Jayden Pinto is The Eight30’s lead entertainment columnist. Find him on Letterboxd for more immediate reactions on new releases: @JaydenP0205
Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Athena (Zendaya). Photograph via IMDB.
The Odyssey has been one of my all-time favorite books for a few years after I read it in a college class about Greek and Roman epics — which I took with another one of our beloved Eight30 writers, Rocco Peruso.
So going in, my expectations were extremely high. This was further heightened by the fact Nolan is my preferred director, and, to this point, Oppenheimer was one of my favorite films released this decade. In the end, I was not disappointed at all. At just under three hours, Nolan made a book as expansive as The Odyssey work while implementing a storyline that wasn’t there before.
To start, the star-studded cast led by Matt Damon (Odysseus), Tom Holland (Telemachus), Anne Hathaway (Penelope) and Robert Pattinson (Antinous) hit on every front. From the brief cameo by Travis Scott to the more prominent side characters like Eumaeus (John Leguizamo), there was never a dull character or performance. Especially Matt Damon, who delivered a performance I can’t see anyone else come close to replicating.
Even Tom Holland took a huge step up here, who has been plagued the last few years being stuck as Spider-Man without other projects that performed well. He delivered a performance that made me hope he starts picking up more prestigious roles, and doesn’t stay solely as Spider-Man.
Anne Hathaway was fantastic as well, of course. She borderline turned this story into her own. Telemachus’ plot and everything else going on in Ithaca would not have been possible without her, and Hathaway’s performance made it all feel real. Then there’s Robert Pattinson, who played such a compelling villain this almost felt like a prelude for when we see him return in an even bigger role in Dune: Part Three. All around, everyone was fantastic, and not a single miss was made by the cast.
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The story of The Odyssey is one of the most iconic and influential stories of all time. Here, Christopher Nolan enhances the emotional depth of every aspect of the poem. It’s clear the effect Oppenheimer had on Nolan’s writing skills here, where he added a very similar storyline to Odysseus’ character of regret and guilt for his own actions in Troy.
This additional storyline added heavily to the story. That contribution makes this feel like the definitive version of The Odyssey. Going forward, I just can’t imagine how any more adaptations of this could be made. There really is no way another director could ever come close to replicating the feeling and emotion of this film right now.
Which brings me to the music. Ludwig Göransson once again proved that he’s one of the best composers in modern film. He and Nolan had worked together for his last few releases, and he did not disappoint here. He found a great way to mix the more classical music of the period with modern additions — like Travis Scott’s “FEIN,” in a few scenes. I loved it so much I’m considering buying the vinyl for this soundtrack once it’s released.
Finally, I want to focus on Nolan himself. His directing ability cannot be questioned.
For years now, he has been my favorite director, and this release further cements that idea. He really is someone that could do no wrong now, and that’s proved here. People questioned some of the castings he had made, but as I mentioned earlier, they all gave fantastic performances that I couldn’t have cared about their race, gender or sexuality. This film has been surrounded by people on different sides, upset at the lack of Greek representation, the decision to make Helen of Troy a black woman, the costumes and how they don’t look “historically accurate” or even Nolan’s choice to cast Elliot Page — a fantastic actor in my opinion — to play Sinon, who many people thought would be playing Achilles. He delivered such an amazing experience that I could not care less about any of these so-called “controversies.”
This was one of those films that fully immerses you into it, and makes it so difficult to look away from the screen. I just feel bad for the people who aren’t going to watch the film for any of those reasons I listed above or any other nonsensical reasoning. What I’ve been saying from the beginning is people need to trust Christopher Nolan , and that if you do, you’ll be greatly rewarded with this watch.
Nolan recently said he was open to the idea of doing a horror movie soon. The scenes including the Cyclops and Circe were points where Nolan explored some horror elements, and really made me hope we get a true horror movie from him on the horizon.
Overall, The Odyssey is in a league of its own, and sets the gold standard for future adaptations — especially if it’s of a classic epic.
I would even go as far as to say this is Nolan’s best film; I just don’t feel like anything else even comes close. The same can be said for films released this decade. It feels like The Odyssey should at the very least be in top-five conversations. Maybe it’s too early to say this, as of writing I just got out of the film an hour and a half ago. But now, I’m ready to have some uncomfortable conversations with people. As you can imagine, I give The Odyssey (2026) a 10/10. By far the best movie to have been released this year, it’s a must-watch.
