The Odyssey: Movie Review

If you ever had any doubts that this movie was going to be anything other than an incredible cinematic achievement, you must have been kidding yourself. There had been so much discourse surrounding this film ever since it was first announced a couple of years ago that a lot of people were anxiously awaiting the chance to see how it was going to perform when it finally came out.

It's safe to say that The Odyssey not only lived up to its expectations, but it greatly exceeded them, both from a critical and commercial point of view. There seems to be a fairly unanimous agreement amongst both critics and fans alike that this movie slots into the top three best movies of Christopher Nolan's career with ease. It's perhaps Nolan's most ambitious and courageous movie to date, and his efforts in bringing it to life have certainly paid off. As of today, The Odyssey has soared past $920 million at the worldwide box office, a monumental success that has become the catalyst for what is shaping up to be a record-breaking summer for Hollywood. And although we are still months away from awards season, there is little doubt in anyone's mind that, when the time comes, The Odyssey will be rewarded with plenty of nominations and wins.

If there is anyone out there who has yet to see this movie, and you're perhaps considering waiting until it hits streaming services or is released on digital, don't. I can't express enough just how much this movie deserves to be seen and experienced on the big screen. The reason cinemas exist is so that we can experience movies like The Odyssey the way they were always meant to be seen. If you're going to splurge on one trip to the cinema this year, make it this one. Christopher Nolan made this movie with the intention for it to be seen in the biggest format possible, with the loudest speakers and a stunned audience surrounding you. This is a cinema phenomenon that you don't want to miss out on.

There are so many moments and scenes that stand out as "career-best" ones in this movie, both for Nolan and for everyone else involved in it. The score by Ludwig Göransson is absolutely unbelievable; the scenes in which Odysseus's crew takes over Troy, in particular, feature some of the most memorable music I've heard in years. One of my favourite small details in the film is the way the twang of Odysseus's bow is woven into the score. We also get what is, in my opinion, the best-directed scene of Nolan's career: Penelope and Odysseus' reunion, and their conversation through the sliding doors as we watch flashbacks of Troy falling and finally understand why Odysseus was so reluctant to return home. All of the scenes at sea are breathtakingly beautiful, and they're made even more striking by the grotesque imagery we see on Circe's island.

The best scene in the film, and probably my favourite scene of the year so far, comes in the third act. As Odysseus retells his story to Penelope and we see flashbacks of Troy, it's revealed that the Goddess Athena wasn't guiding him throughout the film, as we had been led to believe. Instead, she had been haunting him, having taken the form of one of the priestesses they murdered during the fall of Troy. She followed Odysseus throughout his journey in the same way that his guilt followed him everywhere he went, with no way to escape it. That scene was so brilliantly written and directed that it genuinely made me stop breathing the first time I watched it.

The Odyssey was written almost 3,000 years ago, yet watching this movie in the modern day makes you realise just how relevant its themes and messages still are. Throughout the film, we are constantly reminded that the collapse of society and civilisation came as a result of Odysseus and his crew violating Zeus's law (the idea that hosts should offer shelter, food, and protection to travellers, while guests should respect and honour their hosts in return). By breaking this sacred rule, Odysseus and his crew set off a chain of events that ultimately leads to everything around them falling apart.

The movie leaves us with an overall message that transcends centuries, lands, and languages: how could we ever move on after what we've done to each other?

"What if the Odysseus you knew lost his way? What if, one night, in a strange city, he saw things that made him think the home he knew couldn't possibly be there anymore. What if...when he left the belly of the horse, and opened the gates of Troy, he saw ten years of rage pour into that city in one night? We left them a gift, an offering of peace, that they took into their home. We violated all that's ever sacred between people. What if he knew that very night, as he walked through fires, anarchy, and pain, what if he knew exactly what he'd done?"