Homer
I could fully geek(Greek)-out but I’m going to try and do this quick-summary for people who are going in totally unknowing about anything to do with The Odyssey (if you like, you can of course jump ahead to the film review!)
But for novices who want to know more;
Homer was an ancient Greek poet presumed to have lived around the 8th or 9th century BCE. He is universally credited as the author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, two of the oldest and foundational epic poems of Western literature.
The Iliad details the last tumultuous weeks of the Trojan War - that being the war started when Trojan Prince Paris abducted Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. This is where we get the; “face that launched a thousand ships,” famous line - for in response to her abduction, Menelaus rallied a massive allied Greek army, led by his brother Agamemnon, to lay siege to Troy.
The Iliad is especially focused on a character from Greek myth who also fought in the war on behalf of Agamemnon - Achilles - whose mother famously dipped him in the river Styx as an infant, holding him by his ankles, to make his body invulnerable to harm (ah, but having held him by the ankles his only vulnerable part was his heel - hence, an ‘Achilles’ heel’ is somebody’s weakest part.)
Achilles is especially famous recently, for a focus on his relationship with his childhood “friend” Patroclus - whose death at the hands of Trojan prince, Hector, sends Achilles into a kind of grief-ridden madness. There’s nothing in the text itself that explicitly implies a sexual relationship between Achilles and Patroclus (ah, but that also depends on who the translator of the ancient Greek is - which we shall get into!) but the 2011 bestselling literary novel The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller does delve into their very explicit relationship and that has very much changed modern-audience views on them.
If you’re really not up on your Greek retellings, also just know that until now, the best-known and biggest adaptation(ish) of The Iliad was the 2004 Brad Pitt juggernaut Troy. That is - if not accurate, or “good” - at least a fun time with some cool sword moves (alas, of the fighting kind - not homoerotic. Boo.)
The other most important part of The Iliad that everyone kinda knows through osmosis is; it’s where we get the saying “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” and for something to be a “Trojan horse,” meaning an inherent trick; a way to get past one’s defences and invite an enemy into your home. Because the way the siege on Troy was broken was by the Greeks pretending to depart and give up the battle, but leaving behind a huge wooden horse “gift” endowed to the Trojans who bought it inside the walls of their fortified city, unaware that hiding inside were a collection of Greeks lying in wait until nightfall when they bust out, and set about throwing open Troy’s gates for the waiting army, to let Hell loose inside and win the war.
And the mastermind behind that ‘trick’ was none other than King of Ithaca and brilliant military strategist; Odysseus. Who then becomes the hero of Homer’s second epic poem; The Odyssey;
After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.
The Translations
So; Homer’s epic poems have been around for nearly 3000-years. They survived from oral storytelling to written form, and they survived the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, and the fall of the Roman Empire … the poems have been translated numerous times and into many languages. And in English, there are a few foundational and revelatory translations that helped cement them in the Western canon of foundational literature.
A partial version of the Iliad published by Arthur Hall in 1581, and the first complete English translation taken directly from the original Greek was by the playwright and poet George Chapman, whose Iliad appeared in 1616.
It should be noted that the translations are - as always - open to interpretation because they’re going from Ancient Greek, to modern Greek and then to English (and the difference between Ancient Greek and modern is as different as Old or Middle English to our modern equivalent).
Most recently though - and to much fanfare - we have Emily Wilson’s translations from 2017 (The Iliad) and 2023 (The Odyssey). She is in fact the first woman to fully translate the poems into English (French scholar Anne le Fèvre Dacier did it into French, back in 1712).
Wilson is a British-American classicist, author and translator. She is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and let me tell you that her translations of Homer caused an absolute uproar from people who have probably never before cared one iota about Ancient Greek poetry, but decided that Wilson’s translations were part of a “woke agenda” and “anti-patriarchy.”
No. Really.
Woke Librarians Attacking Homer’s The Odyssey With Anti-PATRIARCHY Translation
Emily Wilson on the ‘toxic’ reaction to her radical Odyssey translation
It’d be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic. The Internet had a very good time laughing at these - mostly blokes - up in arms because she apparently “ruined” Homer and was a “crime against the classics.”
