That was a GD spectacle of a movie. These are my initial thoughts on it:

Pros
- Visually epic of course
- Music was great and used effectively although not music I will ever buy; not made for listening.
- Hathaway was incredible.
- Damon was pretty damn awesome and his workout regime for this movie was hard core for him to get ripped like that at his age.
- Pattinson was great. That guy plays a good snake. Frankly hard to see him as Batman while watching this. (Opposite of feeling I have with Holland below.)
- The Cyclops scene was a freaking horror movie and creeped me out. When he ate that dude, it reminded me of the Rancor scene in ROTJ eating the Gamorrean.
- The Hades scene, which I knew immediately was filmed in Iceland, was just incredible. I think that's our favorite scene in the film.
- The boat scene took a lot out of me but it was awesome.
- I bawled my eyes out over the dog. Just couldn't handle it. I wanted everyone to die painfully because of that. F* all of those suitors.
- I have no idea what Nolan's faith is in real life, but I thought Odysseus's struggle against the Gods and ultimate giving himself over to them is symbolism that will be missed by many.
- The Trojan Horse scene was awesome and now I can visualize how that might have been actually been done.
- Could hear all of the dialogue although like others have said that was a loud f'ing movie. I'm old.

Neutral
- Leguizamo was good but once it hit me he reminded me of Billy Crystal in The Princess Bride it became hard not to see BC. lol.
- Theron was just kind of there but beautiful as always.
- Can't decide how I feel about Holland yet although he didn't bother me in this. It's just hard not to see Spider-Man.
- Interesting all we've heard about is Lupita and Page, but the whole cast is diverse. It ultimately didn't bother me too much. I did LOL in theater when the Indian guy told that old man in the village. "We are Greeks."...as the other black soldier looked on. That took me way out of the movie. Just absurdly funny.
- Like Theron, Zendaya was just kind of there as Athena with her usual stern look she has in all films. That twist on her was good though.

Negatives
- Lupita was a total distraction for us and then ironically most of her film time is her in distress looking unattractive. Her Agamemnon scene scared the **** out of me because it was sudden. Lol. Just completely miscast IMO regardless of her color.
- Ellen Page was actually less distracting than Lupita and if they had not had the beach scene with Damon and Page together I think she would have gotten through this mostly without a hitch, but that scene exposed her as stupidly cast, IMO. I did appreciate the symbolism of her character and her speech in Hades as it pertains to her real life though. I wonder if she even gets it....
- Damon's monologue at the end talking to Hathaway and then when they sailed away was a bit too modern preachy for me, but whatevs.

Bottom line is that I think this is 7-8ish out of 10. It doesn't feel like a movie I would watch again like some of his others and that's not really a knock on the film. It's just a really emotionally draining film and takes a commitment.

Agree with the 7-8 above. Good but not more than that. Was a spectacle which I expected. Pacing needed some Goldilocks help. Too slow for awhile, then churned thru a lot quickly to wrap it up. It was a movie that could have been made much shorter - or longer. But had a number strong portions I really enjoyed; I guess I'd say there are some tradeoffs I would have made to hit that Goldilocks "just right". The two controversial casting decisions didn't mess it up my enjoyment at all but there was definitely a "lolwtf are we doing here?" laugh to it. So all in all, I enjoyed it but definitely feel like there was some missed opportunity here

ATM9000 said:

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It was wonderful.

I really appreciated how unsettling looking they made some of the encounters combined with the soundtrack. And the anticipation heading into the locked room where the suitors competed was very Christopher Nolan in the best way.

Another thing I really appreciated is that Agamemnon was faceless in the film.

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He was so Darth Vader.

I've mentioned before that some Nolan movies just don't work for me, but this one did. Great movie, great moral theme, and executed at a level only Nolan and a few others could pull off.

I'm probably an 8/10 for this one. I need to find time to see it in IMAX again to see if I missed anything.

bthotugigem05 said:

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The gate opening to just Agamemnon before the soldiers rushed in was freaking awesome also.

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Probably my favorite shot of the movie. I loved that costume even if my daughter said he looked like Greek Batman

Perhaps, but that's literally the basis for Nolan's entire plot. You remove that and you're basically rewriting his adaptation.

Of my issues with the movie, the plot and character motivations weren't among them.

One thing i didnt like, or maybe I missed, but the Cyclops didnt have enough dialoge to curse Odyesious to help explain why Posideon raged against him.

Or maybe I missed it?

Easy to miss. My son had to explain that to me. Its almost like you need to know what he would say ahead of time to actually understand what he said.

We all went to see it and really enjoyed it. Like most of Nolan's movies, its heavy. Its one I will think about more than most movies...but not one that I would be desperate to go watch again.

I personally thought all the casting selections were great...even the "controversial" ones. It all made sense in context. this movie was not "woke" and all the online chatter suggesting that it was, is silly.

