Was there a single movie more anticipated this year than The Odyssey? Probably not. I know I was looking forward to it. Director Christopher Nolan’s movies feel more like events these days, big things that need to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Somehow, my girlfriend has never seen one of his movies before. She’s not much for DC heroes, thinking Batman was Michael Keaton and there was no need to see more of them. As for the rest, she doesn’t get to the movies that often, but she is a big time fan of fantasy stories, so she was certainly up for a retelling of Homer’s epic story of one man’s long trip home.
Her one word initial reaction when the closing credits started was “Wow!” But I’m the one writing the review here.
The movie opens with Odysseus (Matt Damon) gone for something like 18 years. His wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) has to deal with a horde of suitors, led by Antinous (Robert Pattinson), who are feasting on everything they can get their hands on under the Law of Zeus, basically that you need to be good to any visitor in case it is a god in disguise. That doesn’t mean these suitors are good guests, only that it would take the king’s return to kick them out, even if they seem to be ready to murder Odysseus’s loyal son Telemachus (Tom Holland) as soon as the angry young man gives them an excuse. Where is Odysseus?
The short answer is, he’s on his way. As with the original The Odyssey by Homer, this story opens in the middle and allows Odysseus to tell the story of what came before, but let me say right off the bat, this version is not the most faithful adaptation of Homer’s work. There are changes made, mostly to modernize the story, and for the record, I am fine with those changes. But at its core, it is still the same story: Odysseus, King of Ithica, has been away from home for a very long time, and all he wants is to get back to his wife and throne. The story’s ending is fairly well-known. The challenge for Nolan, then, is to make what is well-known compelling.
Now, it’s a Nolan movie, so there are many things that we can say right up-front: it’s very well-made, the story has a distinct tone and style that is uniquely Nolan, and it will feel big. True, Nolan has never tackled anything like epic fantasy, but he’s done rather well with sci-fi, and the two genres are generally tied together for good reason. These are fantastic stories involving big moments. However, Nolan’s story is more about humanizing the characters. His Odysseus isn’t the braggart of Homer who can’t keep from claiming a clever move, even if it is something that will bite him in the ass later. Instead, he’s a tortured soul, a man who feels more like a modern American–and who is more “modern American” these days than Damon?–than a Bronze Age man. He’s the one who feels guilt for what’s done either by him or by his people, to the point where other characters tell him he doesn’t need to take responsibility for what other men do. It’s also not a story that shows the gods all that much,relegating them to maybe the background, with the exception of Athena (Zendaya), and her role seems to be more of a subtle guide or witness. This is not a story where divine intervention saves anyone.
As it is, it’s a movie that certainly gets better as it goes. It’s a movie that expects you to know what happens, and when someone like Samantha Morton’s Circe shows up, yeah, you know what’s gonna happen, so how does it happen? It’s to Nolan’s credit that he can wring tension out of scenes where there’s a high likelihood that much of the audience knows what’s about to happen. It’s not my favorite Nolan movie, but damn, the man knows how to make a good movie. It’s epic while still telling a very human story at its center.
Wow, indeed.
Grade: A
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