There are some absolute truths in life: never go to bed angry, food is best enjoyed with others, and all Christopher Nolan movies should be experienced on the biggest screen possible. His adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey isn’t entirely faithful, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s a lush, expansive reinterpretation of what war, violence and conquest does to human civilisation. When we speak about the Trojan war, it’s in praise of the cunning and strategy of Odysseus’ plan. We fail to grapple with the cost of that victory, that the garlands on one’s head is the direct result of the pool of blood at one’s feet. These are themes explored before in Oppenheimer, and Nolan’s desire to focus on the two men at the centre of these large-scale atrocities point to his humanist take on the whole idea of warfare.
The movie begins with the bard (Travis Scott) chanting the opening lines to the song of the Trojan war, but he is immediately silenced by Odysseus’ wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway), who doesn’t want the tales of glory and victory. She’s a woman who just wants her husband to return, especially since she’s spent a few years fending off greedy suitors in the hopes that he will return and reclaim the the place beside her. Hathaway is ferocious as Penelope – we feel the love she has for Odysseus (Matt Damon) as well as her strength as she endures the days without him. Their son Telemachus (Tom Holland) is eager for solutions to the whole suitor situation, but with the way things are, they would rather kill him than passively sit by and let him take the throne. Holland has some struggles in the role initially, but as the film wears on he sits more comfortably in his character. This is especially seen in his scenes at Sparta with Menelaus (Jon Bernthal). The pair go way back, and you see that years of friendship play out in the scenes between their two characters.
In a film with such a stacked cast, there are a ton of remarkable performances. A standout performance for me is John Leguizamo as Eumaeus. I have loved the man since To Wong Foo. He’s such a fantastic character actor; he sinks into these roles and these worlds with such ease. He does such a great job in helping anchor us to the world of Ithaca, with his loyalty to Odysseus helping us to see how far Ithaca has fallen without its King. I cannot speak of Eumaeus without speaking of Antinous, played by Robert Pattison with slimey perfection. His line delivery is so camp and delicious – there’s a reason why ‘Get these beggars out of here!’ has become a meme. His performance reminded me a little of David Tennant’s villainous turn as Bartemius Crouch Junior in The Goblet of Fire. Antinous is such a vexing, nasty character, and it’s clear that Pattinson had a whale of a time playing the part.
As Ithaca gradually crumbles, Odysseus is on a voyage to return home, but he and his men are denied by the Gods. This anger from the Gods is due to them wounding Polyphemus (the one-eyed giant Cyclops who is one of Poseidon’s sons), so they feel the wrath of Poseidon in every lick of water, in every gale that threatens to keep them lost for years at sea. However, Nolan’s repurposing of Xenia (it’s labelled as Zeus’ law in the film) lets us see that the wrath of the Gods isn’t solely because of their interaction with Polyphemus; it is their lack of Xenia that has marked every single one of their actions since the 10 years on the beaches of Troy. They presented a gift and received the hospitality of the Trojans, only for them to pour in and desecrate everything within those walls. They did the same with Polyphemus, cavalierly strolling into his home and eating his food without invitation.
This leads us to that whole scene with Circe (Samantha Morton), as she forces the men to feel the consequence of their appetites, moulding them into the animals they have become after the war. The body horror in this scene is visceral, graphic and absolutely intense. It plays out like some perverse mukbang, and we feel Circe’s rage with every stretch of human skin into something feral and animal. Morton is utterly terrifying as Circe – the tension is palpable as we feel her feminine fury inundate the entire hut. I never thought we would get body horror in a Nolan film, but now I’m curious to see what he might do with a full horror concept.
Every single moment of The Odyssey is complemented by its tremendous soundscape. The howls of Polyphemus as he writhes in pain is truly haunting stuff, as well as all the sound work that went into the siren sequence in the film. I was transfixed watching Damon scream in pain as the siren song enveloped him, with the close-up of his face allowing us to see Odysseus breaking in real time. He was a shell of a man after that, needing to rebuild his body and then eventually his mind in the years he spent with Calypso (Charlize Theron).
Damon’s filmography and body of work speaks to his talents. He’s a chameleon, who can go from playing a cold killer in The Talented Mr Ripley to a warm, personable astronaut in The Martian. He has such presence as a leading man, and such palpable charisma that I could understand why all these women were obsessed with him. He played all parts of Odysseus incredibly; he exudes the physicality the role demanded, and he could bring the pathos needed to play a broken man like Odysseus. I have never seen a man string a bow so sexily, and the hum of the bow mixed in with the music is just goated stuff from Ludwig Göransson.
I will have to do a rewatch to think about where this film lands for me in terms of Nolan’s filmography, but as far as Hollywood blockbusters go, this is as close to perfection as we’ll ever get. It could have used a bit of a trim, like the Laestrygonians (man-eating giants) could have been removed and the film would still be good. While we have wonderful female characters, their arcs aren’t as developed as the men’s are. Even Sinon (Elliot Page) is given a proper character arc despite the limited screentime. It would have been nice to have Athena (Zendaya) be more central to the film given her presence in the original story, but with Nolan’s decision to keep the Gods peripheral I don’t see how it would work.
The Gods may in the periphery, but they aren’t sidelined in the film. Odysseus is characterised by his defiance to the Gods; he refuses to believe the prophecy and the fate laid out for his men. Yet he prays to Athena each night, hoping for her guidance and wisdom as he endures the most arduous period in his life. Nolan wants us to consider what contributes to human existence and civilisation. We need the divine because without it we revert to our baser instincts; to plunder, rape and destroy. It’s the failure to obey Zeus’ law that leads to all the events and the ensuing consequences. We desire man-made ideas of materialism and power that we’re willing to forsake our compassion and humanity.
This is why Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) is a foil for Odysseus. The man was willing to kill his daughter for the blessing of good winds, and he burned through an entire city just to own some routes. In the end, his greed for power became his undoing. Warfare is antithetical to civilisation, but will humanity ever truly learn from our mistakes? As we live through another period of rising conflict and men at the top who wrestle for power, we lament humanity’s descent into the abyss once more. But as always, there’s hope for rebuilding – from ruins come new civilisations. Maybe all we can hope for is do better each time we begin anew.
REVIEW SCORE: 5/5
