" The Odyssey " (2026, UK, USA)

I returned from the woods and ran to check out the new Nolan to evaluate his ancient Greek epic

The film is incredible. Just thinking about how they shot the scenes on ships makes my head spin. From a visual and technical standpoint, I think this is one of the main films of 2026, and indeed of recent years. And what music Ludwig Göransson composed!
I really hope that in the future Nolan will also make a horror [as he hinted in an interview], because the horror elements turned out really cool.

Of course, Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" is not a literal adaptation of Homer. It's a modernized ancient Greek epic, where we, viewers from the 21st century, were helped to make it easier to emotionally attach to the characters. This is a film about a man with PTSD who survived military action and doesn't know how to live on. This is a strong pacifist statement.
And a very understandable story about trauma, disappointment, loss of ideals and one's own identity, the attempt to run from the past, and the courage to face the consequences of one's own decisions.

Personally, for me, this is a successful example of how to modernize an ancient epic: here is a different Odysseus, but he goes through all the same trials. The backbone of the story is preserved, the perspective has changed. As has humanity changed: people of the 21st century are not people of Ancient Greece, but both they and we go through the same path, make the same mistakes.

Nolan's "The Odyssey" is cinema of its time, a story of the modern world with hints at where everything is heading and what may await us next [or what already awaits]. A story told and shown by several characters, each with their own pain and trauma.

"The Odyssey" is not just Nolan's dream project, but also a project showing his fears and anxieties. Like "Oppenheimer".
Isaac Asimov also reminded us in his "Foundation" that history is cyclical, humanity does not learn from its mistakes, but goes in circles along the same route.
Nolan doesn't hope that mistakes can be avoided. But he hopes that they can be at least somewhat corrected.

P.S. I've already seen that "The Odyssey" [traditionally, like all of Nolan's films] is accused of flat female characters, and I traditionally disagree

P.S.S. How well Robert Pattinson played Antinous

P.S.S.S. Let Zendaya have 5 minutes of screen time, but what a character arc she has

#reviews