Notes on The Odyssey (2026)

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW FOR CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S THE ODYSSEY... and the ancient epic poem, I guess?

First off, and obviously, the film is epic and a massive accomplishment, so everyone should see it. There was a lot that was just really good filmmaking.

Did it do justice to the epic poem? Eh, mostly. Nolan included a lot of details I wasn't expecting, and it's mostly true to the poem (and at least the overall plot). This is both a good and bad thing when it comes to a movie, as some parts are definitely more interesting than others and it starts and ends a bit weirdly.

I felt there were two big divergences, one more obvious and the other maybe debatable (though connected). First, I think the lack of gods did a disservice to the story. The Odyssey is (partly) a story of men swept up in the affairs of gods, tossed about at their whims and suffering their attention, both good and bad. They are forced this way and that, to do things and to avoid things, because of the pantheon that can raise them up or destroy them at any moment. There is lip service paid to the gods in the movie, but where are they? It's weird, too, because this muddies the discussion about Nolan "grounding" his stories in reality. On the one hand, we don't have gods because I guess they'd be hard to pull off in a way that's cool? Or they'd look weird? But on the other, there are clear supernatural elements like Polyphemus (Cyclops), Laestrygonians (murderous armored giants), Circe, and Scylla. So why not gods? And I really did NOT like the bait and switch Nolan pulled with Athena; from a mythological standpoint it's perfectly fine that the goddess appears only to Odysseus, but the final reveal during a flashback that her physical appearance is based on a temple servant killed in Troy suggests that she's just a figment of Odysseus's PTSD. So yeah, missing gods are a problem for me.

Maybe a bigger issue for me is that of the characterization of Odysseus. Maybe it's a limitation of Damon's acting, which I've never thought was stellar, but this version of the character felt bland and uninteresting to me. There were brief glimpses of the epic version, but Damon didn't feel dynamic enough - highly cunning, funny, witty, boastful, dedicated, tricky, etc. He's supposed to be this unique multifaceted hero, while Damon felt mostly put upon and reactive. His questioning of the war and what he had done during it were fine, but I really would've liked to see more of the "Homeric hero" shift from the epic - Odysseus starts his story as a war hero fresh from his conquest at Troy, ransacking a nearby community (which was in the movie), then as he travels and suffers and learns, he adjusts his approach and demeanor. Again, there were glimpses of this but I would have liked more. For instance, the Cyclops. I hated that Nolan made him a mostly mute creature who does not communicate with the humans. In the epic he talks with them, asking their leader his name, and this is a huge moment for Odysseus - despite his men (and we the readers) expecting him to boast of his glory, Odysseus replies that he is "no one" or "no man." Polyphemus later calls out to his fellow Cyclopes that he has been blinded by "no man" and thus they ignore him, and finally during the escape we see that Odysseus hasn't quite changed; he's still the braggart, brash hero who can't help but call out that it was "I, Odysseus of Ithaca!" who blinded the Cyclops, and THAT is what leads to Polyphemus calling down Poseidon's fury on the man.

While it is exaggerated for effect here, the epic poem is told in different narrative threads and not fully chronologically, so that is thematically accurate.

Historical accuracy? Honestly, I don't really care that there were a ton of anachronisms, especially with ships, armor, etc. That's just dressing.

I find it quite interesting that Nolan fixated on the idea of "Zeus's law" and made it such a big deal in the movie. It IS a very big deal in the epic, though in a more nuanced way. This is xenia, or guest friendship, and it's a core civilizing element of ancient Greek culture and part of the move toward law and away from things like revenge killing and cycles of violence. A host is obligated to provide sustenance and comfort to a stranger in his house. There is the idea in ancient Greek religion that a stranger could be a god in disguise, but that's more tangential; the people invoked the name of Zeus as part of xenia and all oaths because they were so important to humans getting along with one another. And yes, there are instances when xenia can (and should) be broken; both sides need to keep up their end of the compact and there are dire results if you do not.

