The Odyssey (2026) Review

The Odyssey might be one of the best movies of the year and Nolan's best since Dark Knight.

The Odyssey (2026) is a story that many forms of media have told throughout the centuries. But this might be my favorite adaptation I’ve seen so far. Given I haven’t seen every single one of them, The Odyssey (2026) by Christopher Nolan is such a special experience.

This is a one-of-a-kind sort of movie, literally. It’s the first movie to be completely shot on an IMAX camera. Most movies use IMAX cameras for big scenes only. But this is the first time an entire movie was shot on IMAX cameras for every single scene. It definitely gives it a unique look, which makes it feel larger than life and closer to the original story, the Odyssey.

I am a big fan of Christopher Nolan, and I enjoy every single movie he’s made that I’ve seen. There are a couple I don’t like as much as others, such as The Dark Knight Rises, but he is for the most part a hit maker. He’s responsible for some of my favorite movies in the last century.

Not just me though, he really makes this massive movies that people talk about for years. He might even be bigger now than he ever was. With his last two films becoming his highest grossing films. 

This time he really outdid himself and actually did something kind of different. Christopher Nolan has yet to tackle something based in this era. You can call it a period piece, but he kind of did that with The Prestige, as that film was based a couple hundred years ago. But making a movie like this where it’s based in BC, you really have to go all out to get everything just right. They went above and beyond for The Odyssey (2026). Of course, nothing is perfect, but I did appreciate some of the things they did to keep the movie accurate to its time.

It felt old-school in that they didn’t use much CGI at all, and most of it was practical effects. They all looked great in the film.

I didn’t have a single problem withany of the casting in the movie. A lot of people had issues with the star power, but Odyssey is one of those stories that has been told throughout the centuries. They got the more modern actors and actresses they could for this film, and it's the biggest at the time.

So now it is the most current representation we can have of actors playing these roles. Meaning that all these actors and actresses are very popular right now, and having them portray these characters andThe Odyssey (2026) makes it feel like it’s very relevant right now, and it will be a capsule of what Christophe Nolan felt at this very point in time with the story.

Think about how we have the Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolfman movies that are made every now and then. Even Phantom of the Opera. These are classic stories that are told throughout the centuries and are constantly being adapted for modern audiences. The Odyssey is no different. In fact it’s older than most of these stories to begin with. Not only that, but the story completely holds up, and it rings true today as important as it was then.

The movie itself features some of the best acting I’ve seen it from Matt Damon. I’ve seen Matt Damon in a lot of movies, and he definitely had his work cut out for him, but he went aTobove and beyond. I was a little worried with Tom Holland, as he had yet to really do a movie like this that wasn’t Spider-Man related. But man, he really did great in this movie and had great chemistry with all the actors and actresses. Especially Matt Damon. 

Some people complained online about Tom Holland, but it's always one five second clip they complain about and not the whole performance itself. I went in not knowing what to think about him having such a big part, but he really won me over. I can see a lot of directors wanting to give him more roles like this as well, as he has shown he can do more than Spider-Man. It's a big summer for him with the new Spider-Man film out.

I could really go on with how great everyone was, but I definitely have to give a special shout-out to John Bernthal, who absolutely killed it in his role. They gave him a lot to play with, and I really hope that he gets a nomination of sorts. I doubt it, as you might not have been in the film long enough for them to consider it a supporting role, but I’d be shocked to see others not get nominated for their parts.

I can really see Anne Hathaway getting nominated, Matt Damon getting nominated, and honestly just about every category you can think of when it comes to crew. You had spectacular lighting, cinematography, music, set design, and costume. It really hit on all cylinders. It might even win best picture next year at the Oscars, there really are so many great things about this movie. It will at least grab a bunch of nominations at both the Golden Globes and Oscars.

It's also the kind of movie where film nerds can kinda nerd out about a lot of the technqiues in the film. Like I said before with the practial effects used in the film, those kinds of things really change the game of filmmaking when a big movie like this does it. When a movie with this kind of budget makes this kind of money with these kinds of actors and actresses, it makes the studios and creators listen. Maybe trying to rely on more practial and real effects like we used to isn't the worst idea.

My only complaint is that you could’ve taken out at least 20 to 30 minutes of the film.

It runs at almost 3 hours. The movie has different arcs where a character goes to a certain place, experiences something, and then continues on their journey. You could cut out at least one or shorten two of these arcs, and the story would probably be the same.

If this were a television show, you could expand on those, but where it’s a movie, it probably loses some of its pacing due to this. I think you easily could’ve cut down one of them or cut one of them entirely. I don’t want to give away too much because they did a good job of not really showing some of the more interesting parts and interesting characteristic experiences on their journey in the promos.

Of course there were a couple things that I saw online before the film, but I was shocked to see so much of the film has yet to be leaked online. I think a lot of this is due just to how many people respect this film and how many people actually went and saw it in theaters as well. I wish I lived near a 70 mm IMAX theater where you could see the film and its full glory and its correct framing/sizes. But seeing an IMAX was good enough for me, and I look forward to watching it at home and being able to analyze every great scene.

 

There were so many cool things about The Odyssey (2026), and I think you could really just spend the whole day reading some fun facts about this film's production. I think the most important thing to say is it has something for everyone; anyone can watch this movie and be entertained.

 Well, obviously, it’s not made for kids, as it does have extreme violence and some pretty graphic scenes, but it’s nothing that an adult can’t handle. Where there are so may classic characters in the film viewers have plenty of people to get attached to. Males and females alike.

It’s a story that honestly a lot of people need to see. It has such a great stance on war, family tradition, and values of men in general. I was moved by the end of the film and brought tears to my eyes in a couple of scenes. It truly is a movie spectacle that sweeps you off your feet and takes you to a magical place. A place that has its feet said in reality and can feel very relatable to your life, even though it is so grand and the story is so old.

Of course there are all these mythical creatures and entities in the movie, but at the end of the day its court story resonates with every single person who watches it. It feels like a nice continuation of Oppenheimer, where Christopher Nolan is wanting to give a warning to people and tell this classic story with the proper meaning being in place.

The Odyssey (2026) has more of an optimistic outlook on war and the way the world is.

Without going into spoilers, the film really gives war a hard look in the eyes. For a story so old, it's crazy to think even then people felt that what they were doing was wrong.

 We always have our examples in history when it comes to the horrors of wars, but art has always reflected this as well. Seeing it told in the way it was in the film was refreshing. A lot of movies can come off cheesy when giving us the whole war is bad theme. But The Odyssey (2026) really knew what it was doing. Nolan is really good at this.

There is a reason why this story has been told over and over again since it was written in 8th century BCE.

A story having that sort of life to it, is insane, as this will not be the last movie adapting the story of The Odyssey. In fact I bet after the success of The Odyssey (2026), there will be a influx of adaptions. You can also tell stories in that world, as there are plenty to tell there. 

There are films that focus on certain parts of The Odyssey (2026) instead of the whole story itself. The book itself is flying off the shelves of course as well. This is something that always happens when we have an adpation film like this. It's great to see people being interested in history again, there are so many great stories out there. that were written thousands of years ago. That's the thing with history though, those who don't know it are doomed to repeat it. 

With The Odyssey being out now a lot of people are going back and checking out "Troy" and also playing Assassins Creed Odyssey. It shows how there is such a love for these classic stories and how timless they really are. People are willing to go out of their way to keep researching that world that has stuck with time like glue.