As for the accents / or I should say lack of accent...I like that they didn't try to pretend to be something it wasn't. Just spoke normally so the viewer could understand.

Id say 8/10.

Saxsoon said:

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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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I thought it was a good movie, but not anywhere near Nolan's best efforts. It wasn't what I would think of a movie in Nolan's wheelhouse. I see him more as a science fiction, WWII, or thriller director. But regardless, I enjoyed his movie.

The cyclops and giants were among the best parts for me. I also enjoyed the entire ending act. The way Nolan structured his story allowed him to work his classic time theme in, which worked for me once I recognized what he was doing.

Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Robert Pattinson were fantastic. I won't try to spell the black actress' name, but she didn't resonate for me as the face that would launch this war. She wasn't bad in the role, but she didn't work for me in terms of how she was to motivate all those soldiers. Ellen Page, meh.

The sound. Wow. It was actually too loud, as I felt like every fiber of my being was being vibrated mercilessly for all but about 10 minutes of the film's runtime. Curiously, I didn't have any problem understanding dialogue as with so many of Nolan's previous movies, most particularly Tenet.

I will put The Odyssey mid-tier in Nolan's work.

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Christopher Nolan directly addresses that it wasn't her face that launched the war. It was a pretense for war on trade routes. Yeah a change from the source material but thematically fits his vision

Listening to the Midnight Boys and Charles made a really great point. The way that Nolan frames it, the Trojan horse is the nuclear bomb, the time travel of this movie. It unlocks new warfare that completely changes how the world operates. Odysseus is Oppenheimer.

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Isn't that exactly what they did in Troy (2004) as well? Agamemnon couldn't give less a **** about Helen, he just wanted to extend his hegemony across the sea

There was a scene immediately after they escaped the cyclops where one of the men said to Odysseus that the cyclops was praying/yelling to Poseidon and that they'd be cursed, wasn't there?

#1 said:

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Question on the ending. Was Zendaya just a priestess during the fall of Troy and Athena took her shape to punish Odysseus during his journey?

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I took it to be a representation of the his shame. He watched them kill a young girl and he can't unsee it. However, it could have also been Athena in disguise.

AlaskanAg99 said:

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ttaggie said:

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Easy to miss. My son had to explain that to me. Its almost like you need to know what he would say ahead of time to actually understand what he said.

We all went to see it and really enjoyed it. Like most of Nolan's movies, its heavy. Its one I will think about more than most movies...but not one that I would be desperate to go watch again.

I personally thought all the casting selections were great...even the "controversial" ones. It all made sense in context. this movie was not "woke" and all the online chatter suggesting that it was, is silly.

As for the accents / or I should say lack of accent...I like that they didn't try to pretend to be something it wasn't. Just spoke normally so the viewer could understand.

Id say 8/10.

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Other gods shown prominently so I dont know why they didnt have scenes of Posideon cursing Odysseus.

But thats one of the major gripes of how this telling strayed from the story of Hubris.

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Athena was the only god/goddess seen, and that was through a veil that meant something to Odysseus. I do think hubris was the major theme of this film. Every ruler and soldier had their world shattered by their actions and hubris. Nolan's Odysseus was intelligent enough to realize what had happened and how they had violated the laws of the gods. In this he's also drawing from other Greek and Roman authors.

AustinAg2K said:

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#1 said:

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Question on the ending. Was Zendaya just a priestess during the fall of Troy and Athena took her shape to punish Odysseus during his journey?

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I took it to be a representation of the his shame. He watched them kill a young girl and he can't unsee it. However, it could have also been Athena in disguise.

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Yeah, it was this. And you had the added imagery of when Zendaya's head was cut off they were simultaneously cutting off Athena's head from her statue right above her. So, he associated the priestess with Athena from there forward in his mind. Probably up to the viewer to interpret if this was just him projecting his own shame in form of that girl, or if it was Athena actually visiting him to remind him of his shame and to evolve. Not sure if Nolan ever shared what his vision is on details like this and if he will tell us. Usually, it's a "it's up to the viewer to interpret."

Nolan turned the cyclops into just a big scary monster for them to run away from. In the book and in earlier adaptations the cyclops is kind of a turning point for Odysseus's character. That's when he shows hubris and angers the gods.

Casual Cynic said:

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Nolan turned the cyclops into just a big scary monster for them to run away from. In the book and in earlier adaptations the cyclops is kind of a turning point for Odysseus's character. That's when he shows hubris and angers the gods.

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The cyclops WAS a big scary monster for them to run away from that also showed Odysseus's intelligence and cunning. The movie did that as well. Nolan was more interested in showing how the Trojan War harmed all of the Greek soldiers and kings, not just Odysseus. He also humanized Odysseus by showing anger at the loss of his men. It's a change from the text but it's not an invalid interpretation.

What the hell I just realized this is Odysseus lmao https://t.co/Y8U1gbTnvI

— Yassin (@Yassin_Kent) July 19, 2026