Agamemnon was king of Mycenae, just one city-state, and NOT all of the Greeks. He's the nominal leader of the expedition to Troy but other kings like Odysseus did not bow down to him and obey his every command. I did like that they included the story of Iphigenia, the daughter that Agamemnon sacrificed in order to sail to Troy, and the ramifications of that when he returned home... although the presentation of Agamemnon's flashback was very odd, and probably too fleeting for most audience members to understand fully. The point of this reference in the Odyssey, as told to the hero by the ghost of Agamemnon, is to give Odysseus pause in returning home as the conquering hero. He should be circumspect, scout things out, find out who are still loyal and who is not, etc., because things could turn out very badly (and not all women are good ones). The mention of Agamemnon's son Orestes and his part in killing his mother was interesting too, even if they didn't explain that while his actions were "correct" from one point of view, he still suffered greatly and needed the intervention of the gods to save him from the Erinyes (Furies) for matricide.

Most of the Telemachus stuff was accurate and fine. He's a big kid kept infantilized by those around him, struggling to understand the stories about his famous father and his epic deeds. The visit to Sparta is meant to give the reader more background on the Trojan War, and to see another example of what a homecoming can be like. And yes, it's super weird that Helen is sitting right there! I have no real notes about this section of the movie, it's fine. Though the action at Pylos was mostly invented and seemed kind of unnecessary.

The Troy scenes were fine (again, ignoring anachronisms), if devoid of most main characters. No named Trojans kinda rankles, but the people of that city apparently didn't matter very much here.

Let's go through the travels!
-As mentioned above, I appreciated seeing Odysseus's first stop, slaughtering the Cicones because he and his men are still in war mode
-Lotus Eaters: sadly missing from this movie, though we get the lotus as part of Calypso's story both to paper over the fact that our "noble" hero shacked up with a minor goddess for eight years and to push the PTSD narrative
-Polyphemus: creepy! I thought all this well done, except for the lack of that crucial communication, evolution of Odysseus's character, and involvement of the gods (explained above)
-Aeolus: missing! Was a god giving Odysseus a bag of winds too silly/outlandish for Nolan? It would have shown more of the distrust his crew has for him, especially after the Cyclops incident
-Laestrygonians: looked pretty cool in action, authentically giant. In the poem they eat Odysseus's men and destroy all the ships except for his, so that part was accurate. The setup with the kid was good... until the reveal which I thought looked really silly
-Circe: I'm of mixed feelings here. Thematically this was solid, the effects were grotesque and cool, and Morton was great. However, something about this scene in the poem that I really like is that Circe is the prototypical Western witch - she gives men a potion in their food and then polymorphs them using a magic wand! Also, Odysseus figuring out the overall plot was fine but the exact nature of the food felt a little hollow to me. Again, way more interesting in the poem with Hermes saving the day! Also... Odysseus shacks up with Circe for a year and has to be persuaded by his men to leave her and continue their journey, so that was all done away with
-Underworld: suitably dreary and otherworldly, though I wish they went even further (the old TV miniseries did a good job with fire and lava and ghosts). This is one of the greatest scenes in the poem, and there's just so much more than what we got here. Odysseus is shocked to meet a crewmate that fell off Circe's roof the night before, and then his own MOM who he didn't know was dead. Achilles shows up with some of the most fateful words in all of Greek literature - the man, the myth, the legend admits to Odysseus that despite getting exactly what he chose (everlasting fame in return for an early death), Achilles would rather be a slave on earth than king of the dead. This shocks Odysseus to the core and helps him reevaluate what is important, what it means to be famous. That is coupled with Agamemnon's story and Odysseus seeing the shade of Ajax; Odysseus recognizes his own part to play in that hero's death and wishes to apologize, but Ajax won't talk to him. So yeah, lots of important stuff.
-Monsters: fine, though it would have been funny if Nolan went with the ancient vase painting depiction of the Sirens - they looked like chickens with human heads!
-Sun God's cattle: solid depiction including Odysseus asking his men not to kill the cattle but they ignore him when the hunger gets too bad. This does bring me to the one thing that had me tearing out my hair in the theater... Odysseus is told not to eat the cattle of the Sun God, but then they ruin everything by saying that is Apollo. Fucking hell, the Greek sun god was HELIOS, NOT APOLLO!!!!! I hate that so much
-Calypso: discussed above. Fine, except for the lotus amnesia stuff. In the epic, Odysseus is allowed to have girlfriends on the way home as long as they are more powerful than him and could have "forced" him to stay with them, regardless of whether or not he remembers everything that has happened thus far
-Phaeacians: missing! I suppose this story is pretty easy to skip, but it is a good one. Odysseus washes on the shore of an island naked, and Athena helps him meet the young princess Nausicaa who then brings him to her parents the king and queen. They throw a party, and it's actually here that Odysseus is narrating most of the epic poem. The nice people take Odysseus to Ithaca and drop him off in secret, along with a bunch of treasure (their part in guest friendship) - in this way Odysseus does not actually return home empty handed

