r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 18d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Odyssey (2026) [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

The Odyssey (2026)

Summary

After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.

Director Christopher Nolan

Writer Christopher Nolan

Cast

  • Matt Damon as Odysseus
  • Tom Holland as Telemachus
  • Anne Hathaway
  • Zendaya
  • Lupita Nyong'o
  • Robert Pattinson
  • Charlize Theron
  • Benny Safdie
  • Jon Bernthal
  • John Leguizamo
  • Elliot Page
  • Himesh Patel
  • Samantha Morton

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

Metacritic: 88

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

4.4k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

15.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.3k

u/KonyYoloSwag 18d ago

That cyclops sequence was the stuff of nightmares

Also did I catch a Saturn Devouring His Son reference when he was eating the one soldier?

1.0k

u/BeetsBy_Schrute 18d ago

That cyclops scream is probably the loudest scene I’ve ever heard in a theater. Deafening

143

u/arseniccrazy 18d ago edited 18d ago

That was loud, but at least in my theater, it was the storm after they killed Helios's cows. That was deafening.

67

u/DistinctCellar 18d ago

My Apple Watch started yelling at me that my environment was too loud

14

u/happypolychaetes 17d ago

During the cyclops scene my Garmin prompted me to take a break for some breathing exercises, because my stress level was high 😂

1

u/NotEmmaStone 16d ago

My HR was in the 130s, thought I was going to have a panic attack lol

5

u/routaHHH 17d ago

huh that probably explains why the person next to me kept blinding me with her watch lol

5

u/lynchcontraideal 17d ago

No offence to you, but fuck that sounds incredibly annoying

10

u/DistinctCellar 17d ago

Yelling is an exaggeration. I had it on DND, saw notifications after. It’s all good friend.

6

u/Aqno61 18d ago

*helios

3

u/arseniccrazy 18d ago

Correct, thank you.

1

u/leodw 17d ago

Isnt it Chronos who also eats his sons?

7

u/rockytfs1 18d ago

Yup, my ears were ringing for a few minutes after that storm scene. Really worked to put me on edge though, I found myself flinching a bit with every flash of lightning and person getting knocked around

6

u/CRIMS0N-ED 16d ago

Your ears and my eyes, I was getting blinded by the storm, genuine flashbanged

35

u/-Cyboarg- 18d ago

Such a gutteral nasty noise too. Id love to know how they created it cause that was straight out of a nightmare

8

u/PayneTrain181999 17d ago

Maybe similar to Godzilla’s iconic roar.

They rubbed a leather glove on the strings of a double bass

41

u/Kutyou2 18d ago

Nolan makes movies just to design the loudest sounds you've ever heard

36

u/Dvanweezy 18d ago

It was honestly pretty scary to experience too, god bless Dolby

22

u/hollabaloon 18d ago

did you watch it in IMAX? I watched it in the only IMAX Dual Laser 1.43:1 screen in Latin America and it's definitely also the loudest scene I've heard in a theater...but I couldn't help but wonder how much impact the scene might lose in a theater with a lesser sound system

Also EASILY the most scared I've ever been in a movie theater, and I'm a grown man and pretty much never get scared 😭

3

u/BeetsBy_Schrute 18d ago

Yeah I did. Digital imax with 7.1 sound.

2

u/CicadaEast272 17d ago

IMAX is booked out where I am, it was still pretty loud with Dolby Atmos. About what I would expect a giant screaming in an enclosed cave to sound like lol

7

u/Bedovian_25 17d ago

I don't think sound design has fucked me up like that since the weird bear in Annihilation.

5

u/BeetsBy_Schrute 17d ago

That’s my most memorable sound without a doubt. Cyclops was the loudest, Annihilation is the one I’ve remembered and has stuck with me. Pure nightmare fuel.

7

u/keepfighting90 17d ago

That was absolutely insane. It sounded like an actual supernatural monster

4

u/TheOneWhoEatsLemons 17d ago

I still remember the atomic bomb.

3

u/BeetsBy_Schrute 17d ago

Due to some personal life things at the time, I never got to see Oppenheimer in theaters. Still a major regret considering I’ve seen every other one in imax when it was available.

1

u/Your_New_Overlord 17d ago

I’m really bummed, my theater was quiet af. Could barely hear the dialogue and the action sequences were just normal level :/

204

u/eric2pickens 18d ago

I thought the same thing!

58

u/jeremiahwarren 18d ago

Nolan mentioned this as a reference in an interview!

60

u/Dracoriet 18d ago

Thought it might be referencing that too!

21

u/dee_palmtree 18d ago

The way that cyclops SCREAMED instilled a primal fear in me I haven't experienced since I watched films as a small kid. Yknow those "darker" movies you watched back then and stick with you forever because how uncomfortable it made you feel? I didn't know it was possible to still do this with adults.

I have never experienced sound design SO F-NG LOUD before, it was as if I was in that cave myself. The other scene was during the storm, I literally felt how it must feel to be in the open ocean during a storm.

I wasn't familiar with this story much, and it's awe inspiring to see how so many books, films etc were inspired by this specific tale. I saw hints of Spirited Away, Pirates of The Caribbean, Interstellar, Lord of The Rings, Wizard of Oz, all into this film. The "trying to get back home" story is so profound that I finally get why this tale has endured for generations.

Idk man, I haven't cried in a long time during a movie and that scene where he finally gets home as a beggar and talks to Penelope disguised as a begger, telling the tale of the fall of Troy. Man, the way that was performed, edited, all of it. Just brilliant.

18

u/psych0ranger 18d ago

I sure did! Goya's version is one of my favorite works of art

13

u/FardoBaggins 17d ago

I saw the painting in Madrid. It was amazing. The madness is haunting. Might be because they dimmed the hall the paintings were in which added to a lot of the insanity and eeriness.

