Epic Watch: The Odyssey (2026)

Watched:  08/09/2026

Format:  Regal Westgate

Viewing:  First

Director:  Christopher Nolan

Well.  I'm the last person you know to finally see The Odyssey (2026).  All I can say is: You Oughta-See It!

Fortunately, you can't really spoil The Odyssey unless you haven't attended high school in a number of western countries.  (An hour after I typed this sentence, Jamie, unprompted, offered up she doesn't think she read it, but she still knew all the story beats, but wasn't sure why.  I assure you, I have not been, like, babe.. babe...  and then Odysseus?  He disguised his guys like sheep to get out of that cave!) 

I'll keep it short, because enough has been said about the movie.  

Yes, I liked it a great deal.  I haven't read any version of The Odyssey in 35 years, but it hit the beats I remembered.  So, check.

Yes, I thought the actors and acting were good.  It's a bit nice that Nolan just goes and gets whomever the heck he wants, and he does have a little company of actors he reuses.  I was honestly a bit surprised by Damon, who I generally like, but who i thought turned in an above-average performance for himself, which is a weird way of saying I liked his take.  Anne Hathaway was also dialed in and did more to humanize her character than I thought possible.  Well done, Anne.

I am unsurprised by the use of flashback as a narrative device and montage for effect.  I have seen Christopher Nolan movies before.  It do be like that sometimes with Nolan.  Not sure why him doing the thing he always does was seen as so weird by some.  

Upon reflection as I write this post, I have no particular nits to pick.  I think Nolan bending the story a bit to reflect specifically upon the cost of war and the cost of following poor leaders, was something that resonated like crazy.  We can become the enemy - the people from the sea.  

Anyhoo...  I don't know what else to say.  There's a reason this movie has made a billion dollars.  People generally like what the cast and crew did, and it's absolutely something you want to see in the theater while you can. (And for bonus points, over a 3+ hour movie, my theater was rapt.)

I was very sad to realize I've apparently lost the video I made in 1990 for a school project where my brother played the Cyclops in our Odyssey video.  The effect was created by taping a hand-drawn eye to his face and wrapping him in a bed-sheet.  I was running camera, but I did appear as a soldier in one scene and a suitor in another.