Ithaca: there were a lot of elements that I liked here! Anachronisms aside, the palace looked interesting and had environs suitable to the characters and the story. I quite enjoyed Leguizamo's Eumaeus and thought he was a good grounding element for Telemachus. The suitors were assholes, appropriately, and I loved Pattinson's conniving Antinous. Hathaway was fine as Penelope, though her portrayal clicked something for me. In the movie all of the female characters, no matter their power level, are defined by their position in relation to a man or to men. This isn't terribly far from the epic poem, but it still manages to rob several of them of their agency, decision-making, and more. Movie Penelope is there to suffer and wait and seems to have a thought at the very last minute. Epic Penelope leads on the suitors, lies, enacts her own plots, and engages in a test of wits with Odysseus when he arrives home that proves she's every bit his match. This ties into classic complaints about the audio levels in Nolan films, but could all audiences hear and digest the one throwaway lines about how Penelope unravels the shroud she's making at night, in order to drag out her decision deadline? Calypso doesn't seem to love Odysseus, just provide him a safe space to work through his PTSD; in the epic she covets him and keeps him until the gods force her to let him go. Circe in the movie is a paranoid victim; in the epic she's a dynamic force of nature whom Odysseus dominates sexually and then shares in her hedonistic paradise for a year.

I felt Mia Goth was wasted in her role as Melantho; she was suitably scheming but then Nolan left out the extreme violence done to the women of the palace who didn't stay loyal and I assumed we'd get to see her ultimate downfall. Good on Nolan for including the old servant woman Eurycleia () recognizing Odysseus by his old boar hunt wound, though in the epic the hero goes so far as to threaten to kill her if she doesn't stay quiet.

I guess some people are complaining about the inclusion of Odysseus's dog, Argos, saying it was a cheap way to make people sad? Um, it's in the epic poem! Well, at least the very end when Odysseus arrives home and the poor thing lifts its head, recognizes his old master, and dies. I'm always amazed when adaptations of the Odyssey DON'T include this emotional scene!

The challenge of Odysseus's bow was fine, though I thought the film The Return handled it better, and Nolan used probably my least favorite visual of what shooting "through" the axes might mean, but whatever. The ending of the epic is so weird, and we only got a glimpse of that here. After slaughtering the suitors, Odysseus has the unfaithful servant women hanged, then he still goes to Penelope in disguise and tests her (while she tests him as well). After their reunion Odysseus goes to see his ancient father Laertes... and even tests his identity and faithfulness, which is really sad but shows just how damaged Odysseus is and unable to trust. Finally his deeds catch up with him and the families of the suitors corner Odysseus, just in time for the gods to step in and prevent further bloodshed. The poem ends with one last thing unfilled - in return for dismissing the grudge, Odysseus has promised Poseidon that he will go on a journey to spread word of the sea god to people who have never heard of him before finally settling down for good.

Lastly: we were the real Sea Peoples all along? Well, that's just weird