The Odyssey
Thirteen features into his career, Christopher Nolan continues to surprise even his most loyal viewers.
Each of his films specializes in creativity, establishing him as one of cinema’s most consistently exciting minds, and yet he’s perhaps outdone himself in bringing that approach to such well-worn material as The Odyssey.
Another three-hour epic that flies by, Nolan’s brilliant adaptation of Homer’s epic poem is packed with imaginative interpretations of familiar characters and sequences — from the Trojan horse to the cyclops and the sirens. But it’s the constant wonder he elicits in the telling of this familiar tale that very well could be his greatest achievement to date, and the awe he inspires through stunning visuals and the sustained intensity of the extended adventure is something viewers shouldn’t take for granted.
Featuring one of the all-time great ensembles, everyone in The Odyssey is well-cast and plays to their individual strengths with one minor but prickly exception in Mia Goth’s disloyal handmaid Melantho. As Odysseus, Matt Damon crafts his most commanding lead performance despite exposing his limited range in the process, and is complemented along the way by a Who’s Who of supporting players.
Back home on Ithaca, Anne Hathaway’s Penelope conveys lingering hope but considerable doubt that her husband — gone these long 20 years — will return. Tom Holland’s Telemachus remains wholly confident that his father will retake the throne, though his small stature, lack of leadership and battle experience, and overall timidity fail to dissuade the numerous suitors, led by Antinous (an especially slimy Robert Pattinson), who feast in the royal halls on a nightly basis.
Against this fraught backdrop, Odysseus’ family craves information on his whereabouts besides the songs of his exploits at Troy, though Nolan wittily juxtaposes that existing knowledge with rousing depictions of these heroics and, more importantly, what’s prolonged his voyage home.
While he and his men split from Greek army commander Agamemnon (an imposing but nonverbal Benny Safdie), The Odyssey becomes the closest Nolan has come to making a horror film. Sounds that the cyclops makes upon being injured rank up with Annihilation’s mutant bear as the scariest auditory creations in recent cinema, while the sequence involving witch Circe (a gripping Samantha Morton) and Odysseus’ surviving men delivers chilling body horror.
The crew’s encounter with the relentless, titan-like Laestrygonians and their stop in the shadowy Hades likewise offer memorable terrifying imagery. And a piercing scream from Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra (Lupita Nyong’o, who also plays her twin sister Helen of Troy) at a critical juncture arrives with such suddenness that it remains difficult to shake days later.
Charlize Theron’s enticing nymph Calypso and Zendaya’s haunting appearances as Athena further enhance the film’s mythological elements, and yet The Odyssey is at its richest on the grounded island of Ithaca. Giving his best work in years, John Leguizamo is mesmerizing as blind pig farmer and faithful Odysseus servant Eumaeus, stealing each of his scenes with a pained gravitas and unwavering trust that his master will be back. Matching his steadfastness is the king’s weary dog Argos, and along with Telemachus and others loyal to the city’s true leader, they provide an emotionally rich welcome party when the man himself inevitable returns.
Such softer moments are often paired with composer Ludwig Göransson’s pleasing use of the saxophone precursor aulos — a stark contrast to the score’s general propensity for borderline oppressively loud instrumentation. The musician may have taken Hans Zimmer’s place as Nolan’s go-to sound crafter, but he’s carried on the legend’s fondness for booming effects.
As the bombastic audio gradually subsides, Nolan gets back to The Odyssey’s core themes and offers up a potential path for humanity’s salvation that might be more palatable to viewers than Steven Spielberg’s encouraging but quasi-hokey optimism at the end of Disclosure Day. Whether that advice is heeded is another matter, but the film’s artistic merit is far more difficult to resist.
Similar to Martin Scorsese’s Silence, there’s a sense that every frame in The Odyssey turned out exactly as Nolan intended. So what if he just swept the Oscars with Oppenheimer? That level of craftsmanship deserves to be celebrated at the highest level possible.
Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, the Fine Arts Theatre, and Regal Biltmore Grande. Also screening in IMAX at Epic Theatres of Hendersonville.
(Photo: Warner Bros.)