Never mind that according to author and reviewer Madeline Miller (yes, of aforementioned The Song of Achilles and Circe fame) Wilson;
She prioritises Homer's speed and narrative drive, seeking to capture what she calls the "nimble gallop" of his verse. She writes in iambic pentameter, impressively limiting herself to the same number of lines as Homer's original (as any classics student can tell you, five lines of ancient Greek easily bloats to 10 in English).
Wilson’s translations have had really glowing reviews across the board (from non man-babies). I’ve been slowly making my way through both (very slowly, I dip in and out as it takes my fancy) but I find her translation really beautiful, robust and accessible. And I think this is highlighted when her work is compared to other translations, like The Telegraph just did;
What’s especially interesting is that the comments on the Instagram post to that, have people who can read Ancient Greek and agree, Wilson’s is most in keeping with Homer’s intention and prose style;
It makes sense that translations from British people in past centuries tended to favour that “colonial britspeak” of very grandiose “flowery language” - which was a classics tone of the times. But “complicated” doesn’t automatically mean “cleverer.”
Poet Mary Oliver even pointed out in her review;
One important question was the very nature of the language used in the original and the translation. Emily (Wilson) rightly pointed out that most translations used a range of archaisms to render Homer, from ‘holy citadels’ to (lets say, but Emily didn’t use this one) ‘wine-dark’ seas — as if in some ways ‘bullying’ us (her words) with the weird grandeur of the poems. Her version, while recognising the different poetic registers, was much more down to earth, much less ‘bullying’. The example that everyone has picked out is the description of Odysseus from the very beginning of the poem: ‘polytropos’. This has been translated every which way, ‘of many wiles’, ‘cunning’ or as she has is ‘complicated’.
At least one person was so epically moved by Wilson’s translation, enough to use them as the basis and touchpoint for his own adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey … Christopher Nolan;
How One Woman Conquered The Odyssey - Emily Wilson’s best-selling translation of the Greek epic, which was praised by the director, brings the wisdom of ancient times to the present.
The Odyssey: First Looks At Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway And Mia Goth In Christopher Nolan’s Epic
Nolan told Empire Magazine in 2025;
“I think it’s the Emily Wilson translation that begins, ‘Tell me about a complicated man’,” Nolan tells Empire. “The genius of the character, the cleverness, the inventiveness of him, that was a huge part of what interested me. He’s not just a soldier. He’s an amazing strategist, a very wily person.”
The Movie
Thus we arrive in July 2026 at the release of Nolan’s $250 million budget epic; The Odyssey - starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope who waits 20-years for her husband King’s return, Robert Pattinson as Antinous - the most noxious of Penelope’s suitors, Zendaya as an apparition of Athena who comes to Odysseus in quiet times, Charlize Theron as the nymph Calypso, Elliot Page as a son of Ithaca called Sinon, Samantha Morton as sorceress Circe, Himesh Patel as second-in-command to Odysseus Eurylochus, Lupita Nyong’o is our Helen of Troy …
Yes, this is a jam-packed cast which is how most Nolan big budgets tend to go nowadays; and he loves re-using actors (this will be Anne Hathaway’s third turn in a Nolan film, after The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar).
And I will just clear something up that you’ve maybe heard about (but I certainly didn’t fully “get” until recently); Nolan’s The Odyssey was filmed in 70MM intended for IMAX and with an IMAX camera.
I actually did not understand what this meant, until Anne Hathaway was asked to explain the limitations of IMAX cameras and the mirror-trickery Nolan employed to get around the sound issue;
I love how smart and concise she is (and what a film-nerd!)
Now; I saw the movie at my local Village Cinema gold class because;
It came out on a Thursday and I saw a 1.30PM screening. Being a weekday, I was tired and with a run-time of 2 hours and 52 minutes (172 minutes) I just wanted a first viewing in comfort, and with snacks.
