Nolan's The Odyssey Review: A Visual Epic

I went into The Odyssey expecting to be completely swept away, and about two-thirds of that happened. The scale of this thing is genuinely unlike anything I've seen in a theater, but I walked out admiring it more than I actually felt it, if that makes sense.

The visuals: this is where the movie completely earns the hype

I have to lead with this because it's not close — shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film, the scale of this movie is staggering in a way trailers genuinely don't prepare you for. The fall of Troy sequence alone justifies seeing this in a real IMAX theater if you have one anywhere near you. I found myself thinking about how few filmmakers left even attempt something at this scale without leaning on obvious CGI shortcuts.

The acting: mostly excellent, a couple of standouts

Matt Damon carries the film well as Odysseus, but for me the real standout was Tom Holland as Telemachus. I went in not expecting much from that role and came out thinking it might be his best performance yet. Anne Hathaway's Penelope gets less screen time than I wanted, honestly, but what she does with it lands.

Where the story lost me a little

Here's my honest hesitation: for a movie about a decade-long journey home, I never fully felt the exhaustion or longing Odysseus is supposed to be carrying. A few scenes play more like a checklist of famous Odyssey episodes (the Cyclops, the sirens, and so on) than a story building toward something emotionally cumulative. I found myself impressed scene to scene, but not always pulled forward the way I wanted to be.

I also think the film leans toward serious and controlled in a way that occasionally flattens the mythic wonder of the source material. There's a version of this story that feels more alive and strange, and I caught myself wishing for a bit more of that.

The comedy and lighter moments

There isn't much comic relief here, and honestly, I don't think this story needs a lot of it — but the few lighter character beats, mostly from the crew members around Odysseus, were some of my favorite scenes. I'd have taken a couple more of those to balance the weight of everything else.

What I'd have changed

If I could tweak one thing, I'd have wanted a few more quiet, human scenes between Odysseus and Telemachus specifically, earlier in the film — the reunion hits harder in theory than it does in the moment, because we don't spend quite enough time with what was lost in the meantime.

So, is it worth watching in IMAX?

Yes, unreservedly, if the visual scale of filmmaking is what you're after — this might be the best argument for true 70mm IMAX in years. If you're looking for the emotional gut-punch Nolan hit with Interstellar or Oppenheimer, temper your expectations slightly. This is a film I respected more than I loved, though I suspect it might grow on me on a second watch.

How well is The Odyssey actually doing at the box office?

Since I wrote my original review, real numbers have come in, and they're genuinely staggering. The Odyssey opened to $124.5 million domestically and $264.1 million globally — the biggest worldwide opening of Christopher Nolan's entire career, ahead of even The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer.

For context on how unusual that is: this is an R-rated adaptation of a 2,700-year-old Greek epic poem, a premise that should limit mainstream audience turnout, not launch one of the year's biggest openings. It's currently the third-largest domestic opening of 2026, behind only Toy Story 5 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie — both family-friendly franchise sequels, a very different audience proposition than an R-rated literary epic.

Where the money actually came from is telling, too: roughly 58% of the domestic opening came from premium formats — IMAX, PLF screens (Dolby, Screen-X), and true 70mm prints — which lines up exactly with what I said in my review about this being a film that earns the premium-format hype rather than just marketing around it. Advance ticket sales for 70mm IMAX screenings had reportedly been selling out since tickets first went on sale a full year before release, an unprecedented marketing gamble that clearly paid off.

What's next for the film commercially: The Odyssey has clear theatrical runway for the next two weeks, since its only real competition is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, opening July 31. Some industry analysts are already speculating about a possible run toward the $1 billion global mark by fall, though that's still speculative this early into its release.

A genuine controversy: the Odyssey's own translator hated the film

Since my original review, something genuinely interesting happened — Emily Wilson, whose acclaimed 2017 translation of The Odyssey was publicly cited by Nolan as an inspiration for the film (he's said he used her famous opening line, "Tell me about a complicated man," as a guide for his Odysseus), published a scathing review of the finished film in the London Review of Books, titled "An Uncomplicated Man."

Wilson didn't hold back. She called the script "abysmal," writing "I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script," and argued the film lacks "psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth" — that it has "nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war." She was particularly pointed about the film's handling of its non-white cast members, arguing several — Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Himesh Patel among them — were reduced to "the Black best friend" role, existing mainly to support the white protagonist rather than being given real interiority.

Here's the thing worth sitting with: this is exactly the emotional distance I flagged in my own review above — my complaint that the film "kept me at arm's length," that Odysseus's exhaustion and longing never fully landed for me. Wilson, someone who has spent years inside this exact material, is making essentially the same critique from a different angle: that the adaptation trades depth for spectacle.

To Nolan's credit, and to Wilson's, she's not simply dismissive of the film's cultural impact. She notes that translations of The Odyssey — including her own — are "flying off the shelves" because of the film, and says plainly: "the release of The Odyssey is still an event to celebrate... Nolan is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful."

This doesn't change my overall take — I still think the visuals alone justify seeing this in IMAX, and I still think the performances (especially Tom Holland's) are genuinely excellent. But Wilson's critique gave language to something I felt but couldn't quite articulate: this is a film that's easier to admire than to actually feel.

Frequently asked questions

Is The Odyssey worth seeing in true IMAX 70mm?
Yes — the film was shot entirely on IMAX film, and the visual difference is significant, especially in large-scale sequences like the fall of Troy.

Is The Odyssey faithful to Homer's original poem?
Broadly yes, though it compresses and reorders some of the poem's episodic structure into a more traditional film narrative.

How long is The Odyssey?
The theatrical runtime is 172 minutes.

Looking for something with a bit more warmth?

If The Odyssey left you wanting a story with more emotional payoff, our movie recommendation quiz can help point you toward something matched to that mood specifically. We've also written about movies with a genuinely satisfying ending, if that's what this one didn't quite deliver for you.