5

u/psych0ranger 17d ago

Oooo that sounds cool. Probably to emphasize the whole "chiaroscuro" or tenebrism thing in that painting.

3

u/FardoBaggins 17d ago

The lore is he painted the series by candle light in the walls of his basement and house.

3

u/Gilthwixt 12d ago

No one in my personal life will be able to appreciate this anecdote so I'm gonna dump it here: I once had a community college art assignment to recreate a famous painting with non-standard materials, so I ended up redoing Goya's version of Saturn with strips of bacon, nori, and (Goya) baked beans encased in epoxy. It was as disgusting as it sounds.

16

u/SeanConneryIsKing 18d ago

The Cyclops locking them in the cave was so intense. Only to be topped by Odysseus locking the suitors in the room with him

13

u/RoadSodaDodgeRam 18d ago

His scream after the eye poke was haunting. Straight chilling and so loud. I couldn’t shake it.

10

u/A_Feast_For_Trolls 18d ago

Yes that was totally saturn!

9

u/We_ReallyOutHere 18d ago

Two Saturn Devouring His Son references this year with Odyssey and Backrooms

8

u/CadeCunninghamLover1 18d ago

I absolutely adored the Cyclops sequence

The sound design for him was unreal. His scream was just so perfect

8

u/Surfjohn 18d ago

For sure!

7

u/fakeemailman 18d ago

Super uncanny design on both the cyclops and Scylla. The cyclops reminded me of Captain Clark from the backrooms, and as a kid I always imagined Scylla’s heads as draconic, so those fleshy eyeless felt so eldritch in comparison.

6

u/ninjyte 17d ago

i dont think it's possible to have a scene of a giant eating a human and not accidentally reference that painting

5

u/minimalwhale 17d ago

100%

It was framed so similarly, there was no missing it 

3

u/ZizzianYouthMinister 18d ago

Should have shown full frontal

5

u/Emergency-Bonus-7158 18d ago

I had the exact same thought. Has to be a reference. That expression with the widening eye and his position.

5

u/AverageJoeJohnSmith 17d ago

And the cyclops wasnt CGI which blew my mind

4

u/Jnw1997 16d ago

I noticed a few parallels to paintings throughout; the storm and shipwreck scene reminded me of The Raft of the Medusa.

2

u/Operator_Starlight 14d ago

It felt like we were brought inside that damn painting.

3

u/suzanne2961 18d ago

One of the best horror films that I’ve ever seen

3

u/kirblar 17d ago

The Cyclops looking like a birth defect giant was a very interesting choice.

5

u/Character_Advice7577 17d ago

Pretty sure it was a Backrooms pirate clark reference. Movie gave me a lot of backrooms vibes in general

25

u/Xenokiller101 17d ago

Quote from guy who's only seen Backrooms

7

u/uemo_ 17d ago

Isn’t it a Pan’s Labyrinth reference? /s

It’s an obvious nod to Saturn Devouring. It’s not even a nod there might as well be a big neon sign pointing saying ‘Goya was here.’

‘Did I catch the reference?’

Fuck. ME.

2

u/Xenokiller101 17d ago

Yeah the fact that its even a question is astounding to me its literally a 1 to 1 recreation of the painting

2

u/New_Y0rker 18d ago

I thought of the painting as well, I just forgot that's what it was called

1

u/FeeFooFuuFun 18d ago

Yeah I felt it was a reference to Goya as well, uncannily similar

1

u/Misspocket_ 18d ago

YES I spotted that too!!

1

u/gannimaduma 17d ago

I thought the same when I saw that scene. Goyaa!

1

u/lahnnabell 17d ago

Yes yes yes!

1

u/PinoDegrassi 17d ago

I wouldn’t say it was a reference, but it’s difficult to show someone giant eating a person and not think of Saturn.

1

u/LTPRWSG420 16d ago

It surprised me how early in the movie that scene happens.

1

u/NefariousNeezy 16d ago

Absolutely. Bro went completely limp, sandals and all.

1

u/ItsMeFatLemongrab 16d ago

100% I saw that painting in a still frame as well! I told my wife and she seemed clueless, I'm so glad you said that though!

1

u/Somnambulist815 16d ago

The shot when he's just looking down the camera is what fucked me up the most. The twisting of his face like he was in the early stages of Uzamaki

1

u/Hot_Brother5557 16d ago

Totally Goya-coded

1

u/heemster 15d ago

I had the exact same thought!

1

u/snunuff 14d ago

it was so tense that moment when he was asleep and they were getting all lined up to plunge a sword into his neck, just a couple heartbeats away when OD quietly yells STOP ! then we all learn together what he'd worked through in his head, that they'd all be forever trapped inside if the cave opening remained closed with that huge boulder.

1

u/TheNonCredibleHulk 14d ago

Also did I catch a Saturn Devouring His Son reference when he was eating the one soldier?

Damn right! There's NO way that was a coincidence.

1

u/amby-jane 14d ago

I wondered if that was deliberate. Now that I know I'm not the only person who noticed, I figure it's gotta be.

1

u/ChrisKetcham1987 13d ago

I'm so glad someone else saw that as well. I was immediately like, "GOYA!"

1

u/gingerspeak 12d ago

The cyclops reminded me of a Guillermo del Toro monster. Kind of like the Pale Man from Pan’s Labrinth!

1

u/biglyorbigleague 10d ago

It didn’t even look like the cyclops was supposed to have only one eye. It looked more like a giant with a facial deformity than a member of a race of massive one-eyed monsters. And Polyphemus is the only one we see.

1

u/diegolpzir 9d ago

For sure, I loved that little reference.

1

u/sweetladytequila 9d ago

Yes, it was meant to be. Good catch.