The Odyssey (2026)

Now, I’m not a Nolan fan boy, infact I find most of his movies quite boring (they just aren’t for me, not that they aren’t good movies), I fell asleep in Dunkirk and with Oppenhiemer I just couldn’t keep my attention. One thing I do enjoy though, is Greek Mythology. I own eight different versions of the The Odyssey. So, I was already excited walking into this movie.

I thought the retelling was beautiful, and most of it worked for what it was. The locations felt grand, the actors all did a good job, and all of the key moments from the text came across well. One of my favourite moments was when Circe was turning the soilders into pigs, it was horrifically stunning seeing this brought to life.

A key change that was made, Penelope’s rage and attitude, was a great addition. While in the original text it is her son that was more abrasive, it being flipped made total sense for this day and age, it was totally believable that a woman who has sat as an invisible ruler for twenty years would be so rageful. Even if this was purely changed for a modern audience, it felt so natural; I always forget how brilliant Anne is.

Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Jon Berthnal, Hamish Patel, Lupita Nyong’o, and Sam Morton were all brilliant in their roles. And even those I thought were a tad more off kilter, like Tom Holland with his wide-eyed innocence approach, and Matt Damon, his slightly hampered range, gave passable enough performances.

There were a few choices that seemed odd to me though. First of all, the accents, with everyone being from all over the place. Even if you want to use American accents for your film, get everyone using the same one, especially those who have always meant to have lived together on the same island. And the decision to make Clytemnestra and Helen twins was real odd, given that one is meant to be mortal while the other is born from a God. How can you call Helen the most beautiful when there’s someone just as beautiful a few islands over? Lupita is beautiful enough for the role, even if many others disagree, but she didn’t need to play two roles.

Also, it’s sad to say, I found the score was a tad disappointing, so many times I expected it to be so much bigger that it was that it seemed dimmed compared to the picture of screen.

And that Cyclops…. I’m not sure if I loved it or hated it.

Obviously, this story was condensed, giving it a slightly rushed feeling, but I expected nothing less given that 20 years has to be told within three hours. As my expectations were set for this, I didn’t find myself minding when many things were cut.

It was such a delight seeing one of my favourite stories brought to life on such a grand scale. Maybe that makes me bias, but it was money spent that I won’t ever regret spending. I probably will watch it again, if not in cinema then when it comes out on DVD.

I implore anyone looking for a good adaptation to this story to watch this movie, you will not be disappointed.