Movie Review: THE ODYSSEY

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: July 16th, 2026 / 04:38 PM

THE ODYSSEY movie poster | ©2026 Universal

Rating: R
Stars: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, John Leguizamo, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong’o, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page
Writer: Christopher Nolan, based on Homer’s THE ODYSSEY
Director: Christopher Nolan
Distributor: Universal
Release Date: July 17, 2026

Even people unfamiliar with ancient Greek writer Homer’s THE ODYSSEY are tangentially familiar with some of its concepts: the Trojan Horse, the word “mentor” meaning teacher (although in THE ODYSSEY, it’s a proper name), the term “odyssey” itself.

Homer is believed to have written THE ILIAD, about the Trojan War, and THE ODYSSEY, about the journey home, between the eighth and seventh centuries BC. These tales are twenty-four volumes each, set in the thirteenth or twelfth centuries BC.

Due partly to archaeological discoveries in what is now Turkey (Troy in the Bronze Age), it seems that there is a historical basis for THE ILIAD, although Homer threw in a lot of gods and supernatural events.

In Homer’s version, the war itself (covered in THE ILIAD) lasts ten years. The invading Greeks are largely stuck on the beach for a decade outside the walled city of Troy.

The war ends when Greek warrior King Odysseus of Ithaca (Matt Damon), serving under King Agamemnon (Benny Safdie), invents the Trojan Horse, a gigantic “gift of peace” in the name of the goddess Athena, that secretly contains Greek soldiers inside. When the Trojans take the enormous effigy into their city, the Greeks pour out and ransack Troy.

While the Greeks sail home victorious, that’s not the end of the story. In fact, that’s the whole of THE ODYSSEY, as it takes Odysseus another ten years to return home.

Director/screenwriter Christopher Nolan has adapted THE ODYSSEY into a three-hour epic. Among the film’s many virtues is that, despite its hefty running time, it’s never boring. Nolan also brings up issues that have not been highlighted in other adaptations, including Odysseus’s valid concerns that, in winning the war, he may have set in motion the end of civilization as he knows it.

Like a number of Nolan’s other films, THE ODYSSEY jumps around in time, with flashbacks, flashforwards, and multiple plot lines.

In the present, Odysseus is on an idyllic island with the attentive Calypso (Charlize Theron). They are both happy, but Odysseus isn’t sure of where he is or even who he is. While she’s ambivalent about setting her lover free, Calypso tries to help Odysseus recover his memories by having him recount them to her.

We therefore see Odysseus’s many adventures with his men as they attempt to navigate back to Ithaca, with stormy seas, scarce rations, gods and monsters in their way.

Meanwhile, back in Ithaca, Odysseus’s adoring and ferociously loyal queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) must contend with a castle full of suitors. Due to the chief god Zeus’s law of hospitality, the men cannot be ejected without incurring the deity’s wrath. The men, however, insist that since Odysseus has been gone for twenty years, he must be dead and that Penelope should choose one of them as her new husband to be king.

Penelope wants Odysseus or no one. Moreover, she wants her and Odysseus’s son, Prince Telemachus (Tom Holland), to inherit the throne. Penelope is aware the suitors are plotting to kill Telemachus. She must remain vigilant against these schemes, while keeping hope alive without any apparent signs that she’s right to do so.

It’s a lot, but Nolan maintains not only coherence but tone, whether capturing palace politics or Odysseus and his soldiers battling a giant Cyclops. Everything flows together as a unified whole in a glowing enormous fable.

There is no reason to suppose that ancient Greeks spoke with English accents, but that’s what we’re used to in depictions of Ye Olden Times, so it takes a moment to get used to the American accents of most of the characters (including those played by British actors).

Likewise, the use of “mom” and “dad” and other relatively modern words interspersed throughout the dialogue is noticeable but, again, there were surely equivalent informal expressions back in the day. Otherwise, the dialogue is neither too stiff nor too colloquial, suiting the drama without pushing it toward either extreme.

Damon is a quiet, thoughtful Odysseus, diligently trying to doing the right thing and to protect his men, even when they won’t cooperate. Holland is a suitably eager and devout Prince Telemachus. Hathaway has regal backbone as the immovable Penelope. Robert Pattinson gives an air of Shakespearean villainy to Penelope’s chief suitor and an almost unrecognizable John Leguizamo has becoming staunchness as an old servant of Odysseus.

Samantha Morton has a standout segment as an unassuming but vengeful figure, and Zendaya is suitably emotive yet enigmatic as the embodiment of the goddess Athena. Theron doesn’t get much to do but does it well. Elliot Page a has brief but impactful role as the brave soldier Sinon. As for Nyong’o as Helen, she’s fine. Helen of Troy was said to be extremely beautiful, Nyong’o is extremely beautiful, all is well with this casting.

THE ODYSSEY is physically stunning, always intriguing, sometimes moving and even philosophically engaging. For those who want to learn about Homer’s THE ODYSSEY, it absolutely beats reading the Cliff Notes. For those who desire a big, well-thought-out Bronze Age adventure, THE ODYSSEY provides it.

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An epic worthy of its running time

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An epic worthy of its running time

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