I don’t actually care all that much about the IMAX of it all (sorry, Chris). Like; I am a film fan and I love Christopher Nolan movies (mind; I’ve yet to see Tenet and have only managed first 20-min of Oppenheimer before tapping out and deciding it’s just not for me.) But if this matters to you, there are visual aids to show you the difference between IMAX and standard;
And I know; this is maybe especially egregious coming from me because I am based in Melbourne which is literally the only place in the Southern Hemisphere with the requisite IMAX theatre to Nolan’s specifications;
Christopher Nolan fans are embarking on epic journeys to see The Odyssey the way he wants them to - Cinephiles are crossing oceans to see the film at its highest possible resolution – and only 41 cinemas in the world are equipped to do it
But to that I still say: meh. I went to the cinema 15-minutes away from me, I had bao buns and corn ribs and watched it in delighted comfort, with no regrets. I will maybe try and get along to Melbourne’s IMAX for a second viewing (spoiler as to how much fun I had) but if I don’t … eh.
The Review
I freakin’ loved it!
And - look - I like Nolan but I’m clearly not a super-fan (aforementioned; two of his recent films I haven’t seen) and I was initially swayed by those who saw early photos and teaser trailers and declared that the film would be “mid” because the costumes weren’t accurate and Tom Holland saying “Dad,” was blasphemy.
But then … I started hearing from reviewers I really trust, that The Odyssey was actually great and I got myself a ticket.
And I am here with no super-fan agenda (just a love of Greek myth and tales dating back to my childhood watching Xena Warrior Princess) to say; I LOVED IT!
The Good
I loved how Nolan took the “magic” seriously - the cyclops in particular was brilliantly done. And that leaning into the myth allowed actors like Samantha Morton as sorceress Circe to just UNLEASH and deliver some truly eerie and scary scenes!
My hands-down favourite was Odysseus conversing with the dead from the Underworld; it gave me feels of Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth even, very cleverly done for being pared back to let the human emotion play out. Ditto Charlize Theron as the siren Calypso - compared to all the intense action elsewhere in the film, her scenes with Odysseus feel ethereal and other-worldly precisely because they’re grounded in the natural world (and made me so much more excited for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced animated film of Jorge Rivera-Herrans’s Epic: The Musical!)
The performances are pretty spectacular; Matt Damon got ripped for this film (dude is 55, I was impressed!) and I liked his quiet intensity and dubious morality as the journey progressed. Is he basically playing capable and trustworthy Jason Bourne in military fustanella? Maybe. Do I still buy him as this great leader of soldiers full of contradictions and battling his own culpability in aiding the crimes of more powerful men? Totally.
But I am sorry, a stand-out for me was weird little guy Robert Pattinson as a truly vile Penelope suitor, Antinous. You can just tell that he revels in these bad-guy roles, especially those that let him play it cowardly and pathetic (actually he was so good, this might be what pushes me to finally watch Tenet).
Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy (and another character) was one role that I kept thinking about … she played it so nuanced, I think it’s therefore up for debate if the film definitively says that Helen went with Paris willingly to Troy, or if she was abducted and Agamemnon merely used her as a convenient excuse to sack the city.
Samantha Morton as Circe - pure brilliance.
There is one scene in particular, with Anne Hathaway’s Penelope just yelling at her son, Telemachus (Tom Holland) that I adored! And let me say; Penelope is not an easy role to play, but Anne Hathaway brings such magnetism … it’s hard being the woman who waits. But in this scene she is unleashed and it’s glorious; it’s a glimpse of the power she yearns for (not just in terms of ruling; but it’s her expelling all her feelings of impotence and impatience as she awaits Odysseus’ return too) and it’s perhaps the most interesting that Penelope has ever been rendered, as she faces off against her son. I hope this exchange between the two of them, becomes one of those audition scenes that young aspiring actors rehearse and re-invent because it did play like theatre.
And I also really loved Himesh Patel as Eurylochus (possibly the second reason I should watch Tenet) - I love that he didn’t play him as bumbling or sinister, but there’s an initial warmth to the brotherhood clearly formed in the Trojan War there, between them that sours as time and the journey continues …
But what really hooked me and cemented my enjoyment of this film was its sheer epic spectacle. That Christopher Nolan actually insists on these sets being made; and not an over-reliance of CGI for epic battle scenes, but actual sweeping and coordinated stunts and bodies of actors.
