By Bob Garver
Few film adaptations require more ambition than Homer’s “The Odyssey,” the quintessential epic. And perhaps no filmmaker is more ambitious than Christopher Nolan, the man who told an entire story backward with “Memento,” conquered the superhero genre with his “Dark Knight” trilogy, and dominated the Oscars three years ago with “Oppenheimer.” If anyone can handle a challenge as vast as “The Odyssey,” it’s Nolan.
Basically, the movie splits its time between King Odysseus (Matt Damon) of Ithica taking 20 years to fight and then return home from the Trojan War, and his family toward the end of that 20 years needing to do something about vacant throne and the glut of scheming suitors squatting in the castle. Can Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and Prince Telemachus (Tom Holland) hold onto their kingdom for just a little longer when they don’t even know if Odysseus is still alive?
Technically, Nolan is at the top of his game here. The visuals are impressive and the soundtrack is pulse-pounding. He even provides some insight into Odysseus’s internal struggle that I’ve been told most versions of the story do not. So I’m recommending the movie, no worries there.
But while I am recommending “The Odyssey,” I can’t help but also relay disappointment. It’s not just that my expectations for this filmmaker with this source material were unreasonably high. I felt there were stretches — especially toward the end — where Nolan was intentionally padding the film, as if he couldn’t stand to have it labelled as “efficient.” The result is a film that I can’t label as anything but “inefficient,” even knowing that “The Odyssey” is famously long.
Grade: B-
“The Odyssey” is rated R for violence and some language. Its running time is 172 minutes.
Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.
