epic as the subject matter it’s tackling.
Next is the actual production. The costumes and sets here are incredible. For context, Nolan claims that there were no computer-generated images in this film, only enhancements to existing places, props or puppets.
This makes every location feel real and lived in, every sword feel battle-tested, every ship like it’s just been sailed and every costume like it has a story of its own. It’s truly awe-inspiring.
Now let’s move on to the narrative. This film isn’t linear and it doesn’t adapt everything from Homer’s narrative, but the way it’s structured is fantastic.
It throws you in the deep end immediately, putting the viewers in the difficult situation that both Penelope and Telemachus find themselves in. Odysseus has been gone for 20 years and for the first half hour, Nolan intentionally doesn’t show his face.
When we eventually do see him, he’s weathered, scarred and almost a shell of a man. It’s then that we are taken back 20 years, to when Odysseus is pulled into the Trojan War.
As it recounts his journey from Troy to the beach he is stranded on, we slowly uncover just how difficult his journey home was and the sins he committed that have left him jaded.
We slowly peel back the psyche of Odysseus by travelling back and seeing the iconic events like the Trojan Horse, the Cyclops and the Island of the Giants, all while cutting back to Penelope and Telemachus’ battle to fight off the suitors.
That brings me to the cast. This thing is packed! Damon gives his best performance in years; meanwhile, Holland gives the best performance of his career.
Anne Hathaway will be in contention for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar come March next year, while John Leguizamo as Eumaeus and Samantha Morton as the witch, Circe, in the best sequence of the entire film, will no doubt get some buzz as well.
Pattinson turns in a great performance as a punchable antagonist; meanwhile, Hamish Patel, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong’o and Elliot Page, who could all star in their own films respectively, round out a crazy good cast.
Finally, I’ll touch on the music.
It’s a lock that Ludwig Göransson will nab his fourth Oscar for Best Original Score. The soundtrack is equal parts haunting, inspiring, devastating and mysterious. The fact that he recreated instruments that have been forgotten by history to create the music for this production is absolutely insane and creates sounds probably never heard by anyone alive before.
I could say the film being three hours is a bit long or that I would have liked more context about Odysseus’ motivations to actually go to war, but the fact is this: I don’t actually care because this movie has stuck with me for over a week.
I’ve seen it twice in cinemas, once in IMAX and once in Xtreme Screen and quite frankly, I’ll probably go again before its cinematic run is done because it is a masterpiece.
The Odyssey is now showing in cinemas across the country.
