O sing ye muse of a face a fleet a war a man a thought a trick a trick to break the walls of Troy and burn it screaming to the ground because the hand of victory shrouds the bard’s legends and makes blind beggars of us all

Now that it has finally washed up on our shores The Odyssey (2026, Christopher Nolan) it turns out was left there as a gift to be prized as the greatest movie of all time. Because it remembered what a hero is supposed to be unlike us still eating the lotus. In Odysseus we find a tragedy that doesn’t end with its protagonist paying for his redemption through being sacrificed or punished but by learning truth that cost him his entire life on a journey to find it. An odyssey if you will.

 

It’s pretty cool Nolan got a cast release date and budget this prestigious lavish to make a film that isn’t meant for complete idiots. Also I have my own personal rules about talking movies. Even though I believe everyone is entitled to an opinion for my own tastes preferences in the context of this post one is I don’t give a shit about your comparison between the book and movie.
     Somewhere at the top of what I consider the most effective powerful favorite tools of cinema or literary devices in general is when a character somehow is positioned amongst a cautionary atrocious pitiful deplorable element established as other only for said character through a twist embodies this very same accursed plight. Because the thought of that in real life is so powerful. What if I became something I hated? Something I feared? That defies logic heart and spirit. And in The Odyssey it’s The People of the Sea. I can’t believe Nolan wrote this screenplay himself. And by the way this is the first Nolan movie I felt genuine emotion. And a lot. Like full on sobbing. But tears of joy tears of beauty tears of pain. And by the way this is the first Nolan movie I think he matched maybe surpassed what Kubrick was capable of not that it makes any sense to compare the two.
     The structure of The Odyssey builds little by little. Constantly foreshadowing forging and reconfiguring our conception of the narrative’s events. And the way Nolan wrings every drop of drama and emotion out of every beat is by the heavy consequences for all of Odysseus’s actions along with their equally severe stakes whereby he atones for them. More than Penelope’s anxiety over the Suitors she tells Telemachus Ithaca needs a king because the people are fearful in a state of unrest because of talk about The People from the Sea. Like weaving a loom when the narrative is ready the way all of these events fit together is too staggering to believe it was made by hand. It’s as fine as they come. 
     Same thing with character motivation. Precision. Odysseus is introduced as fair in the scene that shows how he plucks his bow when hunting. So why does he go to fight at Troy? Because Agamemnon would kill his son if he didn’t. Yet when Eurylochus bemoans the question Couldn’t you have shown some mercy? it approaches potential moral ambiguity as to whether or if or how far we can sympathize with Odysseus’s actions ever so slightly making this question more and more difficult until it becomes unbearable.
     The final act has a monologue by Odysseus that shows the other side of the sacking of Troy. Twist. Reveal. There’s this line. What if when he fell down from the belly of the horse he saw ten years of rage pour into that city in one night? that at once drives straight into your soul and forces you to confront the reality of war and horrific violence murder of innocents. Making you never want to cheer at spectacle ever again. That is until he finishes the speech and you jump right back into fake movie world bloodlust insatiably thirsting for Odysseus Sword of Doom House of Blue Leaves Oldboy massacre of every single last Suitor. This is sophisticated. This is nuance. These conditions are complex but navigable.

     Yet as if if not more painful is what Odysseus says about the sirens’ wail It's everything you want most and most of all you want is what you’ve already had and lost and can never get back It’s every promise I made to my men that I couldn’t keep. These are the consequences of our desires our ambitions our hopes and dreams.

     Multipurpose motifs dramatic elements or character traits. Varied perspectives. Ambivalence. With stakes this high for a great warrior general with the gods demanding so much from him as to provoke him to defy them what better fractured narrative to evoke this than what is said about Sinon? What is it something like 1. Antinous tells Telemachus that he drew the lot to go to Troy but Odysseus chose Sinon instead so Antinous could stay and take care of his family 2. Sinon says he wanted to go to Troy so bad and Antinous family paid him to take their son’s place 3. Polybus says Sinon was Antinous’s shepherd’s son who wanted Antinous to take his place. Which of these is true? There’s no way to tell really. But I know which one feels true to me.
 
The tone is supernatural perilous. The lives of these characters at the fates of the gods. A time of apparent magic. And speaking of fate the gods consequences foreshadowing the dual meaning subtext of Odysseus's line I’ve followed Agamemnon long enough takes the cake. The Odyssey is a puzzle of dueling perspectives. Similarly Agamemnon’s advice to Odysseus in Hades Don't go in the front door expecting a homecoming of garlands and praise sneak through the back Assess.

     Nolan is the guy who made still the only other of his films I enjoy Tenet (2020, Christopher Nolan) he is a cinematic physicist. At the end of his monologue when Odysseus says They will only be able to sing songs of his exploits until all of his mistakes are forgotten this kinetic energy stays in motion reserved looked at as many different things. As in we can overlook his war crimes beyond which wisdom about leadership can be learned or we can ignore the mass murder of innocents coursing through from Troy to every military campaign ethnic cleansing guerrilla black ops terrorist dictator coup genocide that is a constant throughout all human history only to continually repeat it which we no doubt will. Maybe Circe was right about disguises? Assess.

 
7/17/2026 AMC Madison Yards 8
7/18/2026 AMC Madison Yards 8
Atlanta, GA