I mean; you’re telling me he actually had The Trojan Horse built and they filmed INSIDE OF IT?!?! What????
I especially love that Christopher Nolan has come out with scathing smackdowns of AI being used in film (after someone like Martin Scorsese made a fool of himself, singing AI’s creative praises) Nolan is out here;
Christopher Nolan says people ‘disdain’ AI and the idea it will replace humans is ‘nonsense’
Christopher Nolan Believes Gen Z Is ‘Utterly Rejecting’ AI Filmmaking
HECK. YEAH! And I love that he leans into all this incredible film-making prowess to show off human creativity (I mean, not that I overly care; but even figuring out how to film entirely on IMAX cameras, which also - were first invented in 1967 and what do you mean they’re still terrible for filming sound, normally? Like; can AI get to solving that technical conundrum if anything, instead of trying to make AI slop versions of The Odyssey as a lame “gotcha!” against Nolan’s expensive but beautiful epic?!)
The Bad
The writing isn’t always amazing. And the first 20-minutes especially is a long prologue wind-up that mostly involved Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland’s talking heads in rapid-fire edits just info-dumping the backstory … trust me though; most people are like me, who were squirming during those 20-minutes (I kept thinking: I can’t do this for 3-hours) and then suddenly it kicks into being an ACTION movie and never lets up. Just … persevere through those 20 clunkers.
I will also say; sometimes the sheer star-power is distracting.
Like; Christopher Nolan is who he is and at this point in his career it might be nice if he tossed a bone to some true unknown actors and put them in lead-roles. I know, I know - when something costs $250-million you need to get bums in seats to make up for that and an easy way to do that is with star-power to drive audiences (and that has seemingly worked for this film);
But it does become a bit of a “Guess Who?” when every face popping up is a Big Name. Someone even pointed out that (not that I recognised him) rapper Travis Scott crops up very early and for a brief cameo and I get that he’s reciting a poem, and he’s a musician but … that didn’t need to be a star-powered role, realistically. Even throwing Mia Goth in there as Penelope’s maid Melantho in a teensy role - why? Let an unknown have that moment in the spotlight. And while I loved him in it, I even think I’d have liked someone else in the role of Antinous other than Twilight’s own Robert Pattinson - just to give us a break from all of these knowns. Ditto roles like Menelaus being played by Jon Bernthal (which - yes - very funny the scenes with him and Tom Holland and I kept thinking; “it’s Spider-Man and The Punisher!”). And Zendaya - though I adore her! and once again, the novelty of her and Tom being in another film together - but it could’ve been so cool if Athena had been this real unknown to keep audiences immersed in the idea of her as this magical goddess … ditto Charlize Theron as Calypso.
And - finally for ‘the bad’ - if I am being truly honest … I don’t care about the IMAX filming of it all, and as I saw one person comment on a TikTok showing the IMAX and ‘standard screen’ difference: “dude, just step back.” lol - true. It’s sad that 99% of people won’t get to see this in the ratio Nolan intended simply because they’re not near one of the 41 cinemas IN THE WORLD that have the ability to screen it. It’s a little - dare I say - wanky? Especially to have taken Emily Wilson’s decidedly un-wankefieid translation and turn it into a different kind of classist and elitist cinematic experience? Ehhhhh. Not cool.
The Verdict
Loved it. Cannot stress that enough. This was fun! I also can’t help but love that we’re having a conversation about The Classics, and Nolan is showing how long man has been grappling with war and violence and the consequences of both on the human soul and psyche … a movie for the times, certainly.
Tell me about a complicated man - indeed.
Fantastic and thorough review, as always.
Yes, the writing made me wince at times and starry cast distracting. Himesh Patel, yes! Samantha Morton reliably excellent at giving you nightmares. Visually stunning though, the dead coming up through the ground, the horse. I felt quite tender for the poor